October 21 Yep, my strategy will be to read before falling asleep
・Honzuki 6. (63% → 65%).
Will try to maintain badge :3
ohh, I see. I guess for me it is because I unfollowed a bunch of threads. And also because I just don’t have time to forum much. So the answer will be to follow a bunch of threads again:D But not the poll tread. shakes head
Thank you for linking, I love these!
I was thinking of trying to start an all-Japanese book club on the forums. I’ve done it before, and it’s pretty fun. 
The book you’re reading provides a lot of the vocabulary that you need in order to discuss it. Do you think you might be interested?
October 21st
Final Fantasy XIV
Aaaand third day of “I don’t want to add words”! Hopefully tomorrow I can do some Stardew Valley or something and bump it up a bit. Still had practice though, which is what’s important.
I’m not sure I understand, do you mean a book club where everyone discusses what they’re reading in Japanese? Currently I don’t read books, so I’m not sure how I could contribute to something like that 
. I’ve tried joining book clubs two or three times, but unfortunately I was never hooked to what we were reading and I started missing weeks, naturally dropping it soon after.
I was more referring to using either HelloTalk or Lang-8, as I have an account from many years ago ^^ .
Home post - sorry it is a long one, probably best to just skip over it.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone involved in this group, I keep reflecting on how positive and wholesome this reading club is, and how grateful i am be a part of it.
Hiiiiiiiiiii waving
I have been able to keep up with daily reading despite my wrists still not behaving.
I’ve had to setup voice control software, so that I can type (and program) mostly by voice, this message is 1/2 voice and 1/2 typing. So I’ve been able to keep up full time work, although a bunch of that time was burned setting up this software, but slowly getting more functionality back and the wrists are improving each day.
I have just taught my voice control software how to type in Japanese (I have to spell it out so map → ま, mop → も, ramp → ら, etc), so I’ve been using that to capture some of the more interesting sentences from Demon slayer.
Demon slayer has been super fun and for the most part less difficult than expected, except for one that one character. Thanks everyone for the support, pushes, nudges, and so forth. Especially big thanks to @NicoleRauch =D
Notation: ~12 = page 12 but not 100%, will reread later. t13 = page 13 was trivial
My daily page counts include pages partially read and pages reread, if you add them together it will be more than the total number of pages I read.
Day 1 2021-10-12 - ~2.5 pages
Pages 5, ~9, ~10
Day 2 2021-10-13 - ~3 pages
Reread 5, 9, 10 and went over every sentence in detail
Day 3 2021-10-14 - 5 pages
Pages 11, 12, 13, 14, ~15
Need to redo 15
Day 4 2021-10-15 - 9 pages
Page 15 again
Pages 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, ~23
Need to redo 23
Day 5 2021-10-16 - 12 pages
Page 23 again
Pages 24, 25, ~26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, most 34, half 35
Need to redo 26, 27, last panel 34, half 35
Day 6 2021-10-17 - 13 + 1 pages
Reread pages 34, 35
Pages 36, 37, ~39, ~40, ~42, t43, t44, ~45, t46, t47, t48
Need to redo 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45
+1 page from graded reader
Day 7 2021-10-18 - 3 pages
Pages 49, 51, ~52
Need to redo 50, last panel from 52 + from yesterday
Day 8 2021-10-19 - 6 + 4 pages
Pages 52, barely started ~53, t54, t56, t58, t59
Need to redo 52, 53, 55, 57
end chap 1
+4 pages from graded reader
Day 9 2021-10-20 - 2 pages
Reread p55 for real
+1 page from Wadanohara (easy, p84)
Day 10 2021-10-21 - 2 pages
Reread p50 for real, first panel still needs some work
Reread p45
So I was able to get to the end of Chapter 1 understanding the majority / gist in 8 days, which is wwaaaayyy faster than expected. Of course I still have more to break down, in particular for that dude, but trying to find a balance between tolerating ambiguity and breaking down things to improve my grammar.
Here is a photo of a page from the highest level graded reader I have tried so far, really basic Japanese.
I’ve so far been enjoying the period and setting, particularly the clothing and style of the people who inhabit this world.
This dude?
Hahahaha nice, you finished Volume 1 on the same day I finished Chapter 1 =D
drum roll
\o/
Out of interest is your list of words easily shareable (e.g. export as csv, chuck into google sheets)? No biggie if not, please don’t go out of your way.
I’ve started keeping track of some sentences to eventually add more words to Anki, but have been limited by wrists, but I’m keeping notes of pages to go back to once things improve.
I’m just so very very sorry.
