Day 9: January 9th 
シャドーハウス Volume 4 (53% ➨ 65%)
からかい上手の(元)高木さん Volume 10 (31% ➨ 38%)
夢みる太陽 Volume 3 (40% ➨ 78%)
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January 9 Home Post
Oof it happened, I got too deep in 山猫 and had to know what was happening so I just… read the rest of it, and stayed up way too late in doing so 
it’s winter break it’s fine lmao. But yeah I read 74 pages today! Definitely a new record for me, plus I suppose it’s technically the first actual novel I’ve finished since I’ve still only read the 上 of 海辺のカフカ? So yay 
I certainly enjoyed it, it has a lot of fun characters and interactions and such, and all the mystery stuff was very interesting 
lots of moments where as soon as something happened I’d be like “oh of course, that was definitely foreshadowed” but didn’t pick up on it beforehand and was absolutely floored haha.
When I finished I got that bittersweet feeling a good story leaves you with where you don’t wanna say goodbye to the characters and their world, kinda cool to have that happen with a book in Japanese! I do own the second book, just don’t currently physically have it, but I look forward to reading it! In the meantime, I’ll have to look elsewhere for tomorrow
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Jan 10
かがみの孤城 30% → 34%
Some parts were a little confusing and took me longer today. I finished off 二月 and read the first few pages of 三月.
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January 10th
Aria: the masterpiece volume 3 – progress report
Yesterday: Continued up to page 53.
Today: Continued up to page 73, finished chapter 22.
Another (two) day(s), another chapter finished! Given that we didn’t get to see Alicia’s special place because they made another discovery, the big sakura tree, instead, I wonder if we’ll got to see that place at one point. Something tells me that it’s unlikely and it will remain intentionally unresolved. 
@natarin
Good job on setting a personal page record and congrats on practically reading your first novel!
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This looked familiar and I realised that I saw this one as nomination in one of the book clubs beforehand.
It looks delightful and I’ll make a mental note of it, though it’s not high on my priority list right now. By now I feel that whenever I’m in need of a palette cleanser, I can just take a look at the things you read during these challenges. With magical girl and magic man’s adventures, the cute little shark and guy working at an aquarium, you seem to frequently have adorable reading material up your sleeve. 
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Word or expression of the day:
眼前 - (がんぜん) - before one’s eyes
Honourable mention(s):
陽が暮れる - (ひがくれる) - to set (sun), to become dark
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Oh wow, that’s quite the endorsement! Congratulations on completing your (almost) first novel - and at what speed!
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Day 9 Progress:
お隣の天使様 五冊 - 87.69% → 93.73%
In today’s reading
Word of the Day:
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Day 10, 10th of January
Trying to get my reading in a bit earlier, so let’s look at the first story of today. Apparently it’s about pirates and I also just noticed I don’t have Yomichan setup on this browser so no quick lookups for me! An added challenge. And of course there is tons of Katakana in this one. 
Aaand I don’t have enough time to read more today if I want to do textbook work too.
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January 8
Read a little ユージニア (26% → 27%).
January 9
And some more ユージニア (27% → 29%). I keep feeling like I’ve read a decent amount then the percentage doesn’t go up all that much, I guess it really is one of the longest (or maybe the longest) books I’ve read in Japanese. Which is fine by me since I’m enjoying it.
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Home 
January 10th
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険5
143 - 199 (end)
If you’re like, “huh? Volume 5, when did you start that?” The answer is yes. Part 1 ends around 141 of Volume 5 and I never started reading Part 2 until today.
I don’t want to count it as a half volume unless there’s legit another half volume, like between parts 3 and 4, because I hate how it messes up the numbering in discord lists
Edit: the last ten pages of vol 12 and the first 70ish pages of 47 are for other parts and I’ve read the rest of those, so it will equal out. Good grief and thank goodness.
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１月１０日 (Home Post Link)
I’m really lazy and finally imported the photos from my camera today… apparently the last time I did that was in november lmao.
Read:
- ホリミヤ ch 63 + おまけ, Volume 9 done!
- マジーク・ツリーハウス pg 72 → 80 - got back to this today, taking a little break was nice but I am still enjoying it enough to finish book 2.
