Today I just read the last chapter for Week 4: 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん 👵🏼. Only six pages.
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Day 29 
告白 ~ 8% to 11%
Early update today, because I don’t think I’ll have the energy for any more reading.
I commented on yesterday’s section that I was glad the teacher had reached her main point - well, immediately after, she sort of digressed again. This lecture must be torture for the students, but if things go as expected, this will be the least of their problems. In this section she talked about the Juvenile Act and reforms of it, the supposed innocence of young minds, the (often exaggerated) responsibility of teachers, the role of mass media in glorifying criminals, and more. She also described a specific crime that (supposedly?) happened recently. As I was reading it I remembered the details, but I don’t know if I remember it from the movie (was it even mentioned? - it was about a decade ago when I saw it) or if I had read about it somewhere else (which might mean it actually happened?). I’m not googling it to find out. If you really want to know, it’s about a 13 year old girl who experimented with mixing several poisons in her family’s food, and then blogged about the effects. In the end both her parents and her little brother died from poisoning, after which she calmly went online to blog about the specific chemical being the most effective. Eek 
.
Is the whole book going to be a monologue? I guess I’ll know when I reach the next chapter.
I also read this week’s chapter of 夜カフェ for the BBC. This usually flies by very easily, but this time there was a bit at the end that confused me. As always, it wasn’t a matter of vocabulary - I understood all parts separately, but was completely unsure of who was supposed to be doing what to whom. The lack of pronouns and those あの人’s (as if it’s clear who that is supposed to be) still sometimes throw me for a loop. Or maybe I’m just tired, and all will become crystal clear in the morning.
I haven’t read any ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 today, but here’s a nice spring panel from yesterday’s reading.
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That makes a lot of sense.
You should. The story got interesting enough today that I’m posting tonight despite being tired.
I might have been up a little late yesterday. 
This one is sounding like a lot of fun.
I both love and hate when I stay up late reading. I’ve learned that if I’m nearing the 60-70% mark in late evening (I mostly read digital for my regular/English reading), I have to either stop immediately or resign myself to finishing the book that night. Sometimes I pick the wrong option and stay up until 4-5 am. 
Why lumberjack-san? Why ruin the fun of the boy? (Or maybe his mischief was dangerous, but still, that boy needed a nice long break.)
Or we are all silly people staying up late to update each other on what we read, so we all be very tired. But curse works too. 
Today was probably the day I’ve been closest to just noping out of reading because my brain is feeling so exhausted. But, I thought: I can just check a sentence or two.
Which ended with me getting sucked in and reading the next “chapter”. This one about four pages long (I put chapter in quotation mark because four pages does not make a chapter in my opinion ).
There were some sentences I had to read multiple times before I felt like I had a handle on them. And while there are some small bits I could ask for clarification on, I’m both tired and far more interested in sharing story bits.
So spoilers ahoy
So in a previous chapter, every day 坊ちゃん came into school, something related to what he did last night was written on the blackboard in his classroom. Like 天ぷら先生 (had tempura for dinner, a lot of it) or 温泉では水泳禁止 (坊ちゃん likes to swim around if he is alone in the onsen). Obviously he (and I) thought his students were pranking him and somehow someone was always watching him (even when he thought himself alone). Kinda nasty-ish prank (the implication of always being watched anyway).
Then there was another incident which I will keep hidden for those who read spoilers but still want to read the story. Let it not be known that I tell all.
But today… today there were implications that maybe it wasn’t the students who was pranking 坊ちゃん. Instead it seems that it might be the head math teacher who was nice to him when he first arrived, but first impressions—even ones based on action—can be deceiving.
Seriously, this story is pulling me in, and if I wasn’t so tired already I would read the next chapter to see what follows from the new development in chapter five. (In fact I skimmed a little ahead because I’m so curious!)
Also, I’m starting to really like the main character. He has a short temper, but he is kinda funny in his view of the world. And he hates lies. When he did pranks as a kid, he never lied about them if asked. (Like if someone ask “Did you do X?”, he would answer “yes” if he did it.) Such a weird man.
Can recommend this story so far.
