📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

Today’s article was 『人間関係』 which is from the same blog as the past few days. I’ve mentally been pretty drained lately (mostly from work and winter blues) so having these short but still engaging reads for me has been useful.
I suppose on the bright side one of the books I’m reading, ロクヨン, I’m starting to get the hang of. It’s still a very difficult read with lots of idioms, literary speech, and set phrases I infrequently encounter but I’ve gotten some of the newer vocab internalized and am finding the ‘rhythm’ of the author’s writing easier to grasp.
On the other hand 共犯マジック just introduced a bunch of characters and didn’t give furigana for their names, which made me quite irritable.

image
Yay! More firsts! :tada:

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Summary Post

Short update from me! I’m still on holiday so I’ve been neglecting posting here but I mostly kept up with the challenge. For a few days I only read a page or two and I missed one day (sadge) but have been more diligent since. I think I finished the main story of 時をかける少女 now, as what I’m currently reading seems like side stories? (Like last 10% of the book or so?) I’ll try to write some more thoughts once I’m fully back in a week :slight_smile: I should be fully finished then as well :heart: :sheep:

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I never got around to posting yesterday or the day before, but I read six pages from ちゃお, and twenty-three pages from The Way of The Househusband. I’ll post later tonight for today’s readings. I learnt a ton of vocabulary, but I picked out a couple of my favourites.

プロ------professional

プチ------small​ (from French “petit”)

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Congratulations :tada:, what an awesome accomplishment!

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It was really hard for me as well, in the last chapter (and a few pages before that chapter), there were a lot of new words, some of them on a whole different topic than the rest of the novel. I knew you also had trouble with this part, which gave me some hope and made it easier to not worry about it as much :blush:

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Home post :house:

Day 30:

I read just one page of よつばと! today :four_leaf_clover: :confused:

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Summary post :bookmark:

February 6

本好きの下剋上 8
Progress: (58% → 62%)


So many people here completing their first book :eyes: :sparkles: Well done! :tada:

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More Persona 4 today! Today’s play time was a good bit harder. First I got a scene with two characters that talk very keigo, and then later I got a scene between two detectives discussing the case so far, and both were a noticeable step up from the scenes where it’s just the main characters (who are high school age) talking between each other. But luckily now that I’ve got Game2Text working Yomichan was there to help me out and I got to add quite a few fun words to my anki :sparkles::star2::sparkles:

I’ve also downloaded a few samples of novels onto my Kindle to try them out to decide what to read next. I’m feeling like reading some crime/murder mystery type thing, so if any one has any recommendations for things in that genre that aren’t super long or impossible for someone around the N3 level (aware that anything will probably be fairly challenging in this genre) then please send them my way haha. One of the samples I’m trying is すべてがfになる which I figure will be too hard for me but at least has a bookclub here to rely upon a bit :thinking:

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I almost missed Friday, but saved it by reading two pages of Yotuba in bed. Yesterday I worked in the morning, and when I came home I sat down and read a chapter of Way of the Househusband, which I think took quite a while. :thinking: I worked this morning too, but instead of reading Househusband I read 50+ posts of this thread! :joy:

Congratulations! to all the people who finished their first novel or manga in the last couple days! There were so many! It was like a cascade. :blush:

Many responses

Thank you for this link! I love that when baby whales whisper they sound like piggies with a huge vocal range. :joy: Too cute.

I’m with you on this one for sure. I say the words in my head when I read, so not knowing the reading of something really bothers me. Dictionary addicts unite!

Thanks! Sounds cute. :slight_smile:

This is kind of like a rite of passage: buy a book you really want to read that is too advanced, buy a new book which is less advanced but still too hard, repeat this step until finally you reach a book that is not too hard. :joy: Now at least you have a lot to look forward to. :blush: (My pile is like seven books deep.)

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Oops responses take up so much space

Great job, both of you! People are doing great here.

This story sounds fantastic, haha. Also makes me think of these Dark Souls enemies way too much.

I’ll be watching these suggestions closely, because I was thinking of asking about the exact same sort of genre in the future. My (overly ambitious and probably not going to be achieved, but it’s ok) goal is to try to reach a point by the end of this year where I can play Lost Judgment, and in order to do that, I’m going to need to spend some time in that genre and get some knowledge of the sort of words I’d expect to be used there.


