📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

Summary post

Ace Attorney: I tapped out after 65 minutes. This may be the most difficult Ace Attorney has been. The lines are so short in this game it’s still not TERRIBLE; sentences can’t get that lengthy or complex. But man are the unknowns piling up, felt like nearly every sentence had 1 unknown, but many had 2 or more. Here’s why:

Akane loves to go on wild flights of fantasy every time we look at a piece of evidence, so her comments are pretty random. I mean, today 相対性理論 (そうたいせいりろん) came up. That’s the theory of relativity. I’ve mined some pretty questionable things in the past, but I decided to let that one slide. I can’t imagine I’ll be hearing about it again for quite a while. It was mentioned because we were discussing if a door was an entrance or exit :sweat:

One new character is a cowboy and I wondered how that would work in Japanese. Turns out the English translation didn’t punch up his dialog at all, he just calls everyone wild horses and refers to stuff as saloons and whatnot. Too much new vocab coming out of him.

The other new character again speaks in very polite forms (she’s a food delivery person), and uses greetings and other words for things I thought I knew that I have never yet seen before! I got a bit outright lost talking to her, especially when her nickname came up. See… (from the Ace Attorney wiki):

  • In Japanese, her nickname (the Japanese version’s equivalent of “Cough-Up Queen”) is " Gero-mamire-no-Okyou " (ゲロまみれのおキョウ), with “ゲロまみれ” meaning “covering in spew”. " Gero " can mean both “spew” and “confession”, likely meant as an indication towards her talent while she was a detective for extricating confessions from suspects.

I got to this and was like… “vomit covered… what?” And got both very grossed out and entirely unsure what I was reading anymore. Turns out on Jisho they tell you ゲロ can mean “confession,” but the version I have on Yomichan differs and doesn’t list that. It’s been an experience.

Zoo 1: Weird how this continues to shift to being my easier reading material as I settle into this short story’s vocab and Ace Attorney does the things it’s doing to me. I’m 32% in, almost 1/3 of the way through my first real Japanese book!


Big related achievement: today I mined my 2000th word in Anki :partying_face:

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That’s a really cool looking flower!

I got: ナツツバキ [夏椿] - Japanese Stewartia, which is quite nice looking:

I really like the frilly petals, and that it’s a flowering tree.

But my flower meaning is a bit… off - 花言葉:愛らしい人

I um, really 365日の誕生花さん, really?? :rofl:

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Yesterday I didn’t have time to post in this thread but I still read 30
pages ドメスティックな彼女 and some Demonbane but didn’t see anything N1 worthy yet.

Today I read 25 more pages of ドメスティックな彼女.

特訓 とっくん special training; intensive training; crash course
何卒 なにとぞ by all means; without fail N1
遣らかす やらかす to make (a blunder); to commit (an error)​
極秘 ごくひ absolute secrecy
寝癖 ねぐせ bed hair; hair disarranged during sleep

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Day 14 complete.
2 weeks already! Feels good :slight_smile:
I read this weeks chapter of からかい上手の高木さん, which was super cute as always.
I learned a few interesting words, including 負け惜しみ, which means Poor Loser.

(Home Post)

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Summary post :bookmark:

January 14
・かがみの孤城.

Progress: (79% → 86%)

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Main Post

January 14th:
Today finished chapter 3 of それでも歩は寄せてくる. Felt pretty good about recognizing 生. This chapter was funny as usual.

Question

What do the どーだ 's mean in the picture below? I assume it’s onomatopoeia.

doda

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Is this the same book that you’re reading?

Because I also saw this and now I am wondering if there are two books with the same title? Or is it like the YA books in English which would come out with their own covers and then have a movie tie-in when the movie’s released?

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The first one is the original 1960s novel by 筒井康隆.

The second is an illustrated adaptation (apparently from a line of アニメ絵本) of the 2006 anime of the same name that’s loosely based on the novel, so in that listing it credits the director (監督) of the anime along with the author of the work it was based on (原作) rather than crediting him more straightforwardly as the author (著者). It’s probably a simple walkthrough of the plot of the movie intended for kids who enjoyed it in movie form. The listening advertises it as having furigana and being perfect for reading out loud to children.
I believe also that the anime doesn’t follow the original’s plot, but goes in its own direction with the premise, so being based on the anime rather than the novel likely means a significant difference storywise as well.