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I found them to be pretty detailed actually. I mean, of course it’s only tailored to what we need to know in order to understand the circumstances of the plot and the main characters, but since European history in the 16th century was pretty intertwined and convoluted, we need quite a bit 
Also sometimes they mention sea battles as well as famous seafarers and their achievements, which already sent me to Wikipedia more than once 
The central aspects of the historical detours seem to be catholicism and protestantism, mainly expressed in the lives of Elizabeth I. and Maria Stuart.
Regarding the pirate story, we finally see some action on various levels! And I must say, the author handles this pretty well, and writes in quite a funny/witty style at times.
E.g. I was wondering how he’d express difficulties in communication between people of different nationalities, and whether he’d gloss over that and just make them “magically” understand each other without it being clear which language they speak, but he solved that elegantly by using furigana to express what was actually said in the respective language (while the meaning was expressed via Japanese as expected). Of course this only lasted for a few sentences, and then this issue was settled and everything was expressed in Japanese.
What made me chuckle: 「吐きそ……」-「我慢しなくていいぞ」
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Not really I am still not happy, until I finish the hardest books I have in my collection and then I will probably just buy even harder books.
@dunlewy I always wanted to say it, I think it’s super awesome that you are learning japanese at your age. Keep up the good work.
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Thank you! I appreciate that. What started out as a way to keep my brain sharp has turned into a fun hobby. I love Japanese!
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Nice job! Good evidence the advice I see thrown around from @ChristopherFritz works very well in regards to just making yourself start something, to see if that leads to doing more.
Oh, the treadmill of always setting your expectations somewhere above where you currently are? I want to go “oh you shouldn’t do that” but I know most of the time I end up running it too nonetheless
A little oddity in Summer Pockets’ structure appeared now. I was met with a bit of a different title screen with fewer options, and no choice to skip some of the opening this time. So in visual novels you can usually skip all previously read text quickly and I’ve indeed been doing that here, but now, Umi’s conversations have become unskippable. They’re largely the same except she calls the character by his first name instead of last now. In the overall scope of things it’s not a terribly large amount of reading, and I’ve actually enjoyed the bit of forced repetition today because I see just how much quicker and easier I can read these segments I went through a few months ago. With those parts boosting me a bit, I read over 9000 characters today, which is also 1000+ lines! I’m loving the recent increase in what I manage.
And it’s good timing for me to be going faster, because Shiroha seems to have a likely longer than average route. I already know she’s kind of implied to be the most plot-important (so true route related) character just from how the game positions her from the beginning. And normally when I go to pick who to hang out with they appear in one of the two time slots in a day, and sometimes are even gone some days. So far, unlike any others, she has been available every time every day.
This increase in Summer Pockets reading has been leaving me feeling a little more mentally fatigued and I haven’t been making great progress on my side books, but it’s all good. Overall I’m seeing big gains and definitely enjoying what I’m reading.
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I thought some of you would like these kittens brought to Officer Ryou!
In today’s story, Officer Ryou is in charge of the Lost and Found department. People bring in everything from a wallet, eyeglasses, a box of kittens, and a bird. By the end of the day, everything had been claimed except for the bird. Ryou took that home. I loved the way the kittens’ mama came to the office to collect them.
I found out I really need to find out how Japanese addresses work, as that was the hardest part of this story. So research tonight is the next order of business.
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April 29th!
I finished reading Volume 1 of Happiness today. I’ve really enjoyed the artwork in it, and while the story has been a bit odd, and a bit slow, I’m definitely intrigued enough by it to keep reading the series, especially since I already own the next few volumes.
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Day 29 / Calendar
I’ve read a bit of SPY × FAMILY up to the point where Twilight starts monologuing about him giving up his life for the spy business. I’m following along with the anime, so hopefully that will make understanding the whole thing just a bit easier as it does seem like a hard read.
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April 29
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Just one more mission. Officially next one is the last one.
I’ve been pretty lazy with my updates lately, but I have some ideas that have been on my mind for a bit these days. Hopefully I can elaborate tomorrow!
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Day 29: April 29th
What did I read?: ダイロクセンス Vol 1
How much did I read?: 23 pages
How long did it take me?: 36 min
Wrapped up the first chapter today!
