Happy birthday and many returns of the day!
6 Likes
April 17
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Vocabulary
- 偵察 = ていさつ scouting, reconnaissance.
- 仰せ = おおせ command or orders of a superior.
- 松明 = たいまつ torch.
@sycamore @NicoleIsEnough Happy birthday you two!
29 Likes
April 17
Happy Easter to those who celebrate! I’m happy to be on the other end of big cooking holiday myself. Now I have time in the evenings again lol. (minus the conference I’m attending this week 
)
Read a level-two graded reader, and I need to reply to my teacher before I go to bed tonight. So that’s my reading practice for today although I would like to start chapter 2 of Spy x Family (
@Scylie )
Progress on Tadoku graded readers
44 / 44 level-zeros
12 / 12 level-ones
2 /10 level-twos
x / 18 level-threes
Happy birthday @sycamore !!! Hope it was a good one 
29 Likes
㋃14-17 – Days 14-17
- ジョジョの奇妙な冒険
4/14
16-35ish possibly?
4/15
Oh boy, I just have to guess for this one. I think 35-48?
4/16
Due to… stuff… I read the stairs incident in Part 3, volume 27 I think.
4/17
Back to Part 1 Volume 3, 48- 58, or Zepelli’s backstory
Short story, but long weekend. In brief, I was busy with irl stuff not conductive to reading. I’ll try to see if I can manage getting through 2 volumes of manga this week, but we’ll see.
30 Likes
April 17th (Calendar Post)
Started もし、恋が見えたなら today. I think it’s the first time I read a tri-color manga - black, white and pink
もし、恋が見えたなら => 138 pages (170 minutes)
Some fun manga panels
桜
にぱっ
ガーン
I accidentally run into this odd archaic expression when looking up something else:
And some interesting new vocab:
31 Likes
I’ve been saving up Amazon gift cards (mostly free ones I’ve redeemed, but there was one that I bought) to get a snowflake textbook (or, I dunno if it’s exactly a textbook per se, but it’s certainly more formal than the author’s other books on snowflakes), and I finally got enough today! It’s apparently supposed to be getting here tomorrow already, so I’m excited. I’ll try not to let it get in the way of my Japanese reading. (I may be allergic to all other textbooks, but science ones I will absolutely try to read all in one sitting. My astronomy one in uni I ended up reading like half of in one night when I only needed to read one chapter. And no, telling myself that linguistics is technically a science has not helped me any with starting/getting through language-learning textbooks.)
I ended up burning my finger on the edge of a frying pan trying to make dinner (it’s minor, but it still hurts), and as I hadn’t done any reading before then, I didn’t end up doing much today. I read a couple paragraphs of 2.43 before giving it up as a lost cause and switching to Satori Reader.
I read ch 21-30 of 壁の穴. My heart hurts for Kumiko 
Some vocab of note:
振り絞る (ふりしぼる) [ラ五, transitive] to muster all one’s strength, voice, knowledge, etc., as though wringing it out
香木 (こうぼく) [noun] fragrant wood; aromatic tree. This was today’s (or tomorrow’s I think, because time zones) password on ねこあつめ.
高木 (こうぼく) [noun] tall tree. I accidentally typed this one trying to type 香木 lol. I’d only ever seen this one as a surname read たかぎ.
28 Likes
April 17 
Home Post
I’m getting really close now 
I finished up two more main endings and I’m close to another one but it just kept going and I have to sleep at some point 
I think I’ll finish in the next couple days so that’s pretty exciting!!
VLR adventures
So I did シグマ and クォーク’s endings which were a trip to say the least; cyborg arms huh? Can’t say I saw that one coming but man when シグマ crushed his arm in the door, oof, the sound was so rough lmao. And things with the 老婆 just keep getting wilder and I’m not entirely sure what to make of all of it at this point; people I thought couldn’t be involved in all this might be actually and uh… hm. Much to consider
I think I’m working on ルナ’s ending right now, which is also quite the time oh man. For one thing:
yoooo I was right!! Crushed it But yeah like… there is a lot going on in this ending, ディオ did so many murders, and a lot of past things are starting to come together as they do. Honestly my brain is mush at this point so I can’t even begin to express it all lmao but man, stuff’s wild.
Sooo once I finish the route I’m doing right now, I only have more… absolutely wild it approaches
@sycamore happy birthday!!! 
Welcome back! I hope you had a good time
Same, that killed me I absolutely adore her already
33 Likes
Day 18 - April 18
- 美少年探偵団 1 - 17,47% → 20,84%
- 無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ 1 - 11,78% → 11,78%
- キノの旅-the Beautiful World- 1 - 39,02% → 39,02%
- 阿部くんに狙われてます - Volume 1
- PとJK - Volume 1
- PとJK - Volume 2
- PとJK - Volume 3
So… Covid is a bitch Glad to be back and healthy again tho! I’ve still read every day, even tho I did not have the energy to write a post everyday.