Hope that helps!

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Summary post

Day 14: January 14th

365日にっぽんのいろ図鑑
Time spent: 19 min
Today’s color: 璃寛茶 (りかんちゃ) - I would characterize this as sort of an olive khaki color

I can’t say that this is my most favorite color, but apparently it was popular in the 文化文政 period among kabuki actors? It is, in fact, named for a kabuki actor who liked it and used it all the time xD

Some words
  • 高じる (こうじる) - to grow in intensity; to be aggravated; to get worse; to develop​
  • 持てはやす (もてはやす) - to praise extravagantly; to lionize; to make much of​
  • 再認識 (さいにんしき) - recognizing anew; seeing something in a new light

まいにち暦生活 日本の暮らしを楽しむ365のコツ
Time spent: 11 min

Today’s reading was about water that you drink on 寒九 (かんく) - the ninth day of the cold season. Apparently it’s like…the best water :woman_shrugging: Also learned about 寒仕込み (かんじこみ) - cold preparation of sake (or soy sauce, or miso). I guess the cold slows the fermentation and makes it mellower/smoother (for sake) or gives it more umami (for soy sauce/miso).

What else did I read?
じじ猫くらし
Amount read: 23 pages
Time spent: 17 min

Those cute animals are coming back :eyes:
I started reading this manga in the last challenge and have not yet finished it - basically the premise is Man Living with Cat while Cat does Cat Things :tm:

This is The Cat :sparkles:

Today, the man took the cat out for a walk, which I always think is an adorable thing to do :3

This is my favorite panel

And here are some good words!
  • 風の子 (かぜのこ) - outdoor creatures (I love this word so much)
  • 目一杯 (めいっぱい) - to the limit; to the full; as much as possible; with all one’s might
  • くねくね - winding; meandering; wriggling; wiggling; waving; swaying; twisting and turning
  • ほかほか - comfortably warm; steaming hot (food); piping hot; glowing (with warmth)​

Oooo I’m curious

Mine is...

ビオラ!

花言葉:ゆるぎない魂
I like that one a lot, actually :blush:
At first I read 魂 as 塊 and I was like…well, you’re not wrong there :rofl:

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Answer?

Hard to tell without more context, but could it just be どうだ (どう + だ) repeated?

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January 14 :snowflake: Home Post

Today is a very sleepy day (after driving for like 8 hours lmao) so not a whole lot of reading; I absolutely did not have the mental energy for 錆喰(さびく)いビスコ so I read like half a chapter of ラストゲーム and tapped out :joy: It’d been a while, I missed their shenanigans! Man it’s a WORLD of difference going back to ラストゲーム after wading through like heavy prose, it feels so much easier in comparison, even with tired brain so that feels good! Just a bit of a fun read today; I’ll get back in more depth tomorrow :+1:

Audiobook digression

I did listen to Japanese audiobooks for a bit on the way! I tried 魔法少女育成計画(まほうしょうじょいくせいけいかく) (thank you @pocketcat for the rec!) and from what I could grasp of it it seems really interesting, but I definitely need to try it when I’m like not driving and can look things up and such :joy: one day though!

I also attempted (とき)をかける少女(しょうじょ) and it was certainly easier to understand, but man I got mentally exhausted fast. All of this is just calling out my lack of listening skills lmao… more things to work on :sweat_smile:

Fun words!

しけこむ - to shack up with (this is a peak romcom making fun of your friends word lmao)
(まん)(いち) - just in case, worst case scenario
ためらい - faltering, hesitation

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Home post

Day 13:

日本語: I read some of 伯爵と妖精 30.
Read-aloud: We read a chapter of ふしぎの国のバード.

中国語

中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean and one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学.

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Mine is this one:

ケイトウ

I like the meaning :slight_smile:

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Summary Post

Day 14: Today I read 7 pages of よつば&!

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Day 15: January 15

  • 君の名は。page 110-114
  • Ouran high school host club vol.1 page 1-20
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Home post

I read two interviews with my favorite singer. One from the latest fan club pamphlet. And one from three bands back, in a magazine I bought years ago when I was maybe N5 or N4 level and could only read the short phrases in the member profile and not the interview itself. The last time I looked at that old band interview, I could struggle through, but it took like two days of effort to read a page and a half. And today I just read the whole thing.

