📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2023 ☃❄

[pocketcat]

@Voi

Yeah it’s mainly Akutagawa. I’m finishing up “in a grove” and it’s got rape, murder, and attempted suicide.

Souseki read more like Edgar Allan Poe, which does still have sensitive content ( depression, suicide) but somehow feels less…direct I guess?

Unfortunately suicide is a super common theme in classic Japanese writing. I actually accidentally read Akutagawa’s own, real, suicide note thinking it was just a short story titled ‘suicide note’ (遺書).

I’ve read a lot of classic literature by this point (it’s free on the internet, so why not) and dark themes abound, although there’s also heart warming stuff and thoughtful things without darkness. I wonder if the editors were trying for a holistic view of Japanese literature when picking the stories? ie, a bit of everything? Or they just went by popularity / things that are required reading in 国語 classes.

[WaniTsunami]

That sub chapter of Re:Zero 16 was just them EATING x______x for 11 pages. For which I spent 3 minutes on each page just begging for something, ANYTHING interesting to happen. It was just “You look cute in this Yukata!” “Let’s eat!”

So we went from getting closer as a group. Barging in on a meeting, and eating. GAAAAAH!

flipping table noises

[javerend]

１月２９日 (Home Post Link)

I sorta ended up going down a rabbit hole reading about 万葉仮名 and the 万葉集 more generally today. Very cool stuff, and adjacent to japanese reading, but I did not actually read any of it in japanese (even a modern jp translation). Eventually, that’s something that would be cool to try reading, but beyond me for the time being

Read:

• ホリミヤ ch 101 - all the chapters recently and after this are short, but this one is normal length for some reason

Word of the Day:
唇「くちびる」ー lips (also related: 唇音「しんおん」ー labial sound, and 唇歯音「しんしおん」ー labiodental sound)

@ChristopherFritz

Has anyone considered just writing Book○○er, and trusting the readers to fill in the correct site?

I support this motion 100%

@Roxcell

Yall on here reading some fun ass books but I am not ready for that

Hey everyone has to start somewhere! I bet you make it to fun stuff sooner than you think, you got this!

[natarin]

January 29 Home Post

Ended up even busier today unfortunately, so today’s “reading” is gonna just be my Japanese homework it’s all something!

[Roxcell]

Yas!!! I want to wait until after I take the JLPT N4 then reward myself with one. Maybe Cherry Magic. Let’s do it.

[alygator]

Home post

1 月 30 日
コナの大冒険 第34話

Kona considers what he could eat to survive in the wild. Poor guy. I totally feel for him with my ‘wild’ being Japan.

Vocab

• ウロウロ [うろうろ] loiteringly, aimless wandering, restlessly
• 根比べ [こんくらべ] endurance contest, test of endurance
• 枝 [えだ] branch, twig
• 苔 [こけ] moss
• 一口 [ひとくち] mouthful, bite
• カリカリ [かりかり] crunchy
• とうてい [到底] (cannot) possibly, no matter how, absolutely (usually with a negative ending verb)
• 涙 [なみだ] tears, lachrymal secretion

On that note, today i also learned a new english word thanks to Satorireader which is lachrymal, “of or relating to tears”

[ChristopherFritz]

Day 29: January 29th

××でも魔法少女になれますか? Volume 1 (44% ➨ 52%)
名探偵コナン Volume 13 (81% ➨ 91%)
ひよ恋 Volume 1 (0% ➨ 17%)

With two new manga on my “start reading sometime” list, I randomly picked a different one and started reading it today. I was looking for something to generate frequency lists from and landed on a series called 「ひよ恋」, then decided I’d read that.

[iciely]

18 pages of manga today turns out all I need to read more than a couple of pages in a day is be absolutely desperate to know what happens next.

Now to catch up on my wanikani reviews.

[Sylph]

January 27

Some ユージニア (82% → 86%).

January 28

Some ユージニア (86% → 89%) and played BU$TAFELLOWS for over 1.5h.

January 29

Finished ユージニア!! First book of the year finished. And played BU$TAFELLOWS for over an hour.

[nyxqueenofshadows]

home post

30th jan we’re almost in february, when did that happen???

weekend exhaustion shaken off, back to 蟲師! chapter 1 of vol 4 is an odd story but the art is as always lovely. not sure i liked the ending, but i see what it was going for. plus, we finally get an explanation of how ginko has been getting his letters!

words that stuck out: 拒絶反応 (きょぜつはんのう, (organ) transplant rejection, strong reaction against), 密室 (みっしつ, locked room), 手立て (てだて, method, means). also shoutout to 数多 for the reading only (あまた）

[NicoleIsEnough]

Home Post

This week was a bit of an up and down, but in the end it turned out quite okay.
Finished Tuberose Age32 (welp, NOT my favourite book, sadly), continued a bit with 1Q84 (until Ch. 15) and started Flesh&Blood Vol. 11.