The thrilling conclusion
Apparently in addition to having some sort of special power, Rui is also a magician (Who has fans, or at least something of a reputation? Would love to know the story behind that one, hopefully we’ll get more of a glimpse into his magic career later on ) Anyway, he starts up a magic show and uses his 
magical tricks to make the perp give himself away xD Sumire takes the guy down, and in the end, gives Rui her card, tells him to call her sometime if he wants to help out with any more investigations. Rui has absolutely no intention of doing this, but it turns out to be a good thing he got her card, because what she does not give him is…the camera I’m sure we will be hearing more about this in the next chapter xD
A couple good words
- 面通し (めんとおし) - (police) line-up
- ジリ貧 (じりひん) - gradually becoming poor; situation getting gradually worse and worse
- 癇に障る (かんにさわる) - to irritate one; to get on one’s nerves
- おちょくる - to tease; to banter; to make fun of (someone)
- 大歓迎 (だいかんげい) - warm welcome
…Introduce me to this man please?
Not weird, can confirm it is the best xD But I am also old, so 
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This is what I’m doing too but in reverse order. I’ll watch the each episode first and then read the chapter so I have a sense of what’s being said 
April 29
Today’s my birthday! 
It’s also my Japanese tutor’s too lol.
Had a lovely day off work. Went to a cafe, picked up flowers I ordered for myself, received flowers my friend ordered for me, another friend bought me lunch (a huge thing of duck pho), and I hung out with even more friends online!
Managed to read the last of the level-two graded readers. They were both still about Ooita prefecture. There was a book writing event there which is where all these books about the place came from. One was about a type of food, Yaseuma and why it’s called that. Another was a folk tale about a clever ferryman.
Progress on Tadoku graded readers
44 / 44 level-zeros
12 / 12 level-ones
10 / 10 level-twos
x / 18 level-threes
Omgosh, almost forgot too, MEXT research applications are finally out! I had been refreshing my consulate’s webpage for MEXT info for the past two weeks and getting worried that it hadn’t been updated with this year’s application yet. I searched and saw another consulate had its page updated. Then I tried doing a hard refresh on my consulate’s page to clear the cache, and then it showed the updated information!!! Technology, whyyyy???
I’m so glad I’ve been prepping and have almost everything ready. And I’m glad I finished the translation before I saw it was updated. It feels good to be ready to send it off soon.
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Hah, well, I found out today that my sister doesn’t give a good goddamn about Chick-fil-a funding conversion “therapy” in other countries and regularly gets food there even knowing full well, which, hah, that was a slap in the face. Yet another reason why I’m never coming out. Anyway, I got quite a bit of reading done this evening. Can you tell reading is escapism? (I’m still low on sleep though, so it still didn’t really end up being all that much, but more than it woulda been.)
I read 壁の穴 ch 40-58, finishing the story! I’m happy Chuuya calls what happens to Kumiko イジメる, because it is actually bullying. Also, this line was really sweet: “それに、僕は、クミコの髪の色が一番カッコイイと思った.” ♡♡♡
So a while back while reading 2.43, I came across the word タオルケット because Chika had been sleeping under one, and it was summer, so I thought, “Really? Doesn’t that get hot? Is it not that hot at night in Fukui, then?” But today, Satori Reader gave it as an example of 和製英語 (in the writeup for ガッツポーズ, which I hadn’t really thought of as being odd English or anything since I could easily understand what it was, but yeah, it’s 100% made-in-Japan) and explained that it’s counterintuitively good to sleep under in hot weather, so. Huh. I wonder if I should find one and try, then, because I don’t do well in the heat and I often find myself lying awake during the summer because it’s too hot to sleep.
I also read part of ch 2 of クールドジ男子. I’d wanted to read the whole chapter but ran out of steam partway through, so I’m off to bed now. Anyway Shun’s the type to, when he messes up (like accidentally puts on his scrimmage vest inside-out), pretend he did it on purpose, and I love how everyone, girls and boys alike, thinks he’s cute for it.
I wonder if Shun’s favorite song, which Igarashi wrote, is gonna be one of the theme songs for the anime. Even if not, it’s still gonna make it into the anime since he’s always listening to it, so I’m excited to get to hear it.