Good Words
ホリミヤ
切羽詰まる「ぜっぱつまる」ー to be in a pinch
譲る「ゆずる」ー to hand over
後悔「こうかい」ー regret
マジーク・ツリーハウス
区別「くべつ」ー distinction, difference
確かめる「たしかめる」ー to check, to make sure
へそ曲がり 「へそまがり」ー difficult person, contrarian
ふざける ー to joke, to play a prank
懐中電灯「かいちゅうでんとう」ー electric flashlight
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two pages is not nothing! if all you’ve got time for is two pages, then two pages is an achievement! even if it might not feel like it atm 
more pages than you could do when you started learning! as you read more, your reading speed will increase, and you’ll be able to fit more pages into your schedule.
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Oh hey, just discovered those calendar squares are clickable check boxes, you don’t have to edit the post each time!
Slowly continuing with ジャム屋さん on Satori. The compound sentence are kinda hard to keep track of but the individual phases seem easier than in the mouse story. (Or maybe it’s just me? I do like tea and jam.)
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10th jan
chapter four of 蟲師 volume one complete! one more chapter to go and then that’s the whole volume 
! another excellent chapter, with some added lore this time (rather than just a vignette) with the knowledge that ginko is missing an eye!!! presumably also the other one, given context clues. flew through this chapter, was the one with the most known words so far, i think.
there was also another short anecdote from the author at the end of this one, again featuring kitsune (i’ll be learning that kanji 狐 in no time at this rate). cos they’re handwritten they take quite a while for me to get through compared to the normal chapters!
some words that stood out: 義眼 (ぎがん, prosthetic eye), 本家 (ほんけ, head house, originator, birth place; had no idea 家 could be read as け), and 皃 (countenance) cos i spent ages trying to find it (jisho has it, but no words attached; kanjipedia doesn’t have it at all; weblio does tho).
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The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den
January 10th
新書太閣記 progress: 01.20% // Volume I: 13.93% 
Finished this chapter and onto the next, start chapter:
大鵬
I was a little confused as to how some characters fit in, but it’s all starting to come together!
Words found under the kotatsu
珍重「ちんちょう」ー Prizing; valuing highly
外道「げどう」ー Tirthika; non-Buddhist teachings; unorthodox; heresy; demon; devil; type of fish that you didn’t intend to catch
丸柱「まるばしら」ー Column; shaft; cylinder; round pillar // (Also: 円柱 which can be read the same, or: えんちゅう)
罵る「ののしる」ー To verbally abuse; to curse at; to shout at
染付「そめつけ」ー Printing; dyeing; blue & white porcelain/ceramics (from China) // (can also be written like: 染め付け)
居心地「いごこち」ー Comfort
僧侶「すうりょ」ー Priest; monk
Forms
愁い ＝ 憂い「うれい」(Sorrow; grief; anguish)
Character Name List
for easy referencing later, because these will take some remembering
Also probably some spoilers, but this is a historic novel, so can spoilers really exist for things that have (for the most part) actually happened 
Main
Hideyoshi: 豊臣秀吉「とよとみ ひでよし」
– – – Childhood name: 日吉「ひよし」
– – – Childhood nickname: 猿「さる」
Volume I Characters
日吉「ひよし」- Hideyoshi (as child)
Nickname: 猿「さる」
Friends
仁王「におう」- Big kid friend
於福「おふく」- Timid kid friend
Family
木下弥右衛門「きのした やえもん」- Father
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
加藤清正「かとう きよまさ」// also 弾正「だんじょう」- Ojisan (only distantly related)
Others
織田信秀「おだ のぶひで」- Daimyo (Foreshadowing drum noises)
– 織田与三郎「おだ よさぶろう」- Younger brother
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」- Daimyo
五郎大夫 「ごろ だゆう」// 祥瑞「しょうずい」(Goro’s Chinese name)
– Servant of Goro: 捨次郎「すてじろう」
– Mother of Goro’s child: 梨琴「りきん」
– Rikin’s & Goro’s child: 楊景福「ようけいふく」
Historical People
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阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (around 700AD)
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白楽天「はく きょい」ー Late 700s Chinese poet (Bai Juyi / Bo Juyi) also known as: 白楽天「はく らくてん」in Japan.
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道元「どうげん」(or 道元禅師「どうげん ぜんじ」ー Japanese Buddhist Priest, writer & poet (Early to mid 1200s) (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」)
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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 to early 800s)
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I don’t make any personal notes, so all the words I learn, and anything else, are all in my daily posts - under the spoiler tag.
