📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

[windupbird]

Summary post

Day 5: January 5th

365日にっぽんのいろ図鑑
Time spent: 29 min
Today’s color: 朱色 (しゅいろ) - pretty similar to 銀朱 but maybe a bit less vibrant, presumably because it’s a more natural pigment?

A color of power and authority And also apparently an expensive/valuable color in olden times - the reading mentioned the 朱座 (しゅざ), which the shogunate-controlled market for cinnabar (which is used to make 朱色).

Some good stuff I learned

• 寄り (より) - as a suffix, means having a tendency towards; being close to
• において - in; on; at (place); as for; regarding​ (yay grammar)
• 朱塗り (しゅぬり) - painting something vermillion; lacquering something vermillion; vermillion-lacquered object
• 顔料 (がんりょう) - pigment, paint, color

まいにち暦生活 日本の暮らしを楽しむ365のコツ
Time spent: 22 min

Today’s reading was actually about…colors also xD Basically talked about various pine tree-inspired colors - 常磐色 made another appearance, but it also mentioned 松葉色 (まつばいろ), 老緑 (おいみどり), and 千載緑 (せんざいみどり - I think it’s more commonly written as 千歳緑 since I keep getting that when I try to search it lol). I like how 老緑 does kind of look like “old green” to my eye xD

I also learned that 狩衣 (かりぎぬ) refers informal clothes worn by the nobility from the Heian period - apparently looks like this:

Seems like pretty fancy informal wear if you ask me

I also learned a great grammar point (is this a grammar point? idk lol): にちなんで, meaning named after; associated with; connected with

What else did I read?
Nothing…again. I’m so tired today I’ve been tired from the moment I woke up.

@Zakarius

I love these art styles, and the daily colours! I’ve got an art project going at the moment and one of your links had a section about the traditional colours of Japan and it’s actually exactly what I’ve been looking for, thank you, this’ll be real helpful!

Oh that’s awesome!! Glad my links could be of help

@lucylavelle

Its my birthday

Happy birthday!!
I’m very jealous of your cat cafe snuggles

[meagstudies]

Jan 5 update summary post

Read a bit more of Akiko’s American Foreign Exchange on Satori Reader today. For some reason today’s episodes seemed more difficult than usual… I had a hard time comprehending what I was reading without constantly looking at the definitions and translations. Hopefully it goes better tomorrow!

My goal is to catch up by the time the finale is uploaded and I’m so close… tomorrow I’d like to be 10 episodes from the end. It’ll take a bit more reading than usual, but I think it’s doable

[natarin]

January 5 Home Post

I finished up volume 2 of ラストゲーム today! 九条(くじょう) is as oblivious as always, but she’s like aware of it? Idk I’m wishing her the best, and of course 柳(やなぎ)'s life is suffering someone help them

I might read some 錆喰(さびく)いビスコ later (very invested in mushroom boy and his GIANT RIDEABLE CRAB?? fascinating), but mostly I started messing with jpdb today so that took over my reading brain a bit. I’ve got fun stuff to look forward to in ラストゲーム though; 合宿(がっしゅく) next volume !!

On to more books!

Cool words

だらけ - full of, riddled with
チョロい - easy, simple
枯(か)れる - to wither

[Neba]

5th January:

I got side-tracked from 嫌われる勇気 because I found this manga 「かげきしょうじょ!!」and got super into it. The English version at Seven Seas only has it up until vol 3, so I spent the day reading vol 4 - 7 of the Japanese version.

The manga is really interesting and I really recommend it to everybody. The story follows Takarazuka system very closely, from the 2-year Takarazuka Music School, the troupe, the star system, etc. It gives you a closer look on Takarazuka. The characters are really interesting and each one of them is developed really well. The mangaka did a great job with the scenes. The whole vibe and the feels this manga is giving me reminds me of Act-Age. I love this manga so much, every time I finished a chapter, I wanted to clap my hands and sang praises.

Note:
For anyone who is interested, make sure to read the prequel first before the series (Kageki Shojo: The Curtain Rises / かげきしょうじょ！！シーズンゼロ)

[MaraVos]

Today I read three(?) pages of a graded reader over coffee, then at lunch I read half a page of my new Haruta magazine (so much kanji!) and then after dinner I read a few pages of Flying Witch vol 2 and a few pages of Yotubato vol 6. There are just so many things I want to read at the same time!

@fustian_garb

this Rilakkuma game I’m playing

That looks so cute and relaxing!

@vonnutje

I do my WK reviews in the morning, now followed by 2 pages of reading. If I want to read more, I do it later on the day. I don’t know if that is an option for you?

I’m doing the opposite! First reading over coffee, then WK over breakfast!

