October 28th
Stardew Valley
Random words
- 長い目で見る = ながいめでみる to look at the long term.
- 適度 = てきど moderate, proper.
- 熱心 = ねっしん zeal, enthusiasm.
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Day 54: October 28
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 4 pages
How long did it take me?: 46 min
I was looking forward to Matsuoka sibling moments and I was absolutely NOT disappointed
The boys introduce themselves to Gou and the literal first thing out of her mouth is basically “oh yeah, I’ve heard about you guys - after the tournaments, my brother would always go on and on about how fast Nanase is” 
Rin, we know you’re obsessed with Haru, it’s ok 
IIII absolutely feel for Rin in this moment though tbh, like why are family members embarrassing as heck sometimes xD Like…why you gotta tell people that stuff about me? Why? Can you just let me pretend to be a normal person in front of these people please xD I don’t feel like I’ve ever had that impulse to do that, to share stuff about others that might not be common knowledge, am I the weird one? (Honestly, probably, but…??? Maybe it’s because my impulse to talk period is generally very low irl, idk)
But thanks to Gou’s big mouth, we also learn that Rin moved to live at his grandma’s house so he could go to Iwatobi and swim with them, basically. Which is very cute. And also she brought him something that he is trying very hard to keep secret, something that he’s going to use/need on the day of the tournament 
I know what it is, I already know, and I’m- I’ll talk about this later but 
I love this. I just realized that it connects in the best way Nagisa, of course, has a fun guessing game about it, much to Rin’s annoyance xD
Good words:
- 屈託の無い (くったくのない) - carefree; free from worry
- ぎこちない - awkward; clumsy; stiff; crude; unrefined; constrained
- 住民票 (じゅうみんひょう) - certificate of residence (from what I understand, it’s basically the government record of where you live/your official address)
- 押し返す (おしかえす) - to force back; to jostle
- 記念撮影 (きねんさつえい) - taking a commemorative photo
- 痛切 (つうせつ) - keen; acute; heartfelt
- かくも - so (e.g. so much, so close, so many, so few)
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Day 57:
日本語: I read a fair amount of 伯爵と妖精 21.
Read-aloud: We read a chapter of 7SEEDS.
中国語
中国語: I read 让失去变得可爱 on MB, plus one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学.
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:: TANUKIDATE 20211029 :: Day LIX: この音とまれ！ pg.135-143 & 大蛇に変身した奥さん 
8 pages today! Unless I somehow manage to read 57 pages in two days then I’m not gonna finish this by the deadline, may have to flick though the pictures on the last day.
Today’s 百物語 is aboutttt… a snake! Again!
Today is also ホームビデオ記念日, home video day! 
I had to share his little face waiting for the VHS to start
~ New Words ~
庄屋 (しょうや) - Village Leader (especially in Kansai region) [Old Word]
役所 (やくしょ) - Government Office / Public Office
とらふぐ (虎河豚) - Japanese pufferfish
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Day 59: Today I read 7 pages of よつば＆！
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What did I read:
Day 47 (10月 26日) 
歴史366、3 stories, 20min
Day 48 (10月 27日)
10分でよめるこわい話 , 第5話「がいこつの歌」＆ 第６話「人に死をつげるようか」, 50min. 4 stories left in this, hope I can make it in time by the deadline.
Day 49 (10月 28日)
アイドリッシュセブン、イベントストーリー「miniモンスターパレード～モフモフぶっとびレーシング」
okay, hear me out, I didn’t read from a book, but I read a whole chapter from the story of a mobage I play… it still counts…right…?? I even noted down words. bc honestly, there were many interesting new expressions.
Day 50 (10月 29日)
暁のヨナ, ch44, only half of it and it’s been 1h30m already, this chapter is so wordy…
interesting expressions
鼻につく はなにつく＝to be cloying; to be sick and tired with; to be disgusted with;
目利き めきき ＝judgement; judgment; connoisseur
口車に乗せる くちくるまにのせる＝to deceive with smooth talk; to wheedle; to give someone a snow job
人聞きの悪い ひとぎきのわるい ＝disreputable; scandalous; disgraceful
口が回る くちがまわる ＝express oneself well, to talk smoothly, fluently
遣り兼ねない ＝capable of anything; liable to do
ヘマをする ＝make a mess weblio
goodness, I can’t believe there’s only two days left!! 
