I decided to try digging into this a little bit today, and discovered that this phrase itself is based on an older phrase 二六時中, which also meant around the clock (a full day). I was like “there’s no way this makes any sense unless japan used to have some really messed up clocks that no one has told me about.”
Japan had some really messed up clocks that no one had told me about. A full day was divided in to 12 “hours”, 6 day and 6 night (hence the 2x6 = full day), but the length of those hours was based on the actual length of the day/night periods. So in the winter, the 6 night hours were longer, and the 6 day hours were shorter, and reverse in the summer. (Edit for clarification: this time system existed before the clocks, they clocks were made in a super funky way to try to capture the existing dominant way of measuring time in tokugawa/edo japan, but it was still 2x6 = one full day)
During the meiji restoration (at least, according to jp wiktionary 四六時中 - ウィクショナリー日本語版 ), this existing expression was altered to make it make a little bit more sense with a Western 24 hour day
Thoughts: This has definitely been a lot lighter of a read now that I got past the first part, just like @javerend said! To be fair there were a lot of panels without any dialogue, but where there was I was able to understand much better than the first 20-ish pages. I am enjoying it more now.
(I don’t know how to quote people on the forums yet, so I just pinged you lol)
In today’s first DrDru story we talk about Harry Potter. Once again too many Katakana names for my liking.
In the second it’s movie time. We guess which movie it is based on the emoji presented, so there isn’t too much content to read here. Which is good because I’m a bit dizzy today.
Today, I finished reading chapter 8 of 海辺のカフカ, and I finally feel like I’m slowly starting to get a hang of this :3 I am considering reading a little bit more though, because I’ve been scrolling through the bookclub’s discussion on the following chapters and got a little curious
As for my side quest, I only had the energy to read the next short story from the collection about Milton and Bulka titled Черепаха (The Turtle). The story was, to my surprise and delight, complete with some turtle facts - so I got a little refresher on my turtle knowledge as a bonus Sometimes I forget just how cool turtles are.
There’s a little one-room private museum in Tokyo with a collection of those “daimyo clocks”. Recommended for clock nerds, especially if you can make a stab at reading the only-in-Japanese exhibit labels.
Today I read this week’s two stories from おばちゃんたちのいるところ. And this concludes the book clubs for this week. I need to think what to read tomorrow. Continue with my mountain ghost stories book, or read something new?
That’s so cool! I knew about the uneven six hours of day and six hours of night, but had no idea there were actual clocks that could measure such a crazy time!
English reading (The Hot Rock by Donald E Westlake)
Have I mentioned how busy I’d be for the first half of this month? If you’ve missed it, then apparently I forgot to mention it in this thread because I sure have said in a number of places.
So yeah, no actual Japanese reading. Probably a sentence here or there while reading the forum, but nothing on my (Japanese) priorities.
I did however finish a novel in English I’m reading for a workshop, so it was a prioritized read, and I do have another one of those. Which might be the only thing I read for the next two weeks, more or less.
Day 2
I have finished the third volume of U12. Even though there are still six more volumes left, let’s pretend that the manga ends with volume 3. The girls board a subway and drive to safety while running over all the pedos. What a beautiful ending.
Finished week 1 for the club, seems pretty nice so far. I get the feeling I’m going to like it. I have to be responsible and not read more so うたわれるもの until Friday.
I might start NieR:Automata again. And I say again because I did play many hours of it until the first ending back in some previous challenge but I didn’t continue for some reason even though I was adoring the game. I’ve seen that an anime is about to release and it got me curious but I don’t want to watch it without finishing the game first. So I’ll restart it soon, maybe.
Today I read this weeks ABBC portion of Cells at Work.
I had to look up a lot of vocab, but thats to be expected when it includes words like 血管内皮 vascular endothelium
It’s entertaining and easy reading - so far not as many major revelations as volume 4, though I think something interesting is about to happen where I paused.
Was busy packing stuff today, but got to read a bit while waiting for the train. …Ah, train wifi is as spotty and unstable as always. I wonder how online lecture tomorrow will be Good thing classmates take audio recordings.
Well, today was largely and unexpectedly successful on the reading front. I spent a good hour trying to figure out how to buy books online and ended up going through basically the entirety of Book Walker JP in Japanese without realizing that a lot of the pages are also available in English haha. By the time I ended up buying the mangas and light novels I wanted, I felt as though I got in enough reading for the day but I didn’t stop there. I read:
~ 3 pages of フライングうぃっち（1）
~ 5 pages of レンタルおにいちゃん（1）
Huge success for me. I’m glad I now have easy access to a few different series so that I can read something every day~
Day 3: January 3rd
What did I read?: 夜の名前を呼んで Vol 3
How much did I read?: 28 pages
How long did it take me?: 41 min
My heart This chapter is like bursting with cuteness. Goat Boy (whose actual name is Capri) comes back again because he needs some medicine for his mom - however, he came for it on the wrong day, so he has to wait around for a bit while Rei makes it. Sorry idk why but I thought this panel of Rei rushing to answer the door was adorable so I’m putting it here, he’s just so cute with the little toothbrush hanging out of his mouth
Rei makes Capri wait around as Goat Boy because Mira is too shy around him as a human but loves him in his tiny goat form He and Mira have such a cute little time together They start talking about this book that Mira was reading, and then they start having imaginary adventures, and it’s just- PERFECT.
THIS IS LITERALLY THE CUTEST PANEL IN THE WORLD I’M SORRY BUT LOOK AT THEM, THESE SQUISHY LITTLE BEANS
Replies!
YAAAAAS This makes me so happy, I hope you love them when you get to them
I love this, thank you for bringing this to my attention
I love that the day and night hours actually corresponded to the actual day and night all the time though, like honestly that logic makes it my new favorite time system. Also love that it basically acknowledges that time is made up, like the idea of the hours literally just being longer sometimes is so fascinating to me. I want to experience this time system just to see what it would be like, I can’t decide if I would hate it or love it in practice My sense of time passing is so wonky anyway, idk if variable hour lengths would help me or confuse me more xD
January 3rd
What did I read?: にわにはににん
How much did I read?: 5 pages
(Started 2nd Story: ユーレカの庭 )
How long did it take me?: 47 min
I wanted to keep going, but it’s too late for that, unfortunately. Should try starting earlier tomorrow! This story seems pretty interesting so far, though. It’s about a girl who’s captivated by an overgrown garden that she glimpses briefly behind a fence during her bus-ride to school.
Sometimes I forget just how cool turtles are.
This chapter is like bursting with cuteness. Goat Boy (whose actual name is Capri) comes back again because he needs some medicine for his mom - however, he came for it on the wrong day, so he has to wait around for a bit while Rei makes it. Sorry idk why but I thought this panel of Rei rushing to answer the door was adorable so I’m putting it here, he’s just so cute with the little toothbrush hanging out of his mouth 
PERFECT.
I love this, thank you for bringing this to my attention