@Redglare

Yay! More people reading the kagami book

I highly recommend using koohi to learn the words in the book, either by srsing them before you read or as you come across them. I do a mix of the two. The vocab list for the book can be found here.

If you’re not familiar with koohi, I would also recommend limiting the frequency to whatever suits you at your current level. In other words, if learning all the words is too much work, try learning the words that appear with high frequency first, for example at least 10 times in the book, and then 9 times, and so forth.

Just ask if you have any questions

Thank you so much! My main concern would be wading through all the easy and very common words I already know … Do you know if there’s any kind of setting that lets you eliminate the most common words?

@Zakarius

モフモフ様！

This is perfect

[softlyraining]

Main Tracking Hub

1月4日〜5日

Materials:
月刊少女野崎くん３
地球星人

After 4 months of sneaking in micro reading sessions, I finally finished reading the 3rd volume of 野崎くん! It feels like the end of an era. Of course, there are several more volumes waiting on my bookshelf for me still, and don’t get me started on the volumes I haven’t bought yet…

One of my favorite things about the 野崎くん series are the hidden comics underneath the dust jacket. It’s such a fun idea. I always save those for last as a bonus treat for finishing. The takeaway from both the front and back covers is that Kashima is clueless when it comes to her 先輩.

For today, I finished Week 1 in the 地球星人 Book Club! 奈月, the protagonist, has an interesting conversation with her cousin involving his mother. She apparently told her son that he’s an alien from another planet and they picked him up one evening. This is probably not true, in which case, his mother sure did tell him something really f’ed up. I’ve been told this book gets pretty dark, so I’m eager to continue reading and find out how true that is.

Vocab - 野崎くん

ぶっ潰す [ぶっつぶす]: to smash violently; to crush​
例：「そこだ！！！王子なんかぶっ潰せ！！！」
稽古 [けいこ]: practice; training; study​
例：「今日も御子柴と稽古するんですか？」

Vocab - 地球星人

あっさり: easily; readily; quickly; flatly (refuse)​
例：私の願い事に、由宇はあっさり頷いた。
せかせか: restlessly, hurriedly, agitatedly, fidgeting
例：由宇も同じみたいで、俯いてせかせかと歩いていた。

[fustian_garb]

@lucylavelle

after snuggling lots of kitties at the Cat Cafe!

um, going to need more details here. Tell me all about the kitties.

[Zakarius]

@rikaiwisdom

I’m looking more and more forward to sitting and reading each day.

@rikaiwisdom

I feel like not only is this working much better for me already, but I can clearly see myself reading a lot more than I used to.

This is great to hear! I remember you had a few doubts at the end of the Autumn challenge, so it’s really great that you’ve found a comfortable way to study/read!

《頑張って！》
(imagine the tanuki is shouting it for additional ganbarrenergy)

@rikaiwisdom

I really would like to love the Kindle, I really do. But there’s a certain something about physical books that I just keep coming back to it ;-;

Same! I grumble at myself when I buy new books and have to pile them up precariously because there is more book than shelf. I always say to myself I wouldn’t have this problem if I kindle-fied some of them… but it is not the same. I need that rustle of the pages. Also, dunno if it’s just me but I have yet to find a comfortable position to hold a kindle in. But I don’t own one, so it’s probably that I’m not used to it either. BUT STILL.

[Natsuha]

Sorry I was too tired yesterday when I posted. Thanks for pointing out my typo. I will correct it right away.

[Rhiannonsalter]

Fantastic suggestion! I’ve headed over to join.

[rikaiwisdom]

@Zakarius

This is great to hear! I remember you had a few doubts at the end of the Autumn challenge, so it’s really great that you’ve found a comfortable way to study/read!

Indeed! I think I was just generally morally low and wasn’t thinking straight. Turns out all I needed was a little of actual order, who would’ve thought, huh. I think I also didn’t see myself reading for an hour everyday and I’m happy to see that I can do it without as much effort as I thought I would need. I do still need to add some listening though, I’ve been meaning to add podcasts here and there. I was listening to the radio the other day. It’s a start! I’m hyped. I hope it lasts ;-;

@Zakarius

《頑張って！》

応援してくれてありがとう、たぬきくん！！！

[Shinpachi]

Tonight I read six pages of ちゃお.

A couple new words I came across:

あれよあれよ------while surprised; suddenly​

アバター -----avatar

[lucylavelle]

There are so many lovely ones!
This is my favourite cat there, his name is Baloo, and he is so soft and friendly.

As well as being a cafe, it’s also a rescue centre. They rehabilitate and rehome a lot of the young healthy cats who come in, but they have a number of permanent residents (Like Baloo) who have health problems that mean they need special care. It’s a really lovely place.

