These last few graded readers I’ve been finding I can kind of almost skim parts of them, which I think is a new thing for me, say when reading a familiar / common word like ありがとうございます I don’t have to read every character and kind of see the start and my eyes just zoom over checking the rough shape rather than checking every character.
Likewise these basic readers have lots of “foo said […], bar said […], foo went to […]” and I can skim over most of that outside the brackets.
Thought I would add what I read over the weekend in an update post. I read a poem called お月夜 plus two stories パンのかけらと小さなあくま and カンガルーの赤ちゃん. The poem was a light read, so that was kinda nice. The pictures were also kinda cute. Feels like I read the little devil story before. As it is a world tale, I tried finding the original, but that one ends very differently. So I’m not sure if it got changed over the years, or if they adapted it to fit in this bundle. The last story is about kangaroo babies, which is labeled as a science story. I liked how easy it was to parse and made me interested in a few things. Had to confirm that babies indeed climb their way into the mother’s pouch while they’re the size of a bean. Surviving isn’t easy and the kangaroo biology is pretty interesting to read about. This was probably my favorite piece of the book so far.
Reading every day is indeed a challenge, but it has worked out so far even with a book. I noted that I read a few stories further than my previous attempt (which took weeks to get that). So yeah the progress is notable, even if it is gradually slow.
Today’s 百物語 story about Hitotsume-kozou [一つ目小僧] (Yokai that takes on the appearance of a one-eyed bald child), also found another off-shoot of the site that is a bit like a “on this day…” sort of thing, and today is sardine day, イワシの日!
Founded in 1985 by the… er
大阪府多獲性魚有効利用検討会
(Osaka Prefecture Investigative Commission of (the) Effective Utilisation of Large Scale Fish Catching)
~ New Words ~
うずら (鶉) - Quail
両 (りょう) - Old unit of currency
ふすま (襖) - Sliding screen
October 4 Aaah, I have no time to read, but I’m too stubborn to put it off
・Honzuki 6. (34% → 35%)
If I may recommend this series この音とまれ！ vol. 1-3 are available for free on bookwalker until Oct 18. I read binged up until vol 17 during the summer challenge, enjoyed it a lot :3
I…forgot to read yesterday. I woke up this morning and stared at my volume of 野崎くん, trying to remember what I (didn’t) read the night before. It sucks that I couldn’t go through the challenge flawlessly, but I’m not going to let this dampen the rest of it. After all, I’m still reading way more regularly than I ever have in Japanese, and I don’t want to give that up just because I’m feeling a little sorry for myself.
授乳: Finished reading the section for Week 2. Things are definitely starting to get interesting: the dynamic amongst each family member (father, mother, and daughter) is peeking out from the surface. The narrator has a deadpan, unbothered humor to her. A couple of lines that got laughs out of me: (regarding the value of the tutor her mother hired)「まあ私のお金じゃないし」and (after going through some thoughts she has about her mother) 「私は父の下着をたたみ続ける母の横顔を見ながら、わけもなく、母が同い年のクラスメイトだったらきっといじめてるなと思った」. I’m going to push myself to get through more of this book this week.
月刊少女野崎くん３: I’m going to be honest…I haven’t gotten all that much farther into the volume compared to my last update. I wasn’t feeling well this past weekend, and by the time I (mostly) remembered to read something, I’d only make it through a panel or two before putting it down and going to sleep. I guess it’s unrealistic to think that moments like these won’t happen in life.
Vocabulary (mostly in hiragana, as it turns out)
わけもなく: without cause; without reason
がらんどう: empty, hollow, bare, vacant, deserted
のっぺらぼう: smooth, flat, lacking bumps and dents (there’s also a 妖怪 named this if you want to read about it in this wiki)
逆上 (ぎゃくじょう): going into a frenzy, flying into a rage
酒乱 = しゅらん drunken frenzy, drunken violence, also someone that gets violent when drunk.
蹴る = ける to kick.
酔っ払う = よっぱらう to get drunk, but more pronounced than 酔う, and mostly in a bad sense.
あろうことか = as defined in Satori Reader: “This expression indicates incredulity that something occurred combined with a sense that is completely out of the bounds of acceptability.”.
道端 = みちばた roadside, wayside.
Very low spirits day. I wasn’t feeling the spark to read at all today, I kept procrastinating for hours. But I wasn’t really going to let this one slide, so in the end I forced myself to read one episode. Well, turns out, as is usually the case, that the moment I start doing it, I start feeling better and engaged, and after just a few minutes I’m enjoying it. But the period before I actually sit and do it… I swear that gets the best of me, not just in reading, but in pretty much everything. It’s not that bad once you start, but wow is it hard to actually start. Anyway day saved.
This. So much this.
Sometimes I will get in such a funk that it feels like I don’t want to do anything, my partner will sometimes intervene and suggest I try doing something for just a little bit (10-20 minutes), and then if I still dislike it I can stop. Such a great strategy, I now find I use it on myself a bunch (I think there’s a name for this technique, probably the N minute rule or something).
