Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220424 
Tanuki Scroll XXIV: 娘ギツネの恩返し 
Read today’s folktale, from Yamagata Prefecture!
About a man who helps out the daughter of a fox.
Japanese found in the tall grass
菩提樹「ぼうだいじゅ」ー Tilia miqueliana (a type of Linden tree)
常緑高木「じょうりょくこうぼく」ー tall, evergreen tree
貴族「きぞく」ー Aristocrat
新巻「あらまき」ー Salted salmon (also: 荒巻 or 苞苴)
I just finished Book 12 from Level 0, Set 2. It tells all about different data about people in Japan. It says Japanese women live the longest in the world at 86 years old. Men get married at age 30 and women at age 29. Men work a total of 18 minutes at home, while women work 3 hours and 41 minutes. Japanese people have 1.37 children.
I will begin Level 0, Set 3 tomorrow.
New vocabulary:
けっこん
結婚 marriage
いそが
忙しい busy, occupied, hectic
April 24th!
I read Chapter 17 of Mitsuboshi Colors today. I struggled a bit as it was one of the more random, zany chapters where it can be hard to tell whether I read something wrong, or whether its just the characters being eccentric 
I think I got the gist of what was going on though!
Those are interesting stats @dunlewy ! Thanks for sharing 
I thought some of the stats were weird, like men only helping out at home for 18 minutes. Also, I didn’t know that Japanese women had the longest lifespans in the world. I learned a lot about Japan in this book. But it was harder reading!
April 24th
・薬屋のひとりごと (53% → 58%)
Finished chapter 20. I definitely started reading way too late tonight. Let’s try to avoid that, starting two days from now. (I know tomorrow most likely will be busy busy)
And another complete reading week down. One more week until halftime: 24/61 Homepost
This week went slightly better than the last and I got all my reading done in time. Even though I started late because of easter.
What I read/did in the last week:
So the Solanin re-read is an interesting story. I had one Anki card which I did not understand so I was looking for the context in the book again. But while searching I kinda started reading it again. It was fascinating how much easier it was this time around since I had just read it in the last challenge in Winter. Before I knew It I head reread 6 chapters and even could remove nearly all question marks I left while reading last time. Time ran away though so I just suspended the card and moved on with what I was supposed to do.
Most of it is surely that I srsed the vocabulary from the book but it also felt markedably easier to parse the sentences and it took way less effort compared to last time. I also found a grammar point 固いっちゃ固いけど which last time I just didn’t understand but since then came to learn this usage of といえば and that contraction. It felt soo good to actually see my progress which seemed quite substantial.
Other than that nothing more to report.
My next update will be late again because next week is the chaos weekend where I’m not sure I can even keep the streak going.
See you then.
Day 24
Read a short tadoku story about おでん. I’ve been busy last several days due to moving. Things should settle down soon.
April 24
Final Fantasy VII
April 23
Continued chapter one of 坊ちゃん and in the very next sentence I got a bit of context for my trouble sentences the day before. (@Belerith Turns out Kiyo thinks the protagonist has a good personality and is a cute kid, or however to phrase that. Also probably doesn’t like that his dad neglects him.) And this is just the set up of the story.
This story is making me dig into grammar points I know generally to understand them deeper. Good I guess, but makes the reading a bit annoying because I feel so uncertain over my understanding.
On to the more complex sentences from the rest of chapter 1.
おれは泣かなかった。しかし、もう少しで泣きそうだった。I didn’t cry. However… ? I’m honestly not sure at all.
Oh, apparently もう少しで is a phrase meaning almost/nearly.
そうだ apparently can be applied to oneself, meaning one thinks one might do something (non-volitionally).
So almost/nearly, plus about to cry/feel like he will cry. Makes it SUPER close that he cried. Maybe he even did cry, but not confirming the matter? (That last part is my conjecture.)
For the next one, it is only the second sentence that I don’t have a grip on, but I think the first sentence is needed for context, so here goes:
汽車が動き出してから、もういないだろうと思って窓から首を出して後ろを見たら、清はまだ同じ場所に立っていた。何だか大変小さく見えた。
Like I know all the words in that sentence, so in the roughest of roughest of senses, I think I understand what it is getting at. But also like not at all, if that makes sense. Is it something along the lines of: Somehow she looks so very small. ?
Perhaps I am missing some grammar here.
So yeah, this booklet in this Graded reader have me busting out my A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar for the first time (or like actually using it anyway). I’m so glad I bought that many moons (*cough* years *cough*) ago.
April 24
Well, the first two pages of chapter 2 and I’ve already looked up several grammar points. This story is making me double check that I do in fact know a certain grammar point to mean X, because so many of sentences feel like it could mean either X or Y. (aka opposites)
One fun word at least:
役割 = role, or as I thought of it when I saw it: division/separation of duties, aka your role/your share of duties.
And now on to everything I had trouble with…
そんなことができたら、こんな田舎に月四十円の給料でくるものか！(The そんなこと is referring to behaving appropriately as a teacher, as in 正しい行動する) So, I get what the sentence is saying: If protagonist/he could do such a thing, he would not have gone to the countryside for a 40 yen per month teacher job. (Also I’m assuming 40 yen went a lot further back then 
even if it is still portrayed as a small salary.)
