Ooh, you put にわにはににん on your consideration list! I’ve almost finished it now, and I think I’d recommend it, story-wise. Most of the stories were enjoyable in one way or another, and I really like the art. The stories can be a little open-ended and understated though, so if that isn’t your thing, it might not be right for you.
As I think I mentioned elsewhere, it also has no furigana except on one or two words… But as I’ve been reading through it, I’ve been taking handwritten vocabulary notes, so I could scan those for your use if you’d like? It would be kind of fun for me if someone else read the same book~
ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 and さよなら絵梨 are both on my to-be-read list, so I think they look interesting too, but don’t know what they’re like Japanese-wise. It might be worth mentioning that the 17-21 collection by Tatsuki Fujimoto consists of stories written by him between the ages of 17 and 21, and I’ve heard that as such they’re kind of rough. But if you’re a fan of the mangaka could still be worth checking out, of course! (There’s also a 22-26 one.) I haven’t read it though, so that’s just what I heard.
For other recommendations, there isn’t a lot I can say since I just started reading in Japanese myself this year, but if you’re interested in the other manga I bought in my first Japanese book order, you could check them out here:
True to my word, I’ve deprioritized 天使様 for a bit while I focus on other things like Slow Loop and boy am I having a better time now… The difference between reading something you enjoy for reading practice compared to something you don’t is, unsurprisingly, night and day.
Nonetheless I’ve been randomly nodding off mid-read so I am going to make a concerted effort to fix my sleep schedule as well…
Word of the Day: 蛋白 - protein, egg white. 蛋 is another character we commonly use in Chinese, as chicken egg is 鸡蛋 or 鶏蛋 (we still use 卵 I think but that one is mostly referring to eggs without hard shells, like roe)
I finally had some time to read! But not as much as I’d like. I’m traveling quite a bit in upcoming weeks (for work), with some of it international, so a lot of my free time is being eaten up by prep work.
I’m up through chapter 7 of チュベローズ and might try to sneak in more reading before bed. But also considering putting it to the side for a bit so I can binge it in the airport next week as having good reading material during long waits and even longer plane rides is important. Choices
チュベローズ meta discussion
*looks at bookshelf* I’ve done far worse
But I get what you’re saying about perception. I distinctly remember buying books in Japan in 2019 and the shopkeeper put a privacy cover on one of them automatically Hearing about being judged for reading about 水商売 as a teacher does make me think of some things I’ve heard about/experienced in America. We have our own moral judgements about books. A friend in elementary wasn’t allowed to read Harry Potter because it was about witch craft. I got some very odd looks reading Naked Lunch in my high school’s cafeteria. So many, many banned books. I suspect if teachers in some parts of this country were seen reading something called like “Midnight Passion” or “Waiting for you at the boy brothel” they’d get called out.
For myself, I’m generally not judgey about what other people read, although once a family friend heard I was into reading and tried to give me a big box of her old bodice rippers…
I spent the majority of today driving so not much reading despite my best efforts, I’m just too sleepy so just a tiny 花子くん read for the sake of consistency! It’s BU$TAFELLOWS time again though, soon
On the 12th I read a good chunk of チュベローズで待ってる., leaving only one and a half chapters to finish the book. I finished it yesterday, then thought I’d start this week’s Eugenia. I ended up reading the whole chapter in one go, and I seriously doubt I’ll stick to the book club schedule for the one remaining chapter.
But you can binge the second volume if you finish this one before then! Win-win.
Aria: the masterpiece volume 3 / Card Captor Sakura volume 6 – progress report Yesterday: Read Aria: the masterpiece volume 3, continued up to page 110, finished chapter 23. Today: Began reading Card Captor Sakura volume 6, finished chapter 23, read up to page 82.
Back to Sakura. And, as always, I notice the difference between the difficulty and amount of time I need to invest in Sakura compared to Aria – the former is easier to decipher (in regards to words).
Fast progress today because there were more action scenes as the plot thickens. The last two Clow cards have been collected and by now it is pretty clear that the trial by Yue is just about to begin.
Replies
Unfortunately not.