And! I reached the break-even with my yearly reading goal, i.e. if I read in each subsequent month as much as I have read in this month, then I will make it. (And in case you didn’t notice, there are still two days left in this month! )
In other words, 834 pages down, 9,166 pages to go!

Plans for this week:

• Continue Flesh&Blood
• Slowly continue 1Q84
• Start この本を盗む者は (with the ABC book club)

[Cathm2]

29/1 2 pages おばちゃんたちのいるところ

30/1 2.5 pages おばちゃんたちのいるところ (finished story 15)

Going slow still. Just finished last week’s reading. And it’s Monday evening. And I’ve read nothing for the 5 book clubs this week

[WaniTsunami]

Read the rest of その着替え人形は恋をする 10. Tomorrow I’ll finish Blue Period 1 and start cramming the rest of Re:Zero 16.

[polv]

Jan 30, Mon of Week 6 of Winter Q1 2023

• はたらく細胞 Black Vol.6 Ch.33-34

Stress and concert, first half.

Words of the day

• そしり = criticism; disparagement. A Kanji form is 謗(そし)り.
• かけがえのない = irreplaceable. A Kanji form is 掛(か)け替(が)えのない.
• フヌケ = coward. Kanji form is 腑抜(ふぬ)け, so it’s the guts that broke.
• 怖気(おじけ)づく = to become nervous; to have cold feet = 怖(お)じ気付(けづ)く. Has Furigana in context.
• 打(う)ち勝(か)つ = to overcome difficulties
• 抑(よく)うつ = depression; dejection. Full Kanji is 抑鬱(よくうつ).
• 萎縮(いしゅく) = atrophy; shriveling. Has Furigana.
• 断裂(だんれつ) = snapping apart
• 減退(げんたい) = declination. 性欲減退(せいよくげんたい) in context.
• 渾身(こんしん) = using all one’s body. First Kanji seems to mean whole (body).
• 微弱(びじゃく) = feeble; weak. First Kanji in 微妙(びみょう) or 微塵(みじん).
• 副腎(ふくじん) = adrenal gland

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@javerend

唇「くちびる」ー lips (also related: 唇音「しんおん」ー labial sound, and 唇歯音「しんしおん」ー labiodental sound)

From here I’ve found 読唇術(どくしんじゅつ) = lip-reading. Quite amazing how it sounds similar to 読心術(どくしんじゅつ) = mind-reading. Level 47, btw, but On reading not introduced.

[Kappa421]

Calendar

夜市 is at 66%, iirc.
Spirit Circle volume 1 done

I guess I failed the challenge big time. I fell into a deep hole and did nothing for a couple of days
But getting back to it now. Started volume 2 of Spirit Circle and continuing Yoichi.

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@windupbird

What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ

It’s a nice book, one of my favorites. I also love the anime. Studio Colorido did a stellar job with it.

[Zakarius]

The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den

January 30th
新書太閣記 progress: 05.43% // Volume I: 63.01%

There’s been a few skirmishes so far, but today had the first large-scale battle happen.

Words found under the kotatsu

拙者「せっしゃ」ー I; me // (Humble & Archaic, mainly used by samurai)
諄々「じゅんじゅん」ー Earnestly; repeatedly; patiently
雑兵「ぞうひょう」ー Common soldier
空馬「からうま」ー Unburdened horse
旗本「またもと」ー Direct retainer of a shogun
苗代「なわしろ」ー Rice nursery; bed for rice seedlings
口達者「くちだっしゃ」ー Talkative; eloquent; fluent
猿楽「さるがく」ー Form of theatre popular from the 11C - 14C Japan

Character Name List

Probably some spoilers, but this is a historic novel, so can spoilers really exist for things that have (for the most part) actually happened

Volume I: 1535 - 15??
(Currently 1554/5)
日吉「ひよし」- Hideyoshi (as child)
Nicknames: 猿「さる」/ 針売り「はりうり」

Family
木下弥右衛門「きのした やえもん」- Father
– – 乙若「おとわか」- Old friend
筑阿弥「ちくあみ」ー Step-father
大政所「おおまんどころ」// also お奈加「おなか」ー Mother
おつみ - Older sister
小竹「こちく」- Baby brother
加藤清正「かとう きよまさ」// also 弾正「だんじょう」- Ojisan (only distantly related (before marriage))
– Married to: おえつ (sister of お奈加)