Summary post

After most harder recent days, today was pretty relaxed! Very glad to have an easier reading day. The only thing that really messed with me was having to go do some searches to discover just what 温泉のもと (in the context of receiving it as a prize) could mean, and it seems to be onsen powder, bath salt sort of stuff.

Today I’m just going to share a screenshot for the sentence:

Like what I said once before… there’s nothing that tricky going on here, but it’s a moment where I just went “oh, I can read this!” (after looking up かざす in a dictionary). I remember months back thinking the conjugations were painful to memorize, struggling with らしい for a while when I started reading, wondering how you can ever parse what と is which when every particle seems to have so many meanings, and just generally being frustrated by a lack of word boundaries… and all of that’s semi natural now. That’s pretty neat :slight_smile:

I realized finally the texthooker page actually tracks how much I read, and it was 255 lines, 2925 characters today. If only I paid attention to the time lmao (probably close to an hour and a half, maybe slightly under?). I mean, mining adds time cause I have to clean up every card now that I have too many dictionaries, and I go on lookup detours and all so this isn’t pure reading speed… it’s rather slow, but that’s no surprise, haha.

Edit: Keep forgetting I want to add interesting words I come across. Today was 秘湯 (ひとう), a secret hot spring, like one not a lot of people know about.

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Maybe Pretty Boy Detective Club? It’s aimed at teens and at ~250 pages it’s half the length of the Decagon House, which I would have recommended otherwise. I haven’t read either in Japanese. I read the Decagon House in English though and really liked it.

If anyone has recommendations for Japanese cozy mysteries, I would love to hear them. It’s hard to find any at all that are translated into English, but I feel like they must exist.

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You rang? :smiley:
スマホを落としただけなのに is available on Kindle (also Honto which is where I got it). I think it’s pretty accessible, but yes, you will have a vocabulary hurdle as it uses a lot of crime vocab and tech vocab.
少年探偵団 doesn’t have murder, but it is crime focused. It’s older so less common grammar and some older words, but IMO it’s still quite approachable in a digital edition due to fast lookups. There are also read-alongs on YouTube, linked on the same page.
夜警 is murder/supernatural/mystery so less need for crime specific vocab. I actually read this back in 2020 (first year reading novels) and found it quite accessible even then. I really, really enjoyed it along with the other book by this author that I just finished おやすみ、夢なき子 but that one has much darker themes and slightly more vocabulary spread.
容疑者Xの献身 is IMO, more difficult than any of the books above but I enjoyed it a lot, learned a ton, and it also has a book club on here.

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What do you mean by cozy mystery? I might have recommendations but since most of what I read is pretty dark I also might not. :sweat_smile:

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It’s like, murder mysteries which are not particularly gruesome or disturbing, which are more focused on a small town community and an amateur detective. I think a classic example is The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

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Ah, I get what you mean. The only things I’ve read that somewhat fit that bill though are older golden-era detective stuff though which isn’t super approachable unless you’re comfortable with old kanji, vocab, and grammar already. Ex, 深夜の電話 although I don’t remember if that one the detective is amateur or not.

The 少年探偵団 series mentioned above might more or less fit - the kids are an amateur detective group but I think 江戸川乱歩’s kid books all avoid murder and it’s more kidnapping and stolen treasures.

:thinking: I unfortunately am blanking on anything modern that fits that bill, though. Everything else I’ve read has too much of a police/pro detective focus. Will try to remember to let you know if I come across anything good though!

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ooooh, thanks! I’ve actually come across decagon house and it’s definitely on my list to read at some point, it sounds really cool! The Pretty Boy Detective club also sounds fun - and I’m guessing probably more accessible if some of the others are too tough just now :slight_smile:

Ah, thanks so much! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:I have grabbed so many kindle samples (and the whole of 少年探偵団 as it was free) and will try them out! I think in general I have a pretty high tolerance for looking up a lot of vocab so they all sound worth a try. Do you know if 容疑者Xの献身 is okay to read even without having read the first two in the series (those two don’t seem to be available on kindle)?

It sounds like maybe the Maison de Police Series メゾン・ド・ポリス or Ikagawa City Series 烏賊川市シリーズ referenced here:https://insidethatjapanesebook.com/2021/03/29/detective-series-i-am-reading/ might fit the bill?