This is just so beautiful.
Honestly, these did seriously improve my day when you first posted them. I’ve kept the tab open ever since so I can have a look each day =D
I’m playing the new Crayon Shinchan game on Switch and even thought it’s set in the present, there’s a character who thinks he’s a samurai, so I can relate 
I watched the anime (with english subs) and it’s on my list of ones to go back to and re-watch with japanese subs but ngl, this is making me tempted to dive into the manga…
Last week I bought a second-hand japanese novel from UK ebay (I have some searches set up so it notifies me if anything japanese langauge gets posted as I’m pretty unfussy about what I read, unfortunately though half the results are people listing Convenience Store Woman as ‘language: japanese’ even though it’s the english translation) and it arrived last night. When I opened it, I thought ‘oh great, the font is a much bigger size than the novel I read in the summer, this will be loads easier’. Then I took it up to the bookcase and compared it with the novel I read in the summer and the text was Exactly The Same Size. I think this really demonstrates how reading a lot more is making me far more comfortable around written japanese because I remember feeling like I needed a magnifying glass at times with that novel!
(it’s this novel by the way - the obi says ‘don’t read it on the train because you’ll embarrass yourself crying’ which is a very real danger for me so I’m grateful for the warning).
Day LII: この音とまれ！ pg.95-101 & 愛犬が知らせた山くずれ 
6 pages today! I’m sure I had something to comment on, but that thought seems to have vanished 
Read today’s Japanese folktale, from Aichi prefecture! About a super good dog who warns his humans about the impending collapse of a mountain.
~ New Words ~
愛犬 (あいけん) - Pet dog; Beloved Dog; Goodest Boi
おかしな (可笑しな) - Ridiculous, odd.
すそ (裾) - Hem (of clothes)
二度 (ふたたび) - Another way to write 再び (Again; once more) but can also be read (にど) which means two times, twice, so kinda the same meaning but not quite.
二度と (にどと) means “never again”.
Place: 茶臼山 (ちゃうすやま) - Mt. Chausu
Never! I shall read every word and give you a big massive like 
That voice control stuff sounds impressive! Glad to hear that your wrists are improving and functioning better each day!
Day 51:
日本語: I read a lot of 伯爵と妖精 21 and some of パノラマ島綺譚.
Read-aloud: We read a chapter of ふしぎの国のバード.
中国語: I read 今天生气了.
Day 52: Today I read 4 pages of よつば＆！which got me to the end of chapter 4, and then I read 4 pages of ツバサ Reservoir Chronicle.
October 22 Today was a day of big waiting, so a tiny bit bigger amount read than usual
・Honzuki 6. (65% → 69%).
Hi everyone. I’m going to stop doing the challenge. 
My boyfriend came back from a trip the day before yesterday and tested positive for covid. 
So everything feels like a lot right now.
I think also I’ve reached one of those intermediate humps, and my Japanese spark has dimmed a bit, so I need some flexibility in order to figure out what will make it all sparkly again.
I’ll still be studying every day and also reading a lot, I hope. And I’ll most likely be hanging around here lurking because I like you all. Just quietly bowing out of the challenge aspect.
October 22nd
Final Fantasy XIV
Hey that’s fine! Priorities are priorities. Besides, not only we’re very much reaching the end, but also everyone who joined is a winner in my eyes regardless. You read a bit more than before joining the challenge and that’s what’s important. As a suggestion, what I’m doing is tracking the percentage of completion as a visual prove that I completed something, whatever the result. I had 100% in the summer challenge, but I won’t be able to get 100% in this one because not only is unrealistic to do every challenge perfectly but because, again, life happens, and you have to take care of yourself, in my case taking days off. Perhaps you could track your percentage and use it as motivation for the Winter one?
Well done 
.
Take care! < hugs >
All the best to your boyfriend, you, and you figuring out a way to make your Japanese spark get back to being sparkly. 
And remember to be gentle with yourself if you won’t manage to do that for now. 
awww we like you too. Completely understandable. For the last few years, including this year I have done no WK lessons AT ALL between September and December because its my busy time of year at work. So while I’m managing to keep up my streak here, I’m also neglecting that side of study. Sometimes Japanese does just have to take a back seat to life,
That makes total sense and is something we all have to do sometimes. No matter how much you love or enjoy learning something, sometimes life is enough that you need to be kind to yourself. Good on you for being able to identify that you need to adjust things before burning out 
As @fustian_garb & others have said, if the challenge period has led to any reading that you wouldn’t have otherwise done over this period, even if it’s not actually every day, then it’s a win in my eyes. Hope things get a bit easier soon!