However, たら is typically not used for contrasting, or if it is, what are the markers in this sentence (if there are any)? And looking up ものか (that did not exist in my basic grammar book), apparently that is exactly what it does. ものか = speaker believes the opposite of what he said, a kind of a “like hell I will” kinda vibe according to Safarikai.
そんなによくわかっているなら、始めから言わなければいいのに。(始めから is referring to starting the job, he almost quit before he began) So I’m pretty sure I understand what the sentence mean, but I was trying to look up
I was wrong. I searched for ばいいのに and found the grammar point I knew existed about it. It has two meanings according to a blog: 1) reality is different and speaker is disappointed about it (not our case), 2) You/speaker criticizing someone’s behavior. And this second definition made me realize I didn’t understand the sentence at all.
I thought the first half (before なら) meant the principal was understanding about the protagonist not being able to live up to the high behavior standard, but no no no—or, not exactly.
I think this sentence means something more like this: If you (principal) understand so well that fulfilling that standard of behavior is so hard, then why didn’t you start by saying that?!?!?! (I liberally added in context from previous sentence(s) and wrote more colloquial English rather than a more direct translation.)
Well, learning new things and choring up old knowledge (or reminding myself of old knowledge) are good things, but also means a serious snail pace.
Normally I just kinda read and don’t worry so much about the details, but (1) I am getting some of these sentences entirely wrong and (2) most of them feel +1-ish—as in if I just look up the grammar point I’m kinda missing/not remembering clearly, I get the meaning of the sentence instantly kinda way.
Well, maybe someone else gets some joy out of my struggle too.
Edit: Also just remembered I’ve been forgotten to wish a happy birthday to @daikirai. A very belated but happy birthday to you! 
Today I read… 12,000 characters! In total that took 3 hours but there was definitely downtime so let’s call it 2 and a half or something, who knows. I’m still in that beginner (to this sort of task) reading speed zone I think, but I’m also being somewhat thorough at times, and mining and all alongside it, so it’s all good. I’m happy to have pushed the numbers this much today, and I think I’m making huge progress through this route right now. Very hard to gauge how long it’s going to go, but hopefully I’m pushing my average limit over time a little more, at the least. Might try to bump my soft daily goal to 6000 or something (it’s usually 5000), just to make myself push a little harder. It’s not like it matters on the days I just can’t do it.
I’ve been rather enjoying this route as the biggest straight up adventure of any of them. Not a lot to say about the actual reading today; despite the sort of difficulties you’d expect in several places, it overall went smoothly enough relative to what I can hope for right now. I guess my only observation is there’s a young child character who is pretending to be a ninja and she ends every single sentence with なり. Don’t know if that exact speech pattern is a wholly individual quirk or possibly something children do sometimes when in that kind of phase.
This time you get a whole proverb of sorts! 備えあれば憂い無し (そなえあればうれいなし), “if you are prepared you don’t have to worry/ it’s good to have a shelter against every storm”
After over two years and three months learning japanese I finally finished my first book in japanese. The first book of the Wan Wan Detective series, which I bought for a book club. It’s a book aimed at children but it’s still a book. But this is just the beginning I will read much more books in japanese.
Day 24
Apr 24
My reading speed was slow this week. Sometimes, I only read a couple pages of 黒猫亭事件 (~5mins), because I was in the middle of something else or there was something I don’t understand. But I made some progress today, and finished Chapter 7, in which 金田一 was introduced and connected to the case.
There was a lot of words and weird expression that I didn’t know.
Words of the day:
呼吸を弾ませる：いきをはずませる。out of breath. はげしい息づかいをする
中国へ高跳びした: たかとび。 Criminals escape to a distant land.
はさにあらず: そうではない
懇意：こんい。仲良し
Isn’t that the greatest feeling in the world to do something so new? It’s an accomplishment! Good for you!
Day 24: April 24th
What did I read?: クマとたぬき
How much did I read?: 18 pages
How long did it take me?: 27 min
Why did it feel like today’s pages suddenly leveled up in difficulty? So many words I couldn’t remember spelled with kanji I couldn’t remember how to read. Man, the crane and the heron are cute but I don’t know what is going on 90% of the time when they’re involved lol, I tried not to spend too much time worrying about it because it seems like they don’t exactly converse logically (like their conversations are kind of hard to follow on purpose)? I hope so anyway because 
Just wanted to say that’s the cutest thing ever
I really want to order this manga 
Yeah that seems right to me! Kind of lamenting their parting and how far away she is already, that kind of vibe (assuming that makes sense in context )
April 24
Whoops, conference fatigue caught up to me and I hadn’t posted in couple days. Kept reading through.
Now that the conference is over and I have some downtime at work, I hope I can read more (and finally finish this essay).