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Yes, it’s totally fine. We read this book in the Advanced Book Club and nobody had read the other two, at least not that I knew.
Oh and by the way, we read it in the Advanced Club but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult as such :sweat_smile: It’s just a bit longer (at 400 pages) so we read it at a somewhat faster pace. I found the writing pretty approachable (I was also around N3 at the time). The author uses a bunch of kanji from the 40’s levels, though, so you might want to make sure to read a digital version :wink:

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Ace! That’s really good to know - I’ll maybe give it a shot and see how I get on. Worst that can happen is that it’s too tough right now and I can come back for it later, which I don’t mind too much! And yeah…kanji in particular isn’t a huge worry (I’m one of those people who switched WK for a different method but sticks around here for the book clubs and forums lol) but going into a new genre with what I expect to have a raft of new vocab is a time that I definitely want to stick to things that I can read on the kindle hahah!

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OG

20th January - 6th Feb
お久しぶりー
This might be a little long… I expected to be heavy into ときメモ but I ended up spreading out and read different stuff. Honestly some days it was only a few sentences/minutes though;;

ジョンさん日本へ:Short, easy story about the mistakes John makes going to Japan and while he’s in Japan. Nice to see they laughed about it but man I’d be stressed/embarrassed in his position LOL.

このドア開けてくれよ: Finished!!! might have learnt 総毛立った, but my own 総毛 didn’t 立った while reading this… basically a short story hearing a ‘neighbour’ who is locked in, begging you to open the door. The narrator knows no one lives there, and it’s likely not a burglar bc the room is totally empty… they move out two months later without investigating. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t super spooky. Was interesting that I assumed the narrator was a man, but my coworker thought it was a girl :thinking:

New Vocab
  • 開かない: can’t open (didn’t know it was pronounced ひらかない)
  • 焦った感じ: feeling of irritation
  • 邪魔: hindrance
  • 異常: strangeness/abnormality
  • 見渡しました: looked around
  • ガチャガチャ: clank, rattle
  • 紹介: introduction
  • 位置的: location
  • 薄暗い: gloomy/dim
  • ついさっき: a little while back
  • 敷地: plot/site
  • 際に: at that/this time
  • 実際に: actually/really
  • 妨げる: to disturb/to obstruct
  • 総毛立った: hairs stood up (goosebumps)
  • 逃げ出す: to run away
  • 営業: business/trade
  • 明かす: to spend the night
  • 費用: cost
  • 引き払う: to vacate/move out
  • 泥棒: theif; burglar
  • 侵入: invasion/intrusion/trespass
  • もしかしたら: perhaps
  • 謂れ: reason; cause
  • 今更: now (when it is already much too late)

それでも歩は寄せてくる : I joined a different book club, and we’re going through this manga. It’s not exactly up my street, but shoji-focused vocal aside, it’s not too complicated to read. It’s free on Bookwalker if anyone wants to download it!

New Vocab

Chapter 1

  • そのうえ: additionally,
  • しかいない: have no choice but ~
  • 認める: to recognise/admit
  • どうやって: how
  • 引っ剥がす: to tear off/rip off
  • 心に誓った: promise to self
  • しかし: however/but
  • 一局: one game (shogi/chess etc)
  • きっちり: properly, without fail

Chapter 2

  • 穴熊: defensive opening in shoji
  • ワケない: there’s no way ~
  • 攻め: attack
  • 意識する: be aware of, pay attention to
  • ばっか: another way of saying ばかり - ~only
  • 一瞬: instant/moment
  • スキをつく: to exploit a gap, take advantage of carelessness (隙を突く)
  • 性分: nature/disposition
  • 普段: normally
  • 男前: handsome man/looks
  • 参る: to be defeated (new meaning! learnt it as to come via wk)
  • ~してたまるか: will not ~
  • ていうか: you say…
  • 攻めて: to attack
  • 崩されて: to be crushed
  • しまう: to do something by accident

カードキャプターさくら : We read though a little bit of this too!! God this was more of a struggle… I didn’t know Kero-chan used Osaka-ben which makes me love him even more… The art is so cute but the Kanji is hard to read quality-wise… another one free on Bookwalker atm. Might not continue because the vocab isn’t super useful (I’m not going to be showing anyone my 真の姿 anytime soon lol), but we’ll see if Kero-chan can keep me going.