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Jan 10, Tue of Week 3 of Winter Q1 2023 
- SPY x FAMILY Vol.5 Ch.24
Originally, I bought the volume because I think the joke in the preview is OK. Much of the latter chapters here seem to be about school.
- うたわれるもの
I just want to pause before a fighting scene.
Interesting words
- はなから = from the beginning. Kanji form is 端から.
- もがき苦しむ = to writhe in agony. The first part is 藻掻く, literally scratching on seaweed.
- どん底 = nadir; rock bottom. Not the vocabulary, but Rendaku tripped me.
- 続柄 = family relationship. It is really specific for relations / connections. Even in this form (other than 続き柄), the former reading is preferred over 続柄 (which sounds like from 家族).
- 間柄 = relationship
- 勝組 = winning group (e.g. those who succeed socially). Also, 勝ち組.
- 都度 = every time; whenever = 毎回
- 走馬灯 = a revolving lantern; ever-changing scene. Perhaps a lantern has a few pics of running horses?
- 奔走 = running about; making every effort to
- 渾身 = with one’s whole body; with all one’s might
- 肝煎り = promoting; help of. Like with boldness, and pouring some tea.
- 陳腐 = cliched. Like showing of old rotten jokes. First Kanji from 陳列 / 陳述.
- 硫化 = sulfide
- 負債 = debt
- 返済 = reimbursement; repayment
- 服役 = serving labor in prison. Also, 懲役 = penal servitude. I should have known the latter, but failed partially due to not recognizing エキ.
- 抄本 = excerpt; abridgement. In context as 戸籍抄本.
- 水商売 = nightlife business. 水 probably refers to お酒.
- 不可抗力 = irresistible force; inevitability
- 最後の晩餐 = the Last Supper
- 馬脚を露す = to reveal its true nature. 馬脚 is horse’s leg; and so become an acting role in a theater… The last part is from 表す, but use leaking Kanji (露出).
SFX
- ちまちま = smally well-arranged; tightly packed = ちんまり
- のうのう = carefree; live in easy circumstances
Kanji
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抄
- ショウ
- hand-picked excerpt
- 抄本, 抄録
- ショウ
-
渾
- getting mixed in with the whole body
- brandish a tsunami
- コン
- 渾身, 雄渾
- 渾然一体, 渾沌
- 渾名
- getting mixed in with the whole body
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奔 (Level 58)
- running while opening a book (本); so page leaves flew
- 奔走, 奔放
-
硫 (Level 58)
- sulphur; sulfur
- リュウ
- 硫化, 硫酸
- 硫黄
You have found a nice one hiding under 貌. Jisho wouldn’t catch different unicode point, and sometimes alternate Kanji form must not be able to completely replace the original Kanji (?)
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January 10th progress update
Home Post
Reading よつばと！ Vol. 1
I think I found the perfect pace of reading that just feels comfy at my current level and it’s not frying my brain Read through the whole 3rd chapter so I’m currently at page 114 (which I consider pretty nice in just 4 days). Usual cute lil’ story in the life of Yotsuba, raising the issue of global warming (地球温暖化) in a funny way.
Also I wonder what you all think, I noticed at the end of the chapter when yotsuba said “あっちーなー” in my head I thought is she in Niigata prefecture? This sounds like super 新潟弁 to me, I spent a summer at a host family in Niigata and they said 暑い the exact same way. Are there other dialects where they say it this way, or perhaps this is just a coincidence in the manga and some childish whiny way of saying it?
Few words and expressions from today
- 冷え性 = sensitivity to cold
- 見損なう = to misjudge (someone in the case of the manga)
- うっかり = carelessly
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Day 8
I finished Your Lie in April manga vol. 3. The manga was slowly improving but they started again with all this concert stuff which is pretty boring to me. I only got the first three volumes free from bookwalker and don’t want to continue reading more of it, even though I enjoyed reading the first three volumes.
Next I started Bakemonogatari manga vol. 2 and it’s pretty challenging which I like.
My approach changed this year. Now I try to understand every little thing when reading. Unlike in the past, I reread a sentence multiple times when needed, until I feel like I understand everything.
962 pages read 19038 to go
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Home post // Jan 10
・ 本好きの下克上 16 (47% → 50%)
Things are only getting more and more busy. Sleep, sleep is important. I go rest.
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