The books I’ve been reading in the past year keep getting harder, so at times I feel discouraged because it seems like it just stays hard forever. But taking out that old magazine interview that’s been sitting on my shelf for years, getting less impossible little by little, and finally seeing that I could read it today… It was nice to see that my work did make a difference.

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:house:

Day 15! I was almost going to skip today, since it’s so late (again) and I’m tired, but thanks to this challenge I did read in the end lol. Upon starting I thought since there were only a few pages until the end of the chapter might as well read up to that, so I read pages 172-177 of Kiki in about 10-15 minutes, and now I’m up to Chapter 8! The end of Chapter 7 was so wholesome :relaxed:
Those pages were also easy, and I was able to speedread in some sections. Probably just this chapter in general haha

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This is sooooo beautiful, I’ve never seen this flower, but if it’s 椿類 I bet it must smell incredibly nice!

I loved the meaning as well! And I didn’t know the expression, so thanks for that!

Sooooo beautiful, and that colour is just mesmerising! :heart_eyes:

I think I really need something like a 誕生花366 in print format now :joy:

お帰りなさい to all the cute animals aaaaah, I still need to read second volume of tanuki too, and I’m in desperate need of a cute animals series to read, so hit me with suggestions please.
Also, I have been meaning to ask you, what is the colours book you are reading from? :eyes:

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Wow it’s been a whole week, but I’ve been keeping up on daily reading even though I haven’t posted for a while. Tan-chan just started teething so I just haven’t had the chance to type up all the vocab for a post. (It’s difficult for her to sleep and the typing sound on the computer wakes her up.) But here’s what I managed to get done!

1月9日 ~ Day 9 / Back to Home

Reading Japanese subtitles of today’s aired episode of Sazae-san (20 minute run-time)

Summary

I only remember one of the episodes about Isono offering to hide her friend’s test because her score was so low, she was afraid of showing it to her mom. She tried to find a good hiding place in the house, and it didn’t work out. In the end, her friend did the responsible thing and came by and asked for her test back and apologized for making Isono responsible for something that was her responsibility. Isono also apologized for offering to do it in the first place. It was a good lesson about being honest and up front about your mistakes (and your test scores).

Vocab

ウラメニユー・secret menu
一刻も早く・いっこくもはやく・as soon as possible
抜き・ぬき・without
盛り合わせ・もりあわせ・assorted
校庭・こうてい・schoolyard
一軒落着・いっけんらくちゃく・case being settled

1月10日 ~ Day 10

Reading Japanese subtitles of a variety show

I forgot the exact name of the show, but it was a special which featured two children meeting their dream idol/band and the third episode being about an Indian man living in Japan who was inspired by One Piece and now works in MIT after dropping out of a top university.

Summary

I was taking care of Tan-chan during the program so I didn’t get to record much vocab but watching the little kids meet their idols and dance with them (the little boy meeting his favorite idol from Snow Man was especially cute because he was very humble and had great dancing skills - better than the members in the group).

The last episode featuring the Indian man who wanted to thank the author of One Piece for creating such an inspiring manga that helped him when he was at his lowest was also very heart warming. They set up some of his favorite scenes from the manga and he got to meet Luffy and Shanks’ voice actors and receive Luffy’s hat signed by the author. It reminded me of some of the better episodes from YOUは何しに日本へ?but it was surprisingly a feature on one of the more popular variety shows.

Vocab

出航・しゅっこう・setting sail
夢に関しては・ゆめにかんしては・regarding one’s dreams

Reading Japanese subtitles of today’s aired episode of Jujutsu Kaisen.

At first I thought they said it was a special, but while I was watching, it looked to be exactly the same as one of the episodes in the first season. To be honest, I stopped watching after the first 10 minutes (I’ve already seen the first season recently too) so I didn’t write down much vocab. I was feeding Tan-chan at the time too.

Vocab

仕業・しわざ・deed (esp. negative)
事情・じじょう・circumstances

1月11日~15日 ~ Days 11~15

I read a new chapter from the manga every day except Day 14 (only first 3 pages of chapter 5) and Day 15 (last 9 pages of chapter 5). I’m just going to compile all the vocab together under one cut. I’ll summarize all the chapters under one cut too.