When I watched the short video, it certainly looked to me like the bunny was stressed because it breathed very fast (given that it’s still winter, I don’t think the problem was heat regulation). At least it didn’t seem utterly shocked as this would have been visible in the bun’s eyes.
But I agree with you: seemingly quite a few places or situations in Japan such as events or animal cafés (dogs or cats which are more used to ‘hectic’ in- and outdoor life aside) seem to be rather detrimental to the animal’s comfort and it makes me sad. Unless specific movements or animal welfare organisations manage to raise more awareness in this regard, I don’t see things changing in the foreseeable future…
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Word or expression of the day:
互角 - (ごかく) - equal (in ability), evenly matched, on par (with)
Honourable mention(s)
揺れる - (ゆれる) - to shake, to sway, to waver Come to think of it, that’s the word prominently used in the Japanese version of the main theme song of Fire Emblem: Fates / If
it’s the weekend that means going back to smooth reading stuff! カノカメ continues, and is definitely becoming less fun/interesting as i go on. there’s some tropes i really don’t like in there still, i’ll finish the volume cos i’ve started. i’ve read five chapters now but i’m still only like two thirds of the way through, and it’s not even that long of a volume…
I haven’t read much Japanese yet, but I’m planing to read more after I write this. Bustafellows keeps being fun, although I’m still very very early.
More talking about the novel I'm reading in English (actually I finished it)
As for the novel, well, 90% was about the guy figuring out his shortcomings and growing, and the woman had less than 10%, because for the rest of the novel she didn’t even admit to herself that she’d been wrong at all. That split to me just feels bad. Because it makes it seem like the guy have to scrap and crawl over glass to get the woman, and the woman can just enjoy all the attention and then have a shotgun character growth.
I just think they both should have been growing through the whole book, that is how you show that their relationship will work into the future. Right now I can believe the guy will be able to make it work, but whether the heroine will or not, I can’t say. She’ll probably fall back in her old destructive way.
It was fun to read, and I’ll probably pick up the next one in the series. But now I know that this series will be a romance series that focuses on men improving on themselves, and the women recognizing they need to apologize too at the end (if not earlier). So I should just ignore the heroine mostly, and focus on enjoying the guy’s journey.
I went to Kinokuniya bookstore to see if I can find よつばと in paperback version. I can find latter volumes, but Vol.1 isn’t there. Showcasing of other books is amazing, though. Rather than a Japanese book, I bought a piano book, which is western (and I can’t say I could “read” that).
Super Doctor K Vol.2 Ch.1-3
Chapter number (カルテ) restarts to 1. Although current chapters’ mini-story looks separated, later on it connects well with the first volume.
I have some questions about what 手術 wouldn’t do, but not that I care.
うたわれるもの
Interesting words
なにとぞ = I beg you. Kanji form is 何卒.
平たい = flat. I keep forgetting how to read this one, confusing with 平ら.
張り詰める = to make tense (making a tense atmosphere)
込み入った = complicated. From, 込み入る = to be complicated; to be entangled.
掠め取る = to snatch
微々たるもの = very small amount
拐かす = to kidnap
撃沈 = sinking a ship (Battleship)
轟沈 = sinking a ship instantly. First Kanji from 轟く = to rumble; to roar. It sounds forced (強引).
January 14th
新書太閣記 progress: 01.83% // Volume I: 21.21%
Getting some back story now, so things are starting to make more sense
Words found under the kotatsu
茶事「ちゃごと」ー Tea gathering (for a tea ceremony); some matter concerning tea; family gathering in memory of deceased ancestors 数寄「すき」ー Refined taste 濁世「じょくせ / だくせ」ー This corrupt world; this world/life; the world of humans (Buddhism) 郷士「ごうし」ー Country samurai 紅毛人「こうもうじん」ー Old way of referring to Westerners, especially the Dutch
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
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
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
Others
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
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」- Daimyo
斯波義統「しば よしむね」- Daimyo (head of the Shiba clan) at Kiyosu castle
Historical People
阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (around 700AD)
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.