Day 34: October 4
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 4 pages
How long did it take me?: 42 min
I love this. I love it so much
The word of today is: リーダ - leader
Here's why
First, we finally get Haru’s commitment to being on the relay team, in the most casual freaking way
I love how he literally just doesn’t answer when Rin asks him about it in the shower room, but then two seconds later, he’s casually like “Yep” when Nagisa’s like “I get to be on the same team as Haru!”
Rin is literally more excited about it than Nagisa is, it’s so cute xD He even does a ガッツポーズ (my second favorite word of today because it’s so cute).
So now, the team is officially formed, and Rin decides they’re all gonna use first names now like besties, which is adorable. But then-
PFFFF Rin you cannot “Y’all can call me Leader from now on” You CANNOT
Why are you like this
But then it gets better
Nagisa: Riida’s not a name
Rin: sigh this kid explains the qualities of a leader in a surprisingly mature and thoughtful way
Nagisa: …Nope, weird. You get RinRin instead
Rin: :o
Makoto and Haru: dying in the background
They don’t get to escape the nickname-ification either, but they just get Mako-chan and Haru-chan, which seems…more normal, if a bit embarrassing
I love these children so much
Some more good words
掻き毟る (かきむしる) - to tear off; to pluck; to scratch off
脈絡 (みゃくらく) - logical connection; chain of reasoning; coherence; context
何気ない (なにげない) - casual; unconcerned; nonchalant
さらり - without hesitation or delay
危うく (あやうく) - almost; nearly (can also mean barely; narrowly: I kind of love that this uses the same kanji as 危ない, it makes sense in a way that tickles my brain)
聞き逃す (ききのがす) - to fail to hear something; to miss (can also mean to act as if one didn’t hear something; to let a remark slide)
ガッツポーズ - triumphant pose assumed by an athlete; “fist pump”
いいか - listen!; you see; mind you; remember (Rin says this and it kills me in context because for some reason it reads to me like “listen here, you little-”)
面倒を見る (めんどうをみる) - to care for someone; to look after someone
まとめ役 (まとめやく) - mediator; peacemaker; troubleshooter; manager
例えようもない (たとえようもない) - beyond comparison; incomparable
Hard relate. Starting is the hardest part like 99% of the time. Good job pushing through the wall!
Onto the final story of それいけズッコケ三人組. The previous story took yet another unexpected dark turn when they found a box of toys belonging to a family who’d been killed in WW2 bombing so I’m starting to think this is normal for these book/this author/Japanese children’s literature? The story I’ve just started is about a TV quiz show though so hopefully that’s going to be a bit cheerier, and at least not have quite so many synonyms for clusters of trees as the last story did.
First one was on the home page and is a cute story about some mice holding a council on what to do about a cat.
Second one was today’s Japanese folktale, and it’s the well-known one about the mischievous tanuki and the tree, first time reading it in Japanese though!
Also, today is Timetable Day - 時刻表記念日
Look how happy this little guy is to be doing some timetabling:
~ New Words & Meanings ~
ビクビク - Onomatopoeia for trembling (in fear)
賛成 (さんせい) - Agreement: It’s here on WK, but I didn’t know you could use it as a stand alone word like this - similar to how people say “aye!” when in favour of a vote on something.
ネズミ - Mouse: not a new word, but I wondered what the kanji is - 鼠.
達磨忌 (だるまき) - Daruma Doll, don’t think I’ve seen this in kanji before.
Thanks for mentioning this, I’ll check it out at some point soon!
What did I read: 雨と君と, only that, just about 10min before bed, I was soooo tired
Day 26（10月 4日)
What did I read:
Inspired by the ever constant stable in this reading journey, hakumusume site, one of the 百物語’s, from Yamagata Prefecture. this one, 嫁になった雪女
Honestly, I don’t even remember what I read, I was so tired and only read in order not to miss a day… I’m away from home this week, and only brought with my ヨナmanga for the bookclub sessions, so hakumusume and random net articles will be my staple
taken after the shape of mountains, but also representing Mogami river. The three acute triangles are also supposed to symbolise Yamagata’s developement…
•Prefecture tree: サクランボ、the cherry
I’m the Meiji era it was the first Rosacaea species to be introduced from America.
Used as a dye and cosmetics raw material ingredient. The seeds can be used to make cooking oil. The weather conditions would be suitable in The Valley area, so it’s cultivation for its colouring properties has been going on since the beginning of Edo era, and had been prosperous.
The ones in the parks are used to human presence and you can even feed them, but the ones in the wild are always alert, so it’s actually unusual to see them from up close.
•Prefecture fish サクラマス(桜鱒), the cherry hybrid salmon (?? first time hearing this)
Kinda confused about the life and hatching circle, but anyways, females come back to rivers around spring time (to hatch? After hatching?) and so they are the harbringers of spring for the rivers and sea, since they enter river waters when the cherry blossoms bloom… that’s cute
•Prefecture animal: カモシカ, the serrow.
I’ve never seen this animal before, and again, I’m getting to sleepy to read up on it, so here is a humble picture of it! I will came back for it tomorrow!!
しょっちゅう = always, constantly, frequently (J-J dictionary uses いつも and 常に to define it so probably just another synonym). Also interesting pitch accent pattern, I thought it would be ↓↑ but it’s actually ↑↓ .