Pocket Monsters Special Volume 1 - page 74 of 200 (54 pages total - chapters 2~5)

In the last chapters, Red met Okido-hakase and befriended and got Fushigidane as well as a Pokedex from the Professor. There were some misunderstandings in the beginning, but Red proved to be a kind-hearted guy and was rewarded for his character.

On his way to Nibi City, he runs into Green who was hunting down a Kangaskhan. Again, Red proves to really understand a Pokemon’s feelings and stopped Green from attacking any further, realizing that the parent was trying to protect her young.

After reaching Nibi City, he finds an uproar over a Pikachu that’s been causing trouble for the local merchants. Red manages to put it to sleep and capture it, much less to the Pikachu’s desire. Green stumbles upon Red again and challenges him to a battle of who can earn the Grey Badge from the Nibi City gym leader first.

Red signs up for a match, but due to an attack on the center, he is unable to restore his tired Nyorozo and Fushigidane and only relies on them during the preliminary match. Having no choice but to use the fully restored Pikachu for his battle with the gym leader, he sends Pikachu into battle, but when Pikachu is about to be attacked by Iwark, Red defends Pikachu, realizing that it’s not fair of him to push Pikachu into doing something it doesn’t want to. Pikachu seems moved by Red and obliterates Iwark with its electricity. Thinking that Red was finally going to be able to get along with Pikachu, he’s literally shocked when his attitude doesn’t change after the match.

Red seemed a bit thick-headed in the first chapter, but he does have his humble side, and it turns out he has a big heart too. He tries to think about the Pokemon’s feelings, and that’s why they fight for him. But Pikachu seems to have a mind of its own. I’m sure they’ll get along some time down the road, but I’m interested to see what specifically changes Pikachu’s mind.

Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded

Chapter 2
背中・せなか・back
種・たね・seed
全部・ぜんぶ・all
数十分後・すうじゅうぶんご・ten minutes later
勝手に・かってに・do as one pleases
部屋・へや・room
謝る・あやまる・to apologize
落ちる・おちる・to fall
警察・けいさつ・police
追いかける・おいかける・to chase after
老体・ろうたい・old (person’s) body
建物・たてもの・building
大人しい・おとなしい・quiet; reserved
飼い主・かいぬし・keeper
怖がる・こわがる・to be afraid of
野生・やせい・wild
格闘・かくとう・(hand-to-hand) fight
攻撃・こうげき・attack
方法・ほうほう・way
植物・しょくぶつ・plant
太陽・たいよう・sun
大したこと・たいしたこと・great thing
懐つく・なつく・to become attached (to)
夕べ・ゆうべ・evening
技・わざ・technique
先程・さきほど・a short while ago
通う・かよう・to go to and from (a place)
記録・きろく・record
図鑑・ずかん・field guide
究極・きゅうきょく・ultimate; final

Chapter 3
近辺・きんぺん・neighbourhood
北側・きたがわ・north side
慌てる・あわてる・to become confused
捕獲用・ほかくよう・use for capture
青虫・あおむし・caterpillar
お互いに・おたがいに・mutually
同士・どうし・fellow; mutual; companion; comrade
文句・もんく・complaint
張る・はる・to keep a watch on
授ける・さずける・to grant
奴・やつ・fellow
程度・ていど・degree; amount; grade; standard
手本・てほん・model; pattern
止め・とどめ・finishing blow
一発・いっぱつ・try; attempt
全然・ぜんぜん・(not) at all
獲物・えもの・prey
横取りする・よこどりする・to snatch
続ける・つづける・to continue; to keep up
弱わる・よわる・to weaken
毒・どぐ・poison
刺される・さされる・to be pierced; to be stabbed
腹・はら・abdomen; belly
余計な・よけいな・unnecessary
付き合う・つきあう・to go along with
絶対・ぜったい・absolutely
我が・わが・my; our; one’s own
最強・さいきょう・strongest
険しい・けわしい・precipitous; rugged; inaccessible