Kero Photos & 関西弁

Screen Shot 2022-02-06 at 21.11.57 HE’S SO CUTE…


Also wtf is this sentence ahahaha ええとえええ way too many えs.
Plus かっちょいい!!! :heartbeat:

New Vocab

Chapter 1

  • 闇の力: power of darkness
  • 真の姿: true form
  • 示せ: show!
  • 契約: contract (will be useful for law lol…)
  • 命じる: to order
  • 封印: seal
  • 解除: release (termination fo a contract)
  • 魔力: magical powers
  • 移し: shift/move
  • 戒め: caution/bad/commandment
  • あるべき姿: ideal situation/ perfect world
  • 暴れる: to act violently
  • ぬいぐるみ: stuffed toy (i used to have one of kero but i left it at my ex’s place :smiling_face_with_tear:)
  • 遅刻しちゃう: imma be late!
  • 家族構成: family structure/composition
  • バタバタ: commotion/kerfuffle
  • 怪獣: kaiju/monster
  • 闊歩: strutting (lording it over overs/acting as if you own the place)
  • 踏む: to step on; to experience
  • ハリセンショップ: osaka gag where they hit you with a huge paper fan

ときメモGS4:I played a little more! I decided to aim for Honda - I’ve played his route before so I know what’s going on, so I thought that’d be a good choice. I’ve put a bit of my playthrough underneath :arrow_heading_down:

screenshots & rambling

This is the main screen - I TL’d the stats for fun. I left 気配り as social a la the old fan translated games, but I didn’t know it meant care/attentiveness! We’re starting off with banging fashion sense and art skills, but our intelligence and social skills are lacking.

Honda shows up when you’ve got 50 for Knowledge so I’m going to hit the books. Technically it’s not the ‘luckiest’ choice to make at the moment which shows because most of my results are this lol :arrow_heading_down:

We meet Hikaru and Michiru and they name us Mari, and promptly invite us to a group LINE chat. We can send a sticker in response - small additions like this are cute imo~ I forgot to mention, while they call us Mari, I put my actual name down as セクシー lmfao.

ひかる: Hi Mari~ It’s Hikaru :notes: We can communicate more openly here than at school, so let’s talk a lot here too! :sparkling_heart:
Mari: :+1:
ひかる: Alright! Let’s get along here :heart:

We go to school with Ryota one day, and soil our shoes. Dude tells us to take ‘em off and them gets embarrassed over legs :joy: We apologise like a good victorian child, but he’s more worried we might be flashing someone LOL

セクシー: Ah, sorry, it’s not polite to point your legs out right…

I finally hit 50 Intelligence! Honda-kun bumps into us (his surprise animation has the ends of his hair curling up which is so cuuute~).

???: Sorry sorry! I surprised you right? Are you okay?

He introduces himself, and asks us where the windows are placed in this school. We answer the left correctly and his says his catchphrase ピンポーン!He says they’re all on the left side, because if they were on the right the light would come in from the right and make it hard to see.

Anyway, now that we’ve met him, セクシー gives him a call to arrange a date a the flea market. :telephone_receiver:

Hearing his lil’ こっちこっち is so cute;;

本多: Ah, over here!

Despite going shopping for clothes I had nothing with the lucky color so I just wore one of his matching items. I’m the weirdo for wearing it to a first date, but he’s weirder for saying the below imo ahaha

本多: Right! Actually, I’ve got the same clothes - let’s wear them together next time!

On the dates you can choose three options to comment. セクシー says setting a stall up might be fun, and it ends in a success o/

本多: From everyday items to antiques, it’s fun to see anything goes.

Let’s find some great bargains!
It looks like setting a stall up would be fun.
It’s an eco-friendly event!

That’s as far as I managed to get before having to hand over the Switch to my sister aha.

New Vocab

応募: application
物知り:well-informed person, extensive knowledge
活発: lively
あの頃: in those days
再開: reopening
鹿めっ面: short for しかめっ面をする, frown
含める: to include,
辞退しすぎ: too many resignations
改めて: once again; formally
展開: development

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Gotcha - then it might actually be right up your alley :blush: The book was generally well-received by the club members, too. And you can still ask questions in the threads or speculate about the case in the book club threads!

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