📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

:tiger2: :books: Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220522 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

Tanuki Scroll LII: 真夜中のキツネの嫁入り :fox_face:

Read today’s folktale, from Tokyo prefecture!

About a ferryman being tricked by a fox. Always check to see if your money is indeed money, and not just leaves disguised as money.


:seedling: Japanese found in the tall grass :seedling:

New Things

渡し舟「わたしぶね」ー Ferryboat
船頭「せんどう」ー Boatman/ferryman

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For the last few days of May I’m also creating a small “main post”.

Rest of May

16 :white_check_mark: 17 :white_check_mark: 18 :white_check_mark: 19 :white_check_mark: 20 :white_check_mark: 21 :white_check_mark: 22 :white_check_mark:
23 :white_check_mark: 24 :white_check_mark: 25 :white_check_mark: 26 :white_check_mark: 27 :white_check_mark: 28 :white_check_mark: 29 :white_check_mark:
30 31

Days completed: 13/16

Goal for May: finish Ojisama to Neko Volume 2 (status: 155/155) :white_check_mark:

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May 22nd!

I went to a concert yesterday, and I guess I must be old now because I’m completely exhausted today :sweat_smile:
I managed to read a chapter of Mitsuboshi Colours though - it was a pretty text light chapter which was lucky for me in my current state!

(Home Post)

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[Home Post]

Haven’t posted here in ages :sweat_smile: so it’s probably about time…

After having finished Flesh&Blood, I finally decided to give 穴 a try. I figured I might be able to quickly read the first story before the next ABC book starts, but I was clearly wrong…
My main intention was to scout the book’s difficulty (as we had a bit of a discussion about it in the Natively & IBC threads). When I started, I found the very first passage to be a bit difficult because there was lots of speech and recounting of speech so that was not really clear to me; also of course settling into a writing style always takes a bit of time. But after this first scene it was pretty okay difficulty-wise. Nonetheless, I only managed to read about 5 pages per day before being pretty much exhausted :thinking:
I was actually wondering why this happened and what this means for the book’s difficulty, but I’m still a bit confused. I guess it’s a mixture of the book being off to a pretty slow start (so there was nothing that would naturally drag me along), the author using a narrative full of tiny details (making me wonder constantly how all of these details are supposed to fit together), and me being a bit sleep-deprived and short on time during the past week (so I only managed to read late in the evening when I was very tired).
Luckily the story picked up a bit of steam today, but I still don’t know what to think about its difficulty :joy_cat: (But probably it’s not as difficult as the Natively L38 is supposed to make us believe.)

For the rest of this month, I will continue 穴, I will hopefully manage to catch up with がばいばあちゃん at some point, and I will start the new ABC pick on Friday.

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Day 50 :heavy_check_mark: :izakaya_lantern:

夜市 ~ 16-26%

Day 51 :heavy_check_mark: :izakaya_lantern:

夜市 ~ 26-27%

Day 52 :heavy_check_mark: :izakaya_lantern:

夜市 ~ 27-32%

I had a constant headache this whole weekend, so I couldn’t concentrate on anything for long, which accounts for my reduced reading speed. Not much to report. The story has taken some unexpected turns, and I’m wondering how it will all turn out.

I’m finding difficulty such a hard thing to pinpoint. For example consensus seems to be that 夜市 is a relatively easy read (L29 on Natively), yet I’m finding several sentences that I can’t easily interpret with any degree of certainty. I think this is partly because they tend to describe otherworldly -and therefore unexpected- things, and partly because of my own reduced brain performance (see headache). Maybe if I read those same sentences with a clearer head they would seem absolutely straightforward, who knows.

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Day 52

Read another page of Japanese Prefecture Stories about Namahage demon from Akita prefecture.

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Summary post :bookmark:

May 22nd :seedling:

・薬屋のひとりごと 2 (38% → 41%)

Finished chapter 8. I’m pretty sure something went over my head. Something about a character hinting to something else and I’m like bruh I’m already expending effort reading the actual lines, now you want me to read between the lines too? :joy: Sumimasen, I can’t tell what you mean.