[TheGreywolfMunch]

Day 6 today, and I only read page 136 of Kiki, due to poor time management again . I’m waking up at 5:30am tomorrow and it’s nearly half past 11, oops.

I’m appreciating how straightforward and wholesome children’s books are. It’s like comfort reading, in a way.

[pocketcat]

@Natsuha

Sorry I was too tired yesterday when I posted.

A good half my posts get quick edits to fix typos even when I’m not tired Nothing to be sorry about!

Today’s article was 妊娠で職場に「存在が迷惑」と言われ…退職を迷う女性に届いた、ありえないメッセージ which is basically about マザハラ or ‘mother harassment’ – treating women in the workplace badly for being pregnant, planning to be pregnant, taking maternity leave, etc. It’s actually part article, part comic which seems to be a common format, but I’ve avoided it thus far because I didn’t think they’ll help my goal of learning how to express opinions more fluidly,

Some words I looked up

イクメン - a man who is good at child rearing. I strongly suspect this is a pun on イケメン
円満 - happy; amicable; peaceful
つわり - morning sickness
ノルマ - quota
足を引っ張る - to hold others back (from success)

I really liked this bit at the end:

日本はつらい状況にあっても「我慢が美徳」とされて、文句を言いづらいことが多いですが、そんな時代はもう終わっていいように思います。

So I guess I did get a nugget as to how to express opinions.

[fustian_garb]

@lucylavelle

This is my favourite cat there, his name is Baloo, and he is so soft and friendly.

Thank you this was an excellent update! What a lovely fluff Baloo is.

@TheGreywolfMunch

I’m appreciating how straightforward and wholesome children’s books are. It’s like comfort reading, in a way.

Absolutely with you on this!

[Redglare]

@MaraVos

My main concern would be wading through all the easy and very common words I already know … Do you know if there’s any kind of setting that lets you eliminate the most common words?

I don’t think there’s such a setting, unfortunately. The easiest way to mark words as known is by going into grid mode. Then you can click through the words and trash them in bulk instead of one and one.

It’s possible to import/export words, but I’m not familiar with the process. I’m sure people over in the Koohi thread know how to do that if you’re interested

[Thud]

Main Post

First update post, which I wanted to make on … Sunday I guess, things happened. Still I was able to keep reading a chapter every day. Was up early today and read my daily chapter for the today as well as the side chapters at the back of the volume. So I finished Spy x Family vol 4. It was good and I feel I have a much better grip on it. Have to look up quite a bit still in between reading, although I have to look at my search list to remember which ones. I did notice that Loid tends to use at least one 四字熟語 in every chapter, Anya uses a lot of hiragana even for loanwords and Yor is somewhere in between the two. The series is very good at alternating wholesome family fun with action packed panels. This volume is basically one arc, that the last volume hinted at. Don’t really wanna give away too much, as I think people should read it themselves. However I also wanted to add some pictures I took while reading in my posts and there’s many more panels worth taking pictures of.

Volume 4

[Zakarius]

Homepost - Tigerdate: 20220106

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Tanuki Scroll VI: チロリン橋

Read today’s Hyakumonogatari [百物語] about a family struggling to survive and getting accused of stealing.

And yesss, it’s the narrator guy who gets really into it, his おばあちゃん voice is the best
Though saying that this story was pretty dark and tragic

Today is 色の日 (@windupbird !!)
Because い(1) + ろ(6) = 色

☆ Learnings ☆

New Words (lots of household words today!)

一家「いっか」ー A family; a household
竃 「かまど」ー A traditional wood/charcoal fuelled stove
湯沸かし「ゆわかし」ー Teakettle
後始末「あとしまつ」ー Cleaning up afterwards (in this instance, cleaning up after dinner); the settlement of a matter.
拭き掃除「ふきそうじ」ー Cleaning; Scrubbing
木履「ぼっくり」ー Girl’s lacquered wooden clogs (traditional footwear)

Forgotten Meanings

暮くらし ー (Way of living; Livelihood)
準じゅん備び ー (Preparation; Getting Ready)

Forgotten Readings

隣村「りんそん」 (Neighbouring Village)

[vonnutje]

Day 6: January 6

• 君の名は。page 31-32
• からかい上手の高木さん page 1-24

からかい上手の高木さん is free again on bookwalker (first 4 volumes)! So I will try to go through this series while reading a bit of 君の名は daily ^^

Now that I have read some manga and got used to reading, からかい上手の高木さん seems so easy! In just 10 minutes, I read the first 25 pages of the manga. Even though it is easy, I’m still glad I didn’t pick it up earlier because of the lack of kanji. Now I can easily break down sentences and search for words, but if you are not able to do that, the manga gets a lot harder to read.