Progress on Tadoku graded readers
44 / 44 level-zeros
12 / 12 level-ones
3 /10 level-twos
x / 18 level-threes
happy belated birthday @daikirai 
April 25, Mon home post
Last week, I did everything at the last minute, yet I managed to read Death Note Ch.9-10, Yoru Cafe Ch.3, Yuru Camp Ch.70-71, JoJo Part 2 Vol.2 Ch.3; though, re-reading must be considered. (And, yeah, I haven’t touched YouTube or any listening yet.)
Ch.4
- Eiichiro Oda - will try to finish the whole book.April 24th (Calendar Post)
もし、恋が見えたなら => 74 pages (52 minutes)
私の拳をうけとめて! => 36 pages (51 minutes)
Completed もし、恋が見えたなら yey~
Started my next manga, 私の拳をうけとめて! It’s always refreshing to have a manga with a primarily adult cast - I don’t mind the ones with younger protagonists but I feel the adult ones have their own charm, probably because they are less common and usually more serious.
Some fun manga panels from today:
#wakuwaku
Some interesting vocabulary:
I got a $5 coupon today from Manga Republic to celebrate my first purchase. I got the first volume of Haikyuu!! with it as that’s the only one Amazon doesn’t have in stock. It ended up only being $6, which is pretty good!
I read ch 4 of 星だけ. Today was kind of a lazy day because I was tired, so I didn’t get much done, of either studying or reading.
In this chapter, we learn that Sora’s name comes not from 空 but the 宙 in 宇宙. And it’s the same as in 宙羊羹, which he buys for Kengo as a token of his appreciation.
It’s the end of December now, with New Years soon approaching. Sora’s starting to realize how much he enjoys being near Kengo. He comes into the café at a different time than usual since he’s switched shifts with somebody, and as it’s busy, there are no seats open at the counter where he usually sits and he’s placed at a table, and he catches himself wishing that he could sit at the counter (where Kengo works) and kinda freaks out a bit.
Oh man. Sora overhears a couple of women talking at the table next to him. One of them wishes she could have sat at the counter too since she has her sights set on Kengo, but it seems he and Shiori are dating. Hearing that, even though he knows his coffee is delicious as usual, he can’t taste it. That evening, he gets totally smashed at the drinking party he goes to with some former coworkers from his previous job at the izakaya (possibly at least in part because of Kengo? We only pick up afterward with his friend Takayama supporting him and taking him home), and then they run into Kengo who starts carrying him to his place—Sora’s fallen asleep by the time they run into each other, so Kengo carries him on his back. Shortly after he wakes up, they bump into Shiori, and after she leaves, he asks to be set down and then asks Kengo if he and Shiori are dating. They are. And then Sora runs off and the chapter ends there with him wanting to throw up. And I’m too tired to read on, augh!
I also read the few preview pages of 雪の妖精 that Amazon has, which was probably more of a pain than the Bookwalker preview woulda been. Anyway, it seems like it’ll be a good one, so I added it to my list.
海鼠 (なまこ) sea cucumber. “Sea rat.” Huh. I can’t say I really see it. I learned this one from straycatj. The reading I listed is its primary, which is gikun of course, but it also has the outdated gikun reading こ. So this is one that used to have a longer reading than spelling!
羊羹 (ようかん) This was my first time seeing it in kanji. I don’t think I ever wanna write the second one by hand lmao
雪解け (ゆきどけ) snow thaw; thawing
April 24 Home Post
More Zero Escape of course; Zero Time Dilemma is um… wild I’m starting to get a little more of a grasp of how it works but it’s all far from clear for sure. We’re back to puzzles though so that’s always fun! It’s still been really nice language-wise as well; people say weird stuff sometimes of course, but mostly I’m able to comfortably follow along at dialogue speed which feels pretty good! 
This is maybe the most messed up Zero Escape, or maybe it just wasted no time getting to that point? And having cutscenes of some of these things… oof man, there’s a lot. 淳平's frozen head on a shelf? Axe suicide? A whole serial killer?? And some of the choices it has you make, like I’m controlling a whole child and the question is “who are you going to kill?” Absolutely brutal, ZTD pulls zero punches.
On a lighter note, it’s cool seeing some of the previous characters again! シグマ gets to have a voice this time, good for him. 淳平 seems to have been through some stuff since the first game which like, idk what would make him so much edgier when the nonary game didn’t seem to so 
a mystery man for now. Some of the “new” characters I’m less than convinced about how new they actually are but we shall see!
I’d heard about the flowchart in this game being wild and yeah they weren’t wrong It seems like time is generally kind of weird and non-linear within the story so I suppose it’s appropriate, but it’s sure something. Maybe it’ll make more sense over time, or maybe it won’t! I really wouldn’t be surprised either way lmao
But yeah I think I’ve technically finished two main endings already? One of them was a total fluke like two seconds in so that barely counts really, but hey progress is progress. Many mysteries await 
Congrats, that’s such an exciting accomplishment!!
I can’t make any real claims without context but I feel like it’d make sense to be an archaic thing? It’s an old copula apparently: verbs - なり as an archaic 'to be'? - Japanese Language Stack Exchange. From your description I just get like “oh I’m using samurai speech for style points” vibes, so that’s my wild guess
Vol.3 Ch.10