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I just finished reading “女の子”. Above is poor Hachi waiting for his master for ten years, in rain, snow and wind. But his master never comes home. This is the saddest thing I’ve ever read. Even though I already knew the story, reading it in Japanese made me cry. Whoever wrote this story has a way with words.

New word:

ぞう
像 statue

Picture of Hachi and his master and the statue:

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May 22

I read some of my Sad Animal Facts 図鑑. Here’s some facts:

  • Kangaroos will cough when they lose a fight
  • Gorillas can catch colds from humans
  • Crows remember faces of people they don’t like (and tell other crows)
  • Pigeons will procrastinate on tasks (this one I didn’t fully understand the details of)

I also started Kiki’s Delivery Service. I was happy to see that with the vocab list from the previous book clubs, I can read through a page fairly smoothly. The sentence structures aren’t too complex yet.

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22nd May

I read a whole chapter of 山田くんと7人の魔女3 today! While there were some words that I didn’t understand, I still managed to follow the plot from the words that I did know.

I was only going to read a few pages. What I usually do is read until a break in the story and if there is no break, just stop after a couple pages. But there was no break in the story in this chapter and I was understanding what they were talking about (for the most part), so I didn’t stop. Next thing I knew, it was the end of the chapter. I feel so accomplished. :laughing: :triumph: :triumph: :confetti_ball:

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But they remember the faces of people they like, too!

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Summary Post

Day 52: May 22nd
What did I read?: クマとたぬき Vol 2
How much did I read?: 26 pages
How long did it take me?: 18 min

Cuteness of the day: snowstorm = yeti time :joy:

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May 22 (Calendar Post)

隣の席の佐藤さん => 98 pages (106 min)

Finished volume 2. Looking forward to how the story ends in the next volume.

佐藤さん facial expressions gallore!

image

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Days 49-51

  • Prefecture Stories

On Friday, I read Miyagi’s story. The rest of Friday, I was really tired so I went to bed early.

  • ジョジョの奇妙な冒険

I read on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I read 31-36. I was really tired again. On Sunday, I read 37-46. It was almost 2am, but I wanted to keep reading :sob: If I started at a decent time, I might finish the whole volume in one sitting lol. I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying Part 3 so far. I can’t tell if it’s just that the level of the writing is at just the right level for me, so that makes it more exciting, or if I like Part 3/Jotaro more than I thought.

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Home

I read the preview for 花降る町の新婚さん. I’d thought it was a manga, so imagine my surprise when I got to the first page of the story and found it was a novel lol. I’d discovered it on Bookmeter, saw it on my 相性 page and thought the cover was pretty, so I decided to check it out. I’m kinda wishing I still had my old laptop which could convert into a tablet, which would make it easier to read as then I could hold the screen closer to my face more comfortably and not need my glasses, which tend to make my eyes hurt if I wear them for extended periods of time at home and not to watch TV. I dunno, it’s weird, because it can’t just be the (lack of) distance, because I was fine at school, and I’m fine at work, but the only time I can comfortably wear my glasses at home is when I’m watching TV. Ugh, really I’d much rather be reading on paper. Anyway, it seems good, and I haven’t read any queer novels in Japanese yet, so that’ll be nice. Of course, it being a novel means it’s definitely gonna be a while before I get it lol

Apparently, even though I can read 土産, I don’t know it well enough, because when I came across 土産物 with the first character at the end of one line and the rest at the beginning of the rest, I was like, “What the hell’s that? (looking it up on imiwa) とさんぶつ? どさんぶつ? Wait, (that one)'s さん, right, not さい? Okay cool I remembered right. (seeing the result) Ohhhh it’s みやげもの, souvenir. I’m an idiot.”

I also read ch 2 of ハイキュー!! This is not one to read when I’m tired lmao the print is way too tiny in places, and I’m not even farsighted or anything. I mean look at that! I had to look the word up to see how it was read, and I still can only just barely make out the furigana even with a zoomed-in photo. Oh god, I hope there aren’t any where you can’t make out the kanji or the furigana if you can’t already infer what it is…

I had wanted to read more, and to play Heroes, but hopefully tomorrow. I don’t have work then.