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Day 55: October 29
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 4 pages
How long did it take me?: 1 hour 19 min
These four pages just got me like 
I love these boys so much. (How many times have I said that over the course of this book…probably a lot ) Rin started crying at the graduation and made pretty much everyone else cry too xD That’s so Rin~ Secretly the most sentimental baby <3 Ever the sympathetic friend, Haru’s just like …why are you crying, you barely even go here That’s so Haru~
And then there was this perfect little snapshot of a moment
After the graduation, they have their usual run to the swim club. The weather is freaking gorgeous, by the way, like it sounds like the most beautiful day. The sky is blue as heck, with the green mountains standing out vividly against it. The weather’s verging on summer. There’s a freaking seabird floating by on the ocean wind. It’s gorgeous. As always, Haru and Makoto meet up with Nagisa near the bridge, and Rin catches up with them shortly after that. And they’re just…it’s just a really friend group-y moment. Like you feel how normal the dynamic between the four of them has become. Nagisa asked them if they cried at the graduation, and nobody hesitates to throw Rin under the bus as the crybaby of the group And he calls Haru and Makoto the weird ones for not crying. It just had that beautiful combination of “special” and “everyday.” The peacefulness of it all just
It’s the kind of everyday moment you want to capture and keep in your heart forever. It feels special, even though it’s really just an ordinary day. In the middle of all that, Nagisa brings up the fact that Rin’s going to Australia (as a possible explanation as to why Rin was crying so hard). That poignant reminder, that this will all soon be just a memory. …Omg, why am I making myself sad - stop that, self
So many good words today :D
あっさり - easily; readily; quickly
淡々 (たんたん) - uninterested; unconcerned; indifferent; dispassionate; matter-of-fact; detached
共鳴 (きょうめい) - sympathy (with a view, idea, etc.)
涙もろい (なみだもろい) - easily moved to tears; given to weeping; lachrymose
延々 (えんえん) - forever; endlessly; on and on
稜線 (りょうせん) - ridgeline; lines of a mountain ridge
たもと - vicinity (esp. of a bridge) why is there actually a specific word for being in the vicinity of a bridge though
馴れ馴れしい (なれなれしい) - over-familiar
どうかしている - something’s wrong (with someone); not right (in the head); not oneself; crazy; nuts (this word cracks me up)
号泣 (ごうきゅう) - crying loudly; bawling; wailing; lamentation; crying one’s eyes out (without making noise); breaking into a flood of tears; crying buckets; weeping
にらみつける - to glare at; to scowl at
寄り添う (よりそう) - to get close; to cuddle close together; to nestle close to; to snuggle up to (it was the first meaning in context, but what a cute word)
柄にもなく (がらにもなく) - out of character; unlike one
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October 29th
Final Fantasy XIV
Random words
- 順番 = じゅんばん turn, order of things, sequential order.
- 使用 = しよう use, utilisation, employment.
- 利用 = りよう use, utilisation, application.
→ I added these two because I was checking the difference between them. As I understand it, 使用 is just regular use of something, 使うこと . 利用 refers to using something specifically for a purpose, employing something for one’s benefit, making use of something.
I think I’ve decided to turn English back on in FFXIV from time to time. I’ve been going with Japanese for quite a while already, and while it has been quite fun overall, it’s been way too hard work at times. I don’t think it has been very productive sometimes because of that, and depending on what I was doing it was too little return for the amount of effort I was putting into it. The reality is that it’s still a very hard resource for me at the moment, even though I still understand quite a bit, but there is just too much that I don’t. And don’t get me wrong, I will still be playing it in Japanese, but I will swap back to English when I’m just tired or when I’m doing something lore-heavy and I want to understand things completely. It’s awesome that I can just swap back and forth when I feel like it. But doing hours and hours of hard mental gymnastics was too straining for my own enjoyment. Balance is key.
I think this is an obvious thing to say, but I’ve definitely noticed that resources that consistently give you sentences containing only one or at most two words you don’t know are much more productive than fighting a text full of unknown words. So this is why I say that, despite my undying love for FFXIV, I don’t think it is a good resource for me at the moment. Stardew Valley however is an amazing resource in terms of word mining, but on the other hand the grammar is rather simple and the dialogues very short. If I could only find a resource that matches both my vocabulary and grammar level, that would be wonderful. I seriously doubt I would ever find that holy grail, though. There’s always something lacking.
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Day 58:
日本語: I read a lot of 伯爵と妖精 21.
中国語
中国語: I read 一块钱 on MB, plus one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学.
