omg :o and the episodes are short too
Nooo those tiny little legs 
Those tiny little sounds
So cute 
Oh I’ve been to there! It was super pretty <3 Even though the weather was not very nice when I was there haha
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September 29
29
total: 96/108
- カラフル (52 → 57% audio once more)
- カラフル (61 → 65% text)
カラフル spoilers (I think I’m writing that mainly for @Axazel so I hope you’re still interested 
)
spoilers
So I was right! Original Makoto made some wrong assumptions and our protag got the subjective summary of the events.
I wonder why the Guardian Angel was okay with this. Wasn’t he supposed to guide our protag? I even got the impression he was the one who planted this bleary version of the family in the protag’s mind, back when he was all “I don’t understand why Makoto committed suicide, this family is so nice” and the angel did “nope, they are all bad people >listing all the problems<”
Of course it’s not like it was all lies, but I just wonder why our Angel did seem to want protag to dislike everybody. Or maybe it was all set up so Our Protag Will Make His Discoveries Himself?
When father was reminiscing how he was forced to do nothing at work for 2 years, I was wondering if it would be possible to sneak learning/reading something during that time 
The talk about “bad things aren’t eternal, good things will come eventually” was too cheesy for my tastes, but anyway, protag already commented on that. Although if my theory about protag = original!Makoto is right, it isn’t too late in his case. But anyway, all these people born in wrong country, at the wrong time, to the wrong people. With serious illnesses. And such. Statistically/on average that pep talk was right, of course, but it won’t always apply, and eh, it made me sad somehow. 
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I am so watching this.
I’m interested! I probably won’t read this one myself as I’m sensitive to stories with this theme, so I like reading vicariously through you. 
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Just checked the September 30th box and I’ve made it through a whole month! There have definitely been days when it’s been just a page but I’m massively proud of myself for making it this far and hugely grateful to @windupbird for setting such a kind, welcoming and inclusive challenge. I’m 138 pages into my book and I genuinely wouldn’t have got here without the prompt to read something, anything, just a bit, each day.
Today’s new word was 観音開き かんのんびらき (but written as かんのん開き in this book) which means double doors that open from the centre. I know of Kannon in Buddhism, but don’t know enough about buddhism to know why she has lent her name to a particular type of door!
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No need to apologize! This Miyagi lover is here for all the facts. 
I regret not going to 鳴子温泉 (who knows when that’ll be now), but I have been to 松島 and 仙台七夕 multiple times.
There’s this bridge in 松島 that my friends went on because it reminded them of the bridge in Spirited Away. It’s pretty long, admittedly. I can’t remember if I pulled a nerdy move and tried holding my breath like Chihiro has to or not. 
仙台七夕
The different stores in the arcade in downtown 仙台 will hang up their own 七夕, some with their business on them, and others more generic ones/characters.
Date Masamune-themed ones from a real estate company (if I recall correctly):
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure ones (to promote the exhibit that was going on at the time):
Doraemon and Anpanman courtesy of a daycare center:
And, naturally, a few courtesy of McDonald’s:
I’ll stop before I go overboard with the pictures (if I haven’t already).
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::: TANUKIDATE 20210930 ::: Day XXX: 北海道 
Today’s prefecture is all the way over on the other side of Japan, Hokkaido!
Seeing big numbers like this: 8万3453km2 / 563万2133人 - still takes a bit of getting used to.
さっぽろの雪祭り (Sapporo Snow Festival) = sounds amazing! 
~ New Words ~
雄々しい (おおしい) - Manly, brave, heroic
エゾマツ (蝦夷松) - Yezo Spruce
針葉樹 (しんようじゅ) - Coniferous / Conifer
ハマナス (浜茄子) - Rugosa Rose / Japanese Rose
タンチョウ (丹頂) - Red-Crowned Crane / Japanese Crane
特別天然記念物 - (とくべつてんねんきねんぶつ) - Special Natural Monument - an area protected due to its natural importance.
~ New Place ~
釧路湿原 (くしろしつげん) - Kushiro Wetlands
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I was putting all this in my daily post but it got a bit crowded, so…
@iterimpius, I was quoting your post in bits but I found that I just ended up quoting everything, because it all sounds so amazing!! I absolutely love that picture of the bridge in the woodlands (I have no words, it is so beautiful) and the bay… and… the food!! 
Me three! (also, I hope Rowlet was tasty).
That bridge!! so pretty
Thank you both for all the pictures and info you shared about Miyagi, it sounds amazing! ahhh
Not really heard much of Miyagi before and now I want to go so bad.
You’re doing great! You’ve hit 30 days now (I think, or will tomorrow, or is your tomorrow my today or that backwards [??] timezones what are you) which is great progress! I get you though, it’s frustrating when you know what to do to improve and want to press on but you start hesitating or putting it off. But you’ve set your PC and everything to Japanese?? Whoa, I’m too scared to do that 
おめでとう！！ And 138 pages?? That’s amazing!
Also, congrats to everyone else reaching 30 days today!! And 頑張って！！ to everyone who joined a little later!
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It’s been so long! 