Friends & Acquaintances
仁王「におう」- Big kid friend
於福「おふく」(Nickname - full name: 福太郎「ふくたろ」) // 楊景福「ようけいふく」(Chinese name/birth name) - Timid kid friend (older than Hideyoshi)
– 五郎大夫 「ごろ だゆう」// 祥瑞「しょうずい」(Chinese name) - Father
– 梨琴「りきん」- Mother
捨次郎「すてじろう」- Previous servant to 五郎, later the adoptive father of 於福, and owner of a tea ware shop - and employer of, and master to, Hideyoshi

Hachisuka Clan
蜂須賀小六「はちすか ころく」(also 正勝 「まさかつ」) - Head of the Hachisuka clan
– 七内「なない」- Younger brother
– Married to 松波「まつなみ」
– – 亀一「かめいち」- Son

Retainers:
– – 稲田大炊助「いなだ おおいのすけ]
– – 青山新七「あおやま しんしち」
– – 長井半之丞「ながい はんのじょう」
– – 松原内匠「まつばら たくみ」

– 国吉「くによし」- Gunsmith/blacksmith
– 渡辺天蔵「わたなべ てんぞう」- Deserter - Nobushi (Nephew to Koroku)
– 難波内記「なんば ないき」- Spy disguised as a Komuso
– 仁田彦十「にった ひこじゅう」- Subordinate

(蜂須賀正利「はちすか まさとし」- previous head of the Hachisuka clan)

Saito Clan
((questionable) Alliance with the Hachisuka clan)
斎藤 道三「さいとう どうさん」- Head of the Saito clan
– 斎藤義龍「さいとう よしたつ」(also: 高政「たかまさ」) - Son

明智 光秀「あけち みつひで」(common name: 十兵衛「じゅうべい」) - serves under Dosan
– 又市「またいち」- Underling / foot soldier

弥平治光春「やへいじ みつはら」- Retainer (cousin to Jyubei)
– 明智光安「あけち みつやす」- Father

Oda Clan
織田信秀「おだ のぶひで」- Daimyo
– 織田与三郎「おだ よさぶろう」- Younger brother

Shiba Clan
斯波義統「しば よしむね」- Head of the Shiba clan, at Kiyosu castle

Imagawa Clan
Retainers:
松下之綱「まつした ゆきつな」(common name: 加兵衛「かへい」)
飯尾豊前「いのお ぶぜん」
多賀能八郎「たがのう はしろう」(nickname: 能八「のうはち」)

Others
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」- Daimyo

Historical People

• 阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (700s)

• 白楽天「はく きょい」ー Chinese poet (Bai Juyi / Bo Juyi) also known as: 白楽天「はく らくてん」in Japan. (Late 700s)

• 道元「どうげん」(or 道元禅師「どうげん ぜんじ」ー Japanese Buddhist Priest, writer & poet (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」) (Early / mid 1200s)

• 空海「くうかい」ー The one and only Kukai or Kobo Daishi - a Buddhist monk. Posthumously given the title of: 弘法大師「こうぼう だいし」born as: 佐伯 眞魚「さえき の まお」(late 700s / early 800s)

• 源頼政「みなもと の よりまさ」ー Prominent poet and warrior (1100s)

[Memoria]

Home Post

➳ January 30th.

What: ピーチガール２
Pages: 10
Time: 10 minutes.

Snooze… Monday… Tiny read today, but it counts!

@iciely

Did you have to buy the japanese version of the game or does it have a jp option? I adore klonoa and have been eyeing up the remake on switch and being able to do a little jp practice would be an incentive to pick it up

Oh, I’ve actually bought it on Steam! So I don’t know how the Switch version plays. I find it really easy to check on Steam whether games can be played in Japanese or not. According to this site, it only supports English, French and Spanish, but I know people buy on the Japanese store without any issues. Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with doing that.

[midnightblue]

January 30th

Home post

Aria: the masterpiece volume 3 – progress report
Yesterday: Read up to page 143, finished chapter 24.
Today: Read up to page 158.

Ah, the return of mister ‘ore-sama’ – what kind of trouble has Akatsuki gotten himself into this time?

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Word or expression of the day:
干満 - (かんまん) - ebb and flow

Honourable mention(s):
買い占める - (かいしめる) - to buy up

[quentl996]

Home Post

It took me 4 days (january 26, 27, 28 and 30) but I finally got through the first chapter of the とらドラ manga! It did take some time, but I can say I understood a good 90% of what was said so I’m pretty happy with it. It didn’t help that the image quality was pretty bad, which sometimes made the furigana unreadable, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

I was adding the new vocabulary/vocabulary I felt I needed to revise in a list as I went, and it slowly added up to 112 words I’ll probably study this list and reread the chapter in a bit to try and read it more fluidly, but for now I’m ready to start working on the second chapter

[Redglare]

Home post // Jan 30

・ 封印再度 (86% → 91%)

Almost finished chapter 9. It’s getting late, past sleep time already.