気の毒 = きのどく interesting term, it means that your heart aches from something happening to another person, that you feel pity for them. → 気の毒だったよ。
内心 = ないしん real thoughts, inner intention, what you really think deep down.
Thank you! <3 . I had a similar day today, but I remembered about yesterday and your messages and it was a bit easier to sit and do it.
Overall I’m not too engaged in this Satori Reader story, surprisingly after having worked through 53 episodes already. But I’m still learning quite a lot; I chose it mainly because it was one of the harder ones, and there is useful unknown vocabulary in every episode. But again, it has been a roller coaster of somewhat flat episodes and very exciting ones, over and over. I will finish it because I still want to know what happens, but summer’s challenge was easier in the sense that the two stories I was reading back then kept my interest much more. I also liked the voice acting of those two much more than this one, not because this one is bad, but it just doesn’t do it for me. The main objective is reading the stories, but listening to it afterwards is really nice, because the quality is great.
But luckily I have a couple games that keep my interest really high, so it’s good whenever I don’t feel like doing Satori Reader. I recently got NieR: Automata and I really, really want to play it. It is quite daunting, however, because there are dialogues that go by fast and there’s no time to read and process, but it helps that they are voice acted, and boy is it goooooooood. I’m not really into seiyuu, meaning that I don’t know the names of anybody pretty much, but the protagonist of NieR is apparently performed by Yui Ishikawa, the same seiyuu that did Mikasa from Attack on Titan and I always loved Mikasa’s voice acting so much. I thought that whenever I’m completely lost I can always watch a Let’s Play on YouTube of the parts I played and stop whenever I need.
Day 35: October 5
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 5 pages
How long did it take me?: 1 hour 4 min
Rinrin returns He will never escape this nickname and I’m living for it
The saga of Rinrin continues
It’s the next day in class, and Aki starts talking to Haru about how happy she is that he decided to join the relay. Haru is sure Rin’s the one who told her he’d finally agreed to do it - Rin’s nearby, but he’s pretending like he’s not listening. Anyway, Aki’s like, oh, I’m sure your team will get number one, you guys are all so fast!
Haru, being deadpan savage as usual: “It’s not my team” raising his voice so literally everyone can hear “Rinrin’s the leader”
Cue laughter
Rin, embarrassed, comes over to them and starts spinning this story about how people at his old school used to call him “Rin-chan” to bully him so please don’t call me Rinrin or I’ll have to transfer again, which Aki takes seriously but Haru doesn’t buy for a second. (Honestly, I thought maybe he was serious for a sec too, but then he calls himself “shy” and I’m like…ok, I’m calling BS on this, you just don’t want your adorable new nickname catching on xD Poor baby)
Then, with epic comedic timing, Makoto comes into the classroom, blissfully unaware: “oh hey Haru, Aki, Rinrin” Aki, bless her heart, chides him for it and tells him what Rin just told her, which makes him laugh because it seems so unrealistic. But in the end, he kind of smooths things over and brings the conversation to an end without directly calling Rin out.
Cut to the four boys running to the swim club after school
Nagisa calls Rin Rinrin again, and Rin gets super annoyed
Turns out NAGISA REALLY THOUGHT THAT WAS HIS NAME He really thought that’s how the kanji read. Oh sweet baby angel
(Rin’s name in kanji is 凛 btw, which I really like. …Maybe partially because I associate it with him xD But it’s also a cool kanji imo)
Nagisa’s like, oh well, Rinrin’s fine. He turns and asks Haru, not Rin, if it’s ok.
Haru, without missing a beat - sure it’s fine
These two
(But Makoto steps in and manages to get Nagisa to shift to Rin-chan instead, I think he feels bad for Rin xD)
On a more serious note, we get a little window into the reasons Haru wasn’t super excited about the idea of joining the relay team - normally, he swims because it lets him feel free, but with the relay, all those social burdens and expectations he loathes are coming right into the water with him. No wonder he wasn’t/isn’t that into it. …Felt kind of bad for him, tbh, reading that - I totally get where he’s coming from.
Good words:
素知らぬ顔 (そしらぬかお) - pretending not to recognize (recognise); feigned ignorance
::: TANUKIDATE 20211004 ::: 
授乳
月刊少女野崎くん３
I woke up this morning and stared at my volume of 野崎くん, trying to remember what I (didn’t) read the night before. It sucks that I couldn’t go through the challenge flawlessly, but I’m not going to let this dampen the rest of it. After all, I’m still reading way more regularly than I ever have in Japanese, and I don’t want to give that up just because I’m feeling a little sorry for myself.
I wasn’t feeling well this past weekend, and by the time I (mostly) remembered to read something, I’d only make it through a panel or two before putting it down and going to sleep. I guess it’s unrealistic to think that moments like these won’t happen in life.
& 
Day 25（10月 3日) 
mountains, but also representing Mogami river. The three acute triangles are also supposed to symbolise Yamagata’s developement…
. I had a similar day today, but I remembered about yesterday and your messages and it was a bit easier to sit and do it.