I did not read a lot of novels, but I did manage to finish three manga last week ^^ Since PとJK vol 3 is free until the 21st, I will be focussing on that. Later this week I will fly to Spain for a week and I won’t bring my laptop, so I will be reading physically (starting another novel while I still need to finish 7 other novels ^^") and report a week later!
32 Likes
Day 17 
三毛猫ホームズの推理 ~61% to 74%, end of 3.4
It was a lazy day yesterday, so I managed a satisfying amount of reading. I’d like to retract my complaints towards a certain plot point from a couple of posts before. It was adequately explained (spoilers for 3.4!) by the brother’s inferiority complex, not to mention there seems to be just the twist I had been hoping for.
Wild speculation: (spoilers for up to 3.4) I keep coming back to the possibility that this has all been staged by Morisaki himself. I have no evidence at all to support this, and all kinds of evidence against it, but I still always circle back to it. It seems to me that his death easily accomplishes all the things he wanted to accomplish in life: Stop the university corruption, get rid of Abe, expose his brother for the scumbag he is, push Yukiko into Katayama’s arms (still unclear on why he wanted that). If this is indeed the case, then Holmes must be in on it. There’s no way to fool an animal the way you fool humans. On the other hand, I’m not sure about the police itself. Mitamura was his close friend, so maybe he was in on it too? But in that case, was even the supposed autopsy fake? I see two possibilities: Either Morisaki is alive and well, in which case there will have to be some other development to let Holmes end up with Katayama for the next books in the series, or Morisaki is actually dead, but maybe by his own hand. He may have been dying (wouldn’t the autopsy show that though?) or have had other reasons we know nothing about, but the way he staged it he managed to frame all the people who were against him in the first place. I really like the idea that even in death he outsmarted his brother who was so proud of his elaborate plan. I guess we’ll see.
Finally got to read this:
That’s an interesting thought, but surely traces of explosion would be found, even in an empty room like that? And wouldn’t the body look a little worse for wear? I think we are told that he looked almost pristine, so that even Katayama had no trouble looking at him.
Interesting words and phrases
取り澄ます - to look unconcerned, to assume a composed look
公務執行妨害 - interference with a public servant in the execution of his duties
踏み外す - to miss one’s footing
待ちくたびれる - to be tired of waiting
良心の呵責 - pangs of conscience
底が割れる - to be exposed, to be seen through, to be found out
口裏を合わせる - to get the stories straight, to arrange to tell the same story
手に乗る - to fall for a trick, to be taken in
苦し紛れ - out of desperation, (as a) last resort
29 Likes
Day 17 
Read:マグメル深海水族館 [2]
Finished: Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Time: 20 minutes, 12 minutes
Had a bit more time after finishing some assignments so got to read a bit more today. Today’s chapters focused on a メンダコ (flapjack octupus) and the crazy long named ミツクリエナガチョウチンアンコウ (triplewart seadevil). In this volume Koutarou starts his job as an assistant caretaker at the aquarium. The first creature he’s in charge of is みっちゃん the ミツクリエナガチョウチンアンコウ, who’s been there since the aquarium opened and is currently the only success at keeping that species alive long term at an aquarium. But this doesn’t start out so great as みっちゃん won’t eat at all when Koutarou feeds her. After worrying about it for a long while he comes to the conclusion that it was because she’s lonely alone in the aquarium and promised that he’d find her a husband (lol), and she finally ate (of course the actual reason she ate was different). I love how everyone imagined みっちゃん to be super bossy.
We also learn that his dad is a deep sea photographer which explains why Koutarou’s always been so interested in deep sea creatures.
New Vocab
掛け持ち holding two or more positions concurrently
孵化 （ふか）incubation; hatching
まれ rare; seldom
すり鉢 （すりばち）(earthenware) mortar (for grinding)
給餌 （きゅうじ）feeding (an animal)
ひたすら intently; single-mindedly; devotedly; solely; earnestly; with all one’s heart
速攻 （そっこう）right away; without delay; immediately
思考回路 （しこうかいろ）patterns of thinking; train of thought
興味津々 （きょうみしんしん）very interesting; of absorbing interest; having a keen interest (in); being immensely curious (about)
浮遊 （ふゆう）floating; drifting; suspension
生みつける to lay; to spawn
尻に敷く （しりにしく）to dominate (usu. one’s husband)
Happy Birthday!! 