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Definitely feel this. The kids book series I’m reading is pretty much spot-on for me at the moment in terms of how much I need to look up vocabulary-wise and how much I can let wash over me grammar-wise. I’ve got three volumes of it, and I’m trying to decide whether to buy some more because I’m getting on so well with it, and it’s a manageable read, or whether I should be trying to push myself into something more difficult, but acknowledging that I may well then end up avoiding it because it’s to hard for me.
As you said, it’s awesome that you’re playing any of FFXIV in Japanese! I’ve just started re-watching Dad of Light on netflix, which is about a kid playing it with his dad and I’m only just about able to understand that, let alone the game itself.
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Day LX: この音とまれ！ pg.143-147 & 琵琶湖の大入道 
Four pages, I tried to read more since I’m not sure if it’ll be available tomorrow but there was SO MUCH dialogue I couldn’t get any further.
And read today’s 百物語 about lake Biwa and a procession of Onyudo being mistaken for an earthquake.
Rather short readings today, I would have liked to read more since there’s only tomorrow left (since when did that get here??) but I’m pretty tired today.
~ New Words ~
松明 (たいまつ) - Torch (made of wood/bamboo - flame torch)
様な (ような) - Similar to
行列 (ぎょうれつ) - Line, queue; Procession; Parade
明神 (みょうじん) - Great god/deity
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October 29 (yesterday’s post)
・Honzuki 6. (90% → 91%).
Yooo, handed in just in time 
Didn’t have time to post tho, had to hurry to catch a train. And then train didn’t have wifi, so couldn’t post then either. Sad times. Anyway, I’m still here and readin’ xD
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Day 59:
日本語: I read a fair amount of 伯爵と妖精 21.
Read-aloud: We read a chapter of ふしぎの国のバード (finished v3).
中国語
中国語: I read 叫的狗不咬人 on MB, plus one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学 and one page of 妙手仙丹.
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Penultimate day! I read 4 and a bit pages of ズッコケ山賊修業中 - the chapters are much longer in this volume - they were almost always 6 pages in the last one but have varied between 10 and 18 this time - so I read to a natural break point. One of the characters gave a bit of a history lesson so I had to look up a lot of words and most of them were marked as ‘archaic’ in the dictionary, but I decided to put them in my flashcards anyway, because it can’t hurt. Also it’s not that unlikely that I’ll end up sometime in a museum or historic building in Japan and be like ‘aha!’. although some days it’s feeling increasingly unlikely that I’ll ever be in Japan again, sigh
I also played some of the Crayon Shinchan game and was proud of myself for being able to read Tyrannosaurus Rex in katakana first time,
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October 30 Long train day 
・Honzuki 6. (91% → 100%)
Finished the book :3 Good book 
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Day 60: Today I read 7 pages of よつば＆！ and 5 pages of ツバサ Reservoir Chronicle!
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Day 56: October 30
What did I read?: ハイ☆スピード!
How much did I read?: 4 pages
How long did it take me?: 1 hour 31 min
Felt like hard going today…my weak point is still reading the narrative-style parts, that’s for sure, I get so tired so quickly. 
It was quite interesting, though - we get a little glimpse into each character’s head, about how they’re feeling and what they’re thinking about during this (I assume) final practice session before the big race.
First, Makoto - we learn why he didn’t cry at the graduation. Because it’s not over yet - they still have the big race, and until then, all he can feel is this passion and excitement to do his best.
Then, it’s Nagisa’s turn, and we see some lingering doubts in him. Is he really good enough to be swimming with these sixth years, or is he just a burden, slowing them down? That thought spurs his desire to swim as fast as he can (and that, in turn, seems to make him actually swim faster).
Rin is…thinking about Haru (honestly is that even a spoiler at this point ) - he didn’t manage to beat Haru’s previous time when he was practicing freestyle on his own, though he tried like 20 times to beat it. But he’s noticed that Haru isn’t as fast as he used to be, either. In fact, Haru is the one slowing the team’s times down. Though there’s nothing obviously wrong with his stroke, he’s not fast and graceful like before. He’s almost like a different person - like he’s rejecting the water, like he hates it 
(which is…probably accurate, based on that realization Haru had after Rin told them he was going to Australia). Rin’s not sure why Haru’s swimming is messed up, but it’s making it hard for him, too - without Haru, he doesn’t know what he should be aiming for. But, even with Haru’s current drop in performance, he feels certain that one day, Haru will snap out of it and be fast again. And then he’ll be pulling ahead of Rin, yet again. There’s still that feeling of Haru always moving out ahead of him. Of never being able to catch up. And that spurs him on.