Some vocab of note:

数寄屋造り (すきやづくり) [noun] sukiya style (of a building); style of a tea-ceremony arbor
既読 (きどく) [noun] already read
前途洋々 (ぜんとようよう) [四字熟語, noun] with a rosy future; offering promising prospects
鳶に油揚げをさらわれる (とんびにあぶらあげをさらわれる) [一, expression] to be robbed of one’s due, lit. “to have one’s abura’age snatched by a black kite”
眉根を寄せる (まゆねをよせる) [一, expression] to frown; to squint
鳶色 (とびいろ) [noun] reddish brown. And thus I learned that the black kite isn’t actually black. Okay then. Why, English.
百戦錬磨 (ひゃくせんれんま) [四字熟語, noun] veteran; battle-worn; schooled by adversity in many battles; rich in experience
切磋琢磨 (せっさたくま) [四字熟語, noun, する verb] mutual encouragement (to improve); working hard together; friendly rivalry

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May 22 :cherry_blossom: Home Post

I played more ZTD! A lot happened and I really don’t know what to make of it, but it’s definitely feeling like I’m getting to the end of things. I’ll have to figure out how exactly to proceed but progress has been good! I’m curious to see what’s going on :eyes:

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:blossom: May 22nd :blossom: :house:
Read: マグメル深海水族館 (5)
Finished: Chapter 22 & 23
Less time than I expected today so read some more マグメル. I’m always conflicted on whether I should binge the volumes I have or space it out since a volume came out recently and it’ll probably be a while until there’s a new one. But there are some things I’m so curious about that are slowly building up like what was that ominous line at the end of chapter 22? and what is the deal with Kotaro’s dad? I’m really not good at pacing myself with things I like lol
Some Kotaro
I really like the way this panel is drawn


Hard relate to these both with finals (and kind of just generally lol)

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May 23, Mon :cherry_blossom: calendar post

Week 9 of Spring 2022’s planning

  • Committed, and paced - for the sake of discussion
    • Death Note :notebook: Vol.3 Ch.15
  • Committed, with マイペース(my=pace)
    • JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2 - finish リサリサ’s training arc (2.5 chaps left)
    • Read ahead of Night Cafe :shrimp: Ch.8
      • Otherwise, 1 chapter of novel, somehow - probably Dragon Ball or some other series in My Library list
    • 1+ sentence structure’s grammar
    • 1+ verb’s grammar, compounds, comparison and usage
    • Watch 1+ episode of anime (probably JoJo S01-E01)
    • Half of WaniKani Context Sentences - Level 2’s Breakdown
      • Will probably add several vocabularies to my Anki; as well as read WaniKani team’s vocabulary explanation
      • I might made it sounds cool in that thread, but in the end, it’s about my learning…
  • Considered
    • WANTED! Story 3 ((いっ)()()(こう)) - I just want to finish this book, and perhaps, 1 chapter per week.
    • Read それでも歩は寄せてくる to 50% (Ch.7) (currently read up to Ch.5), and probably re-reading for Ch.1
    • Re-read 1 chapter (chapter 1) of Yuru Camp
      • And read up on (やま)(なし)
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:tiger2: :books: Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220523 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

Tanuki Scroll LIII: お月さまに行ったウサギ :rabbit: :full_moon: :rabbit2:

Read today’s folktale, from Aomori prefecture!

About a rabbit that goes to live on the moon, aka, the moon rabbit origin story.


:seedling: Japanese found in the tall grass :seedling:

New Things from the Moon

がっかり ー to be disappointed; to be downhearted
ずるい「狡い」ー Sly; cunning; sneaky; unfair
積み上げる「つみあげる」ー To pile up; to make a heap (of something)

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Read chapter 4 of Yotsuba& today. ジャンボさん :joy: He almost overshadows the first part of the chapter (with just dad, Yotsuba and eventually Fuuka) although that was a lot of fun too.

Also 綾瀬(Ayase) family are all the same, aren’t they? でか!No wonder ジャンボさん pretended to be Godzilla at the end.

I also decided to time myself so I could learn how long it takes for each chapter. This one took 1h 15ish mins. But the sudden shounen tropes and some other things early in the chapter tripped me up for a bit.

Honestly, so much funny in this chapter and Yotsuba barely supplied any of it. :joy:

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