I kept putting off posting here until I had ‘more time’ which never happened. And it just keeps getting more the longer I wait! So I’ll just do a quick write up now! If there’s a day I already logged before, sorry!
21st to 30th of September
21.9.
About 30 pages of リゼロ.
22.9.
I had the day off work! I read 10 pages of リゼロ, finishing volume 17! 
i also read about 7 pages of 人間失格, 14 of 乳と卵 and 3 of 赤毛のアン.
23.9.
About 6 pages of 人間失格 and the rest of that week’s assignment of 乳と卵.
24.9.
About 18 pages of 人間失格.
25.9.
There was a birthday party and I had to get a lot of stuff done for it before it started. I managed to read all of 3 pages of 赤毛のアン in between all that!
26.9.
About 6pages of 赤毛のアン (the rest of that chapter), and that week’s 小川未明童話集 short story.
27.9.
6 pages of 使ってはいけない日本語 and that week’s assignment for 授乳.
28.9.
About 20? pages of 人間失格, and 6 of 乳と卵
29.9.
The rest of this week’s 乳と卵.
30.9.
18? pages of 人間失格 - I actually managed to finish it up his month! 
I’m so happy I’ll have more time to dedicate to other things now.
Sorry this post is so rushed!
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Oh, good to know 
Now I’m worried I’m not providing enough context, so if you need some gaps-filling, please say so!
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Reading Update: 9月21日〜30日
Materials:
授乳
月刊少女野崎くん３
ヒトゴトですから！１
What a mood! It’s the exact mood that’s getting me to actually post an update for once, so thank you, Belerith!
As you can see, 野崎くん has been promoted to orange. This is, in part, because I finally got around to doing things I’ve been putting off, and thus needed something quick to keep that all-important streak going. (There are obviously also books I’ve been putting off…perhaps this is a personality trait…) I’m not gonna lie: I was probably also lazy for some of the days in this range, but I at least read something! Even one step moves us forward and all that jazz.
月刊少女野崎くん３: Read through one of my favorite chapters so far in the volume. Our titular character has trouble keeping his character’s placements consistent, which puts a lot of hardship on background artist 堀先輩. While it’s funny watching the characters trying to help 野崎, it was both adorable and hysterical how attached 御子柴 became to one of the solutions, in particular.
ヒトゴトですから！１: 久しぶりだよ〜 I managed to crack this manga back open after who knows how long. I forgot what happened since the last time I read it; pausing in the middle of the chapter really didn’t help that situation. This manga is about two lesbian women (not a couple, but there’s always the possibility of that changing) who work in human resources. I’ve been trying to read this volume straight through, meaning “not constantly looking up every word I don’t understand.” Needless to say, a lot of the HR lingo goes over my head. Still, it’s pretty interesting! I didn’t learn about this when I read it in this range of days, but it’s still probably the most interesting thing I learned about thus far.
What is ピグマリオン効果?
ピグマリオン効果, or the Pygmalion effect (or even the Rosenthal effect), is a phenomenon where the higher the expectations for someone (in the case of the manga, employees), the better they perform. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, meaning the other way around could work, too. In my experience, big expectations = big pressure, which hasn’t always equaled better performance, but alas, perhaps I’m not blessed enough.
Here’s the Japanese definition given in the manga, if anyone’s curious:
【ピグマリオン効果とは】
アメリカの教育心理学者ロバート・ローゼンタールによって発表された心理学用語。人は期待された通りに成果を出す傾向があり、他者からの期待値がそのあとの成長を決定づける要因になると考えられている。「ピグマリオン」はギリシャ神話に登場するキプロスの王に由来する。
授乳: Finally, still trying to catch up with the current 村田 pick. I’ve been having an easier time with Week 2’s section. I’m currently reading through a decently gross scene (wouldn’t be 村田 if there wasn’t at least one): MC’s recalling a time her father came home drunk with a bunch of younger co-workers; her mother welcomes them in and makes them food, only some of the ingredients may have been sourced from the garbage can… 
Part of me knows this isn’t the nicest thing to do, but her husband was also kind of an a-hole to her in this memory, so…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little on board with this.
Some interesting vocab words (too many to list them all, so I'm limiting myself)
鼻の頭 (はなのあたま): tip of the nose (cute way of looking at it, imo)
古女房 (ふるにょうぼう): good old wife, one’s wife of many years
満面笑顔 (まんめんえがお): (with) one’s face beaming with joy; smiling from ear to ear (written in the book as 満面の笑顔)
Thrilled that I somehow made it to the end of the month without missing a day! Weekends are always a toss-up, so I’m glad I set myself with 野崎くん (even if I should maybe focus a little more on the other books on my list during the week).
Congrats to everyone who’s still chugging along with us on this challenge! Whether you haven’t missed a day or there’s several gaps in your tracker, you’re still making great progress. Here’s to 10月! 
(click for home post)
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Day 29:
日本語: I read a lot of はめふら 11.
Read-aloud: We read a chapter of 7SEEDS (but spent most of the call talking about 伯爵と妖精).
中国語
中国語: I read 为什么学汉语.