Some vocab of note:
仲間外れ (なかまはずれ) [noun] excluding (someone) from the circle of friends; being left out
強がる (つよがる) [ラ五, intransitive] to pretend to be tough; to put on a brave front; to bluff
振舞う (ふるまう) [ア五, transitive] to behave, to conduct oneself
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April 29th (Calendar Post)
Bookclub friday let’s go~
からかい上手の高木さん => 16 pages (13 min)
それでも歩は寄せてくる => 20 pages (15 min)
Happiness => 33 pages ( 26 min)
Flying Witch => 30 pages
Some fun panels from today:
じ～
ニコ
コンッ
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April 29 
Home Post
Late post but I did play some ZTD today! Things are still busy so progress is somewhat slow, there just aren’t enough hours in the day hopefully I can get a nice session in tomorrow!
I really need to get back to reading that sometime huh, it’s only my avatar I’ve enjoyed it a lot though, it’s like coming home to old friends
(But also my reading list is already a billion miles long but クールドジ男子 sounds so fun!! From the number name puns alone it’s definitely my vibe lmao)
Yessss the best feeling!! Definitely a game-changer, I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I keep hearing about 13 sentinels
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Happy (belated) birthday, @potatonaught ! 
(and to your tutor too 
)
I thought 三毛猫ホームズの推理 would be the first Japanese book I’d be reading alone, without a book club, but an impromptu book club did form after all, and I enjoyed having fellow readers with whom to exchange thoughts and speculations. This makes 告白 the first book I’m actually reading alone, and I suppose this is why I feel the need for constant, detailed updates. It’s funny, because I’ve been an avid reader my whole life, and never particularly cared about sharing my reading experiences with others, nor had I ever taken part in a book club before joining this forum, yet with Japanese books I feel like I need to share my thoughts on what I’m reading at all times.
So, in that vein, here’s a half-day update:
It’s now 100% confirmed that the teacher is in a classroom speaking to the students. At one point she comments on the corridor getting noisy, which would mean that lessons have finished and whoever wants to is free to go (I was wondering how long this speech of hers had lasted). Since she just said that out of the blue, it took me a second or two to realize that this wasn’t part of her main narrative, but a comment on something that was happening at that very moment. It’s things like this that make the book feel harder than others to me. She’s constantly jumping from one thing to another and also reacting to things happening in real time, things the reader can’t see and can only deduce from her reactions. It would probably be no problem in a language I’m actually fluent in, but in Japanese I need to be on high alert at all times. Even then I’m sure I’ve missed stuff. I’m aiming for 100% comprehension, but I fear it’s closer to 80% or lower, even with all the lookups.
Also, not that it was unexpected here given the premise, but I think I haven’t read a single Japanese book yet where a funeral isn’t featured at some point. Apparently it really is a thing (something I had wondered about earlier in this thread) to hold a 告別式 (memorial service) at different places that were part of the deceased’s life, like a workplace or a school or university. I also learned that it’s customary to offer money or other condolence gifts (香典) to the bereaved family.
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First, I have to say I’m amazed at that kind of schedule, 10-12 hours of studying sounds intense 
My brain would explode and I’d have no more brain for the next day.
I get where you’re coming from, sometimes the best way to decompress after a long day is to simply do nothing at all and just chill out ^^ The two of us definitely do not have the same schedule, but I agree that such a mindset can be helpful when things become too much. Thanks for sharing your view.
I feel like I’m overthinking and making this a bigger problem than it really is. I’ll just try focusing on what I should be doing instead :3
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30th of April
Day 30
Only read half of page 42 of かがみの孤城 today, because I was out the entire day having fun lol. I still have 40 minutes before my bedtime (since I have to wake up before 6am tomorrow) but I’ll spend that time trying to finish off my own video editing project. Will try my best to read at least three pages tomorrow.
Edit: Forgot to say. I told my Korean irl friend, who is also studying Japanese, about this challenge and me participating in it. She’s actually the friend I lent 魔女の宅急便 to when I finished it, but she said she was intimidated by the amount of kanji on the first page and it took her more than 10 minutes to read each page. She’s not keen on joining me here on an online forum, but I encouraged her to just do one together haha.
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