As for what’s on Haru’s mind…we will learn that another day because brain tired
But it’s interesting because they all have kind of different motivators - different reasons for swimming their hardest. Which is different from what Haru thought before, about all the team members needing to have the same goal - namely, to win the race.
Good words
浮力 (ふりょく) - buoyancy; floating power
息継ぎ (いきつぎ) - taking a breath (while singing, swimming, etc.)
たちまち - in an instant; in a moment; immediately; right away; at once
緊張感 (きんちょうかん) - feeling of tension; air of tension; tension; nervousness
足の裏 (あしのうら) - sole of foot
足手まとい (あしでまとい) - impediment; burden; encumbrance; hindrance; drag
先に立つ (さきにたつ) - to take precedence (e.g. sadness taking precedence over anger)
突き破る (つきやぶる) - to break through; to penetrate; to pierce
欠落 (けつらく) - missing; lacking
根本的 (こんぽんてき) - fundamental; basic
がむしゃら - reckless; daredevil; frantic; foolhardy
滑空 (かっくう) - gliding (through the air)
あがく - to struggle (using one’s arms and legs); to flounder; to flail about (in kanji: 足掻く)
似ても似つかない (にてもにつかない) - quite unlike; not bearing the slightest resemblance
どうなるものでもない - can’t help; won’t make much difference
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October 30th
Stardew Valley
Random words
- 拡張 = かくちょう expansion, extension, enlargement.
- 波打つ = なみうつ to dash against (of waves) → 波打つ音。
- 貝殻 = かいがら seashell, shell.
I was wondering if there are some interesting sites or blogs that you guys know of that are frequently updated in Japanese? Since I cancelled my Satori Reader subscription I have a shortage of this type of content and I would really like to have something outside of video games for when I don’t feel like playing at all. I have two books as candidates for the next challenge if I feel brave enough for a whole book: 君の名は and 星の王子さま . But I’m missing some type of content that is just an entry on something and that’s it, that I can consume in a day. Actually @Zakarius , that site you linked in your last post(s) looks amazing and so fitting for this exact purpose. I wonder how you find it in terms of difficulty?
Oh I watched some episodes of that many years ago, but I don’t remember much. I’ve actually thought recently about starting it again, in Japanese this time around. The game has changed a lot since then though, it would be very nostalgic 
.
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hukumusumehukumusumehukumusumehukumusumehukumusumehukumusume
The site I’ve been using for most of this challenge: Hukumusume
Discourse keeps telling me off for sharing this link too often
Reading-levelwise I think it’s aimed at an elementary-middle schooler level.
Example from one of today's stories
むかしむかし、ある村に、人を化かしていたずらをするキツネがいました。
村人たちの中には、ドロのだんごを食べさせられたという人や、お風呂だと言われてこやしのおけに入れられた人など、色々ないたずらをされる人がふえてきました。
I find it a bit of a challenge to get through but not in the overwhelming sense of “I have no idea what any of this means I’ll go hide now”. There’s occasionally words and grammar that I don’t recognise but it’s all copy-pasteable so it’s easy to look things up, and they do provide furigana in brackets for the olde timey and obscure stuff. Some words, mostly historic ones, even have links to explain them better.
The stories are short so they are handy for daily reading, and a lot of them have voice recordings too (sometimes multiple different versions, and sometimes videos) so you can read and listen along which is very, very helpful. The voice actors are great, especially this one guy who gets really into it.
Not sure how often they add new stories, but there’s no lack of things to read, it even says at the top: 3136話の昔話 …which is a lot of stories. And that’s just stories, there’s loads of other things like the prefecture pages and such, and everywhere I look there’s links off to other Japanese sites of all sorts of things, so it’s very easy to get lost on a magical treasure hunt.
But yeh, I definitely recommend it for daily reading! In the time between this challenge and the next I’m going to try to read at least one story from hukumusume a day, I’d miss it otherwise.
I hope I have answered your question here and not just gone on and on about how much I love this site
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Two months of reading every day DONE. Finished the books on the left, half and one-third respectively read the books on the right. All these books I actually bought this time last year and I’m astounded by my progress since then. Last December I was reading a page of こぐまのケーキ屋さん at a time with a dictionary, and this year I’ve been able to read half a dozen pages before bed without a dictionary. When the ズッコケ books arrived from eBay last year, I remember feeling crushed that they had so few pictures and putting them on the shelf ‘for later’. Massive thanks to everyone for your camaraderie during this challenge, it’s made a huge difference. I will be sticking round in the thread to cheer on those of you who started on a different schedule and also continuing to read most days now I’m into the habit.
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