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Okay I will make a post for the last two days. First I started the second volume of まがつき around 40 pages read. Then I read a little bit of the まいてつ visual novel.
I had a sore throat and headache today, because of this I wasn’t in the mood to read more.
vocabulary
天誅 てんちゅう divine punishment
]調節 JLPT N2 ちょうせつ regulation; adjustment; control
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日30 
今日の日本の本: それでも歩は寄せてくる １
So I decided to read それでも歩は寄せてくる today because I missed yesterday Just reread some pages for the most part… も 疲れる、おやすみなさい
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September 30 It’s been a long day: 12 hours on campus
・乳と卵. (21% → 22%)
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I am utterly exhausted today, and very sorely tempted to say “the 59 reviews I just did should totally count as my reading” buuuuuut seeing this thread has inspired me, I am going to at least get through a level 0 graded reading book. They’re so cute they put a smile on my face. Also, I spotted that there’s Peter Rabbit in Japanese as a level 1 book, so that’s my goal for now!
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Day 30: Read 2 pages of よつば＆！
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September 30th
Satori Reader: Secret, episode 50.
Random words
- いよいよ = at last, finally (also “more and more, all the more”).
- 面影 = おもかげ face, looks, vestiges (kinda weird word that I still haven’t quite unterstood, but the context was one of the characters telling the other that he’s a changed person, and that his former 面影 isn’t there anymore → 「お前、本当に人が変わったな。一樹に出会った頃の、あのお前の面影はもうないな」).
- ビールジョッキ = or simply ジョッキ , a beer jug.
September done! Enter October 
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and it looks like a sweet new avatar to match.
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Day 30: September 30
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 7 pages - finished Chapter 3
How long did it take me?: 1 hour…30 min? (I stopped my timer to go to the bathroom and then forgot to start it again when I came back…classic)
Aww, omg :3 Makoto gets all panicky and feels like he needs to see Haru - he rushes out of his house, out onto the stone steps of the shrine, and who is already waiting there just a few steps up but sweet baby Haru. Was he waiting there because he knew? Makoto likes to think so, and I kind of do too. :3 I love the way that Haru is in this moment. He speaks so little, but he understands so much. He gives Makoto the opening he needs to talk about/admit his fear of the water, which started with the fishing boat sinking when they were young (the reason for the funeral procession Haru was remembering before) and turned itself up to 11 after Haru nearly drowned too. And just telling Haru is enough to help him feel better. Haru, in his own quiet way, gives Makoto what he needed. And we even get an “I’ll think about it” to the relay question, because Makoto wants to do it and wants Haru with him, and I think now more than ever, Haru understands the significance of that. Just a nice quiet friendship moment all around. <3
Sooo many good words, this author writes with so many good words
- 見透かす (みすかす) - to see through; to see the true nature of something (I might have put this one before but I really love this word in this context, this is my favorite word of today)
- 動き出す (うごきだす) - to come alive; to get going; to start to move
- 元 (もと) - (somebody’s) side; (somebody’s) location (I knew this word, but not this meaning, I like it)
- 水平線 (すいへいせん) - horizon (related to bodies of water)
- 疼く (うずく) - to throb (with pain); to ache; to smart; to twinge (I like this kanji, it’s like winter + pain)
- 和らぐ (やわらぐ) - to soften; to calm down; to be eased; to be mitigated; to subside; to abate
- 滲む (にじむ) - to ooze; to well up (of tears, etc.); can also mean to show through (of feelings, emotions, etc.); to reveal itself, which I love for some weird reason
- 問い詰める (といつめる) - to press a question; to cross-examine
- しまい込む (しまいこむ) - to put away; to stow away; to tuck away; to hoard
- 溺れる (おぼれる) - to struggle in the water; to sink below the surface and become unable to breathe; to (nearly) drown
- 蘇る (よみがえる) - to be resurrected; to be resuscitated; to be rehabilitated; to be revived; to be refreshed; to be restored; to be recalled (e.g. memories); to be brought back
- 凪ぐ (なぐ) - to become calm; to die down (what a great kanji ok, it’s like the wind, but stopped - and it means calm.
) - 夕闇 (ゆうやみ) - dusk; twilight (this is such a pretty word)
- 家路 (いえじ) - the road home (this is just a cute word to me for some reason)
Gosh, I can’t believe we’re halfway through already. Where did the time go? Into work, is where it went 
lol
My accomplishments so far:
- Kept my streak and read every day
- Finished 2 volumes of manga (technically 3 if you count me finishing the last chapter of Flying Witch Vol 10)
- Started the Tanuki Cuteness Brigade
- Currently on page 88/228 of High Speed, which I think is pretty darn good considering I put it on pause for at least a week I’m pleased with that. I’m not sure I’ll quite finish it during the challenge, but I think the possibility is still there.
And whether I do or not, I’m enjoying the story a lot and I’m glad I get to spill all my thoughts about it here xD
There is no such thing as too many pictures of Japan - true facts
Also that owl ずんだ餅 is cute as heckkk
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Finshed a book yesterday! On to the next one!
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