26 Likes
4月14-18日
Calendar
On Saturday I wasn’t really in the mood for reading and there were many things going on before Easter, so I took a break. And I’m back, however from now on I might read less daily than before, as I have uni’s assigments which I really want to be done this month.
In the meanwhile I’ve read about 10% of 博士の愛した数式, and overall I’m still absorbed in the story and like its warmth.
Spoiler-filled thoughts
I love the bond that’s created between the 博士 and ルート. It surprised me at the beginning of the book, even when the 博士 only got to knew the existence of ルート and scolded his mother for leaving him at home alone while she’s at work - but then I began to like the direction of their relationship. In the parts when ルート cut himself and then at the clinic I couldn’t help but feel for 博士.
However, the very recent parts - especially the one with baseball cards found by the housekeeper - were quite slow-paced in comparison to those in my last posts (I suppose more exciting events are yet to come).
博士のvocab
図書館司書 - librarian
長方形 - rectangle
目を付ける - to have an eye on; to zero in on
重ねる - to pile up; to put on top of another
重なり合う - to lie on top of each other; to overlap
For a little change I started 「失はれる物語」 by 乙一 - it contains a few short stories so I thought it would be easy to split over time. I managed to read only about 3 pages so far.
Thoughts
The theme of the first part isn’t really my piece of cake, so story-wise it didn’t grab my attention right away. However, I’m very surprised by the easiness of the language (I wonder if it’s only for the first story though…) - thanks to that, even if there are unknown words, I can follow the narrative without looking them up in the dictionary. 
Because of that I think I will continue the book.
失はれるvocab
腫れ物に触るように - with great caution; gingerly
特異な - unique; peculiar
積み重なる - to pile up; to stack up
社交辞令 - something said for politeness’ sake; empty compliment
咄嗟に（とっさに）- at once; right away; promptly
曖昧な - vague; ambiguous
見透かす（みすかす） - to see through; to see the true nature of something
身構える - to put oneself on guard; to stand ready
着信 - receiving a phone call
29 Likes
Aww, thanks so much for all of the birthday wishes you guys 
I had a really lovely day.
Heehee - seems about right! You are also reminding me that I should definitely move up the Free! novel in my ‘to be read’ list, I miss those ridiculous boys.
Aw no! Hope you feel better soon! You’re totally right that taking it easy and being kind to yourself is the way to go. 
I didn’t read much yesterday as was fairly busy, but did get a bit further with すべてがｆになる and am now right in the middle of the final ‘here’s who done it and how’ section. I don’t see myself switching back to anything else until I finish this part, but I’m also itching to catch up with 三毛猫 so that I can read all of the spoiler chat! Hopefully I can get these deadlines out of the way soon and have more time 
I’ve been having the same emotions about this book. It’s nice enough but the ‘see, people would be fine living in poverty if they were more like my fun grandma’ theme is kind of fine for the kids story that this book is/feels like, but a bit weird/grating reading it as an adult/with life experience. Then again, I’m only about 25% through so should probably read more and see where it goes, but just now it’s the bottom of the pile of things I feel like picking up and reading more of.
27 Likes
Day 16:
日本語: I read nothing except for the read-aloud.
Read-aloud: We read two chapters of ハイキュー, in person for once!
- Manga volume to finish next week: DEATH NOTE v1
中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean.
- Weekly countdown to trying a page of 伯爵与妖精: 1,862 cards
33 Likes
I would love to participate in this challenge. I’ll add my name to the list and try to keep going until June 18th since I’m starting late!
I have been reading simple things from NHK EASY NEWS and this website here. I am interested in reading more things centering web design and development so I would love any suggestions if anyone has any!
I am by no means an advanced Japanese reader, but reading something simple every day will help me gain more confidence in my Japanese skills.
| Apr | ||||||
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| 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | ||||
| 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
What I've read based on the date
I will update what I’ve read here every day, feel free to take a look.
April 18th: I’ll be skipping this one since I’ve read around a few things today but will link to something tomorrow.
April 19th: 頑張っているみんなへ
April 20th: ベンジャミンバニーの話
April 21st:
April 22nd: Nothing
April 23rd: Nothing
April 24th: Nothing
Quite busy during the weekend so I didn’t read these three days.
April 25th:
NEWS WEB EASY|知床半島を観光する船が事故 26人が乗っていた
April 26th:
NEWS WEB EASY|原因がわからない子どもの肝臓の病気の可能性 1人が入院
April 27th:
NEWS WEB EASY|日本の政府がウクライナに缶詰などを送ることを決める
April 28th: NEWS WEB EASY|物の値段が上がっている 岸田総理大臣「みんなの生活を守る」
April 29th: NEWS WEB EASY|バスが走らなくなったまち 自分たちでバスの運転を始める
| May | ||||||
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| 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 |
| 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 |
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| 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
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| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
32 Likes
April 18, Mon home post
Week 4 of Spring 2022’s planning
I can’t believe I let 3 weeks before get passed.