Totally understandable! I am definitely no stranger to having to put some part of Japanese on the backburner due to life. Sometimes, for your own mental well-being, you just have to re-prioritize and readjust. Everybody else already said so many nice things that I 100% agree with, so I won’t be too repetitive but I did want to say you’re definitely still welcome to hang out here as much as you’d like, even if you’re no longer actively doing the challenge - we like having you around too 
Finished the last chapter of volume 1 of tanuki. It was really cute way to end summer and I saw the next volume is the start of autumn. 
It went much better than I expected. The little furigana that was added is either for names or mostly for words I already knew but are usually written in kana. Funny how that works. While tanuki is the main draw of the manga, other characters also look very good and age appropiate. There is one chapter where tanuki meets German foreigners and that chapter kinda sticks with me as they switch between English, German and Japanese. It’s basic enough that I can read it, but there’s no aid or translation, so I don’t think it was intended for most people to follow and also be kinda lost/awkard like the protagonist.
I’m gonna start reading volume 2 tonight. Saw that there are bunch more chapters on the web, so that makes me think volume 3 is probably not that far off.
Day LIII: この音とまれ！ pg.101-107 & ほら吹き男爵 チーズの島 
6 pages today!
Read today’s worldtale, from Germany, about an island made entirely out of cheese in a giant sea of milk… I guess whoever wrote it really liked their cheese. Everything is made of cheese: the trees, the rocks, the houses, and he eats it Mmm, cheesetree
Whoa… there is a cocoa hot spring?! and now a wine hot spring?? And you get to choose from white, red and rosé… then it just… ends. I am so confused as to what just happened, I swear, whoever wrote this was hungry before bed and had some mad fever dream about cheese.
~ New Words ~
男爵 (だんしゃく) - Baron, and 男爵芋, is an Irish Cobbler potato.
長旅 (ながたび) - Long trip
ぶどう酒 (ぶどうしゅ) - Grape wine, seems like a more specific word for ワイン.
ふわり - Softly (onomatopoeia)
@rikaiwisdom happy birthday!! 
Take care of yourself and take the time you need, and all the best for your boyfriend, hope he will recover quickly!
Pretty sure this thread will be continuing in another one or in some shape or form, so there’ll be something here when that spark has become sparkly again
Also, feel free to notify us of any more cute things you find so we can give you likes
Day 52:
日本語: I read a fair amount of 伯爵と妖精 21, a bit of パノラマ島綺譚, and some of 魔王城でおやすみ.
中国語: I read 春游.
What did I read:
Day 43 (10月 21日)
歴史366 ,2 stories, 10 min. I still have so many to catch up to, since I didn’t take the book with my while I was away…
Day 44 (10月 22日)
暁のヨナ, chapter 43. once just a simple read-through (30 min!! this chapter is insane), and then once again, to mine for words and fill the vocab sheet 
i think this was one of the most dialogue/monologue-heavy chapters so far, it took me almost 2hours to write everything down and translate into english in my head…
Day 45 (10月 22日)
暁のヨナ, chapter 43, bookclub read-aloud
京河さま
愛犬が知らせた山くずれ
ほら吹き男爵 チーズの島 , the last three daily stories Zakarius posted, thank you, they were so much fun to read!!! I love this website so much 
, ~25min.
the last one had me laughing, because… wow… all these descriptions, and the moral of the story was that?
取り乱す とりみだす ＝to be upset；to lose one’s composure; to be flustered
逆賊 ぎゃくぞく ＝rebel;traitor;insurgent
覇道 はどう ＝military rule
餓死寸前 がしすんぜん =being on the verge of starvation
九死に一生を得る きゅうしにいっしょうをえる = to narrowly escape death [ goo, etymology ]
日も浅い ひもあさい ＝it hasn’t been long so; it wasn’t but just a short while ago… goo
必ずしも かならずしも ＝ (not) necessarily； (not) entirely
川原 かわら = dry riverbed
可愛がる かわいがる =to love;to cherish
衣ころも = robe
神々しい こうごうしい ＝divine
慌ただしい あわただしい = busy;hurried
裾 すそ =hem ；bottom (of a kimono)；train (of a dress)
茶臼 ちゃうす ＝ grinding mortar (hand mill)
纏う まとう = to be clad in; to wear
雨乞い あまごい = praying for rain
潜ぐる くぐる ＝ to dive (into or under the water
:: TANUKIDATE 20211022 :: 
:: TANUKIDATE 20211023 :: 