Chapter 4
こん畜生・こんちくしょ・blast it!; bloody hell!
電気・でんき・electricity
鼠・ねずみ・mouse; rat
騒ぎ・さわぎ・uproar; disturbance
一朝・いっちょ・temporarily; short period; once
追い詰める・おいつめる・to corner
商品・しょうひん・merchandise
台無し・だいなし・spoilt; (come to) nothing
しやがって・・
許せる・ゆるせる・to be forgiven
イライラする・to be irritated
利く・きく・to work well
仕上げ・しあげ・finishing touches
所為・せい・blame
属性・ぞくせい・(furigana written as タイプ)・attribute
主な技・おもなわざ・main technique
頬っぺた・ほっぺた・cheek
両眼・りょうがん・both eyes
袋・ふくろ・bag; sack; pouch
放電する・ほうでんする・electrical discharge
数・すう・several; a number of
知能・ちのう・intelligence
機械・きかい・ mechanism; device
存在する・そんざいする・to exist
通称・つうしょう・popular name; common name; nickname
百数十種・ひゃくすうじゅうしゅ・Hundreds of species
書き込む・かきこむ・to fill in (field, entry, etc.)
完璧・かんぺき・perfect
目的・もくてき・purpose
暴れる・あばれる・to be riotous
強情な・ごうじょうな・stubborn; headstrong
仲良し・なかよし・intimate friend
随分・ずいぶん・considerably
のんびりする・to relax at leisure
完成・かんせい・completion
遠い・とおい・far
恥ずかしい・はずかしい・embarassing
挑戦者・ちょうせんしゃ・challenger
募のる・つのる・to recruit/invite (challengers)
攻撃力・こうげきりょく・offensive ability
秘める・ひめる・to hide; to keep to oneself
常識・じょうしき・common sense
受ける・うける・to accept
後悔する・こうかいする・to regret
序でに・ついでに・incidentally
岩・いわ・rock
役に立つ・たくにたつ・to be useful
精々・せいぜい・at the most; at best
開放日・かいほうび・opening day
そう言えば・そういえば・come to think of it
尽きる・つきる・to be used up
完全回復・かんぜんかいふく・perfect recovery
翌日・よくじつ・next day
お詫び・おわび・apology
に因って・によって・due to
突然・とつぜん・sudden; unexpected
襲撃する・しゅうげきする・attack
機能・きのう・function; facility
回復・かいふく・recovery
次第・しだい・as soon as
通常・つうじょう・usual
営業・えいぎょう・business
ご迷惑・ごめいわく・trouble
体力満タン・たいりょくまんたん・stamina at full capacity

Chapter 5
予戦・よせん・preliminary battle
突破する・とっぱする・breakthrough; penetration
挑戦権・ちょうせんけん・right to challenge
滅多に・めったに・rarely; seldom
精鋭・せいえい・elite; best
おっ始める・おっぱじめる・to commence
到頭・とうとう・in the end
手なずける・てなずける・to tame
先手必勝・せんてひっしょう・victory goes to the one who makes the first move
試合・しあい・match
一撃・いちげき・blow; hit
効果的・こうかてき・effective; successful
得たり・えたり・hooray!​
限界・げんかい・limit; bound
出番・でばん・one’s turn
得意・とくい・one’s strong point
岩飛ばし・いわとばし・rock skipping
諸に・もろに・completely
反撃・はんげき・counterattack
最終技・さいしゅうわざ・final technique
自ら・みずから・oneself
竜巻・たつまき・tornado
化した・けしょうした・make-up base
巨大・きょだい・huge; gigantic; enormous
衝撃波・しょうげきは・shock wave
頭突き・ずつき・head-butting
義理・ぎり・duty
巻き込む・まきこむ・to roll up
結局・けっきょく・after all
友情・ゆうじょう・friendship
握手・あくしゅ・handshake
懐く・なつく・to become attached (to)

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Summary Post

January 15
君の名は , 6 pages.

Random words
  • 不毛 = ふもう (terrain) sterile, barren, unproductive.
  • 見当違い = けんとうちがい a wrong guess or judgement.
  • ありふれる = to be common.
  • 単なる = たんなる simple, mere.
  • 匿名 = とくめい anonimity.
  • 厨房 = ちゅうぼう kitchen (not sure how rare is this word but it was a nice surprise, I’ve always defaulted to 台所).

I think so too. Today was a bit better than yesterday, even though I added a lot more words. I think yesterday was rougher in terms of grammar and longer sentences that sometimes become quite a mess to parse. I might also be a bit more alive today :smile: . But yeah I was expecting this part to be messy, and I’m thinking that it might get messier. I made it to page 124 today I think, we’re super close to each other. Let me know how it goes for you!

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