From now on, I plan to plan every week on Monday 
, and report my glory or shame on Friday 
. The thought of this came from someone 
's Accountability Report. I don’t plan to progress everyday (which I don’t think it is easy to maintain); but let me be more accountable.
- Committed, and paced - for the sake of discussion
- Self-paced, but setting some minimals.
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2 - One Chapter
- Some easy listening… will report what I choose later.
- Will try, and possibly will discuss
-
Yuru Camp
- actually, I haven’t really continued since then.
-
Yuru Camp
- Self-paced and free style. Will tell how much I do later.
-
Wanted
- Eiichiro Oda - I have bought a while ago and read past a few page; but not recently. - Find some new series to get committed to.
-
Wanted
Vol.3 Ch.10
Ch.3999th - Not yet 1000th post. (And it appears that 4 posts have been deleted.)
29 Likes
End of week update!
Short daily updates are in my home post.
I managed one chapter of something per day, alternating between 探偵チームＫＺ事件ノート, 夜カフェ（１） and ハピネス this week. My progress wasn’t as happening compared to previous weeks but the streak is still going!
The character/world setting in 探偵チームＫＺ事件ノート is honestly taking quite awhile. I’m expecting some detective work to be done but that part has yet to come and I’m starting to get a bit bored. I should be able to finish this book in the upcoming week; hoping the story matches expectations.
29 Likes
Starting a bit late, but will continue until June 17th to make up for it!
Currently reading ホリミヤ (half way through volume 8 right now), and then planning on giving 四月は君の嘘 a go! I’ve seen the anime for both, which makes the reading a bit easier 
| Apr | ||||||
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| 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
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| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 |
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| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | ||
| 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
33 Likes
Remember how I said I would finish 遅刻してきた幽霊 before my trip? Clearly I didn’t. I started reading 戦前昭和の猟奇事件 (~Bizarre Crimes in the Prewar Showa Era) yesterday. It’s my first time reading nonfiction in Japanese in a long time.
I thought the note before the first case was interesting as it talked about language changed and not changed for ease of reading and for impact. Specifically they called out that they left in 差別語 (discriminatory language) and 使用禁止語 (forbidden words). I’m curious what those will be and whether or not I’ve run into them before.
So far it’s a rough read. Between old language (those newspaper quotes, oof) and just general writing style I’m definitely reading this more as a study exercise than for pleasure. Hopefully it will smooth out as I go on. Currently reading case 0 (鬼熊) which actually happened on the cusp of 昭和, at the very end of the 大正 era. 1926 for those (including myself) who don’t have those memorized.
Words!
Interesting word: 消息（しょうそく）- my dictionary gives this as being a synonym for 知らせ、様子、状態、and 便り. I would never have guessed that and frankly if presented it in isolation would have assumed it a synonym for 窒息.
Other random new words: 蔵匿 (context: 犯人蔵匿罪 (harboring a fugitive)), 幇助 (context: 自殺幇助 (criminally aiding suicide))
Also good lord, every man is <>次郎. Got 熊次郎、清次郎、and 長次郎 just in this one chapter.
31 Likes
18th of April
Day 18
Just reread page 19, and also read page 20 of かがみの孤城 today. What I’ve learned: I should read in the morning or the afternoon, because if I leave it until late night I end up procrastinating and only giving myself ten minutes to actually read. But despite not making good progress at all today, I’m glad to be back to reading narrative prose!
Tomorrow is my last day of holidays, so I’ll try to read as much as I can then.
Bit late, but happy birthday @sycamore!!
28 Likes
It’s been a fairly solid week. I read about 2/3 of a volume of イクメン - which I randomly picked up when it was free on Kindle a long time ago, and has been fairly entertaining manga.
Yesterday I picked up a light novel again - パパのいうことを聞きなさい. I felt like I was reading faster than usual - managed 13 pages spread throughout the day - ended on page 100. That puts me about 1/3 of the way through this novel - it’s taken me 4 months (although really, I took February/March off, so maybe only 2 months). I need to read more if I want to actually finish this book this year. I picked up about 5 pages of the same book in last summer’s read every day challenge, and dropped it as too difficult. This time, I’d say challenging but within range for me to read without frustration. I definitely find myself looking more grammar than I do when I read manga (I think my tolerance for ambiguity is lower without pictures).
Onwards to a new week!
30 Likes