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」)
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)
It’s been like 6 months since I finished the first volume of this manga… I’d forgotten how dramatic it is, and rife with misunderstandings Oh well. It was nice to realize I could jump back into the very casual and slang-y language at least! I should study some grammar this weekend but it’s so boooooring.
Today I read half of Chapter 3 of Cells at Work. Watching the anime has made the vocab a little less difficult for me. I’m still looking up a lot of stuff, but I’m struggling less than I was.
In this one we follow now two parallel story threads. Most of the pirate crew is continuing towards the treasure, while one person got lost, but met a monkey friend.
The next one is so confusing I don’t even know where to start. The crew finds the treasure, but another group ambushes them and cuts off their beards, which somehow causes the pirates to fall asleep??? Then they’re saved by monkey’s throwing coconuts.
Struggling to focus today, but got a little bit in
Read:
「多い」と「たくさん」の違いとは？分かりやすく解釈 | 違い比較辞典 i went to go write a sentence earlier and realized that I had intuitions about which one would be right/wrong to use, but I wasn’t actually sure, so i went out to try to find an explanation. I think I had it right! which is cool, since I’ve never actually looked up which one goes where.
ホリミヤ ch 72
マジーク・ツリーハウス pg 98 → 109
Good Words
ホリミヤ
内蔵「ないそう」ー internal, built in
過信「かしん」ー trusting too much
尊敬「そんけい」ー respect, esteem
危機感「ききかん」ー sense of impending crisis
マジーク・ツリーハウス
ひんやり ー cool, chilly
並ぶ「ならぶ」ー to stand in a line (occasionally we still find some random n5 stuff i’ve never seen lmao)
面頬「めんほお」ー faceguard, visor
ガチャン ー (with a) slamming noise
衛兵「えいへい」ー guard
螺旋「らせん」ー spiral, helix
天井「てんじょう」ー ceiling
処刑「しょけい」ー execution
餌食「えじき」ー prey
光景「こうけい」ー spectacle, view, scene
Day 11
Today I finished the manga from yesterday. I put everything behind a detailed tag. It may be a little nsfw so if anyone is bothered by that don’t read any of the hidden text please.
maybe slightly nsfw
The sister was pure evil. Not only did she seduce her brother but she later made fun of him. “I know that you like woman with big chest sizes I found your pervy manga collection. But isn’t it funny that you had your first time with me your little sister. HaHaHa.” The manga ends with an orgy with the brother and ten girls involved. Little sister forces her brother to say in front of all the other girls that he enjoys sex with her most. It felt like the brother
was just a tool to fulfill the sexual desires of all the girls. The manga was fun because everything was so ridiculous and over the top.
Well I finished the whole manga, MEANING I FINISHED MY FIRST MANGA . There were 2 chapters left for today and I read both of them with pretty much no problems. I got used to the way they speak and by these last few pages I could understand the colloquialism too which I couldn’t in the beginning, so I just had to look up a few words here and there. Pretty satisfied with how it went and I got hooked to reading I guess I’ll definitely get my hands on more yotsuba volumes in the future 'cause this was loads of fun
Tomorrow I start with the nemesis that has been lurking in my room for a while, namely 僕だけがいない街. 笑笑
Yesterday, I read chapters 14 and 15 of チュベローズで待ってる AGE22, and today I finished the rest of it! I finished my first Japanese book! I can’t believe it! :333
Hearing about being judged for reading about 水商売 as a teacher does make me think of some things I’ve heard about/experienced in America. We have our own moral judgements about books. A friend in elementary wasn’t allowed to read Harry Potter because it was about witch craft. I got some very odd looks reading Naked Lunch in my high school’s cafeteria. So many, many banned books. I suspect if teachers in some parts of this country were seen reading something called like “Midnight Passion” or “Waiting for you at the boy brothel” they’d get called out.
からかい上手の(元)高木さん Volume 10 (52% ➨ 59%)
still, i’ll finish the volume cos i’ve started. i’ve read five chapters now but i’m still only like two thirds of the way through, and it’s not even that long of a volume…
Oh well. It was nice to realize I could jump back into the very casual and slang-y language at least! I should study some grammar this weekend but it’s so boooooring.
１月１４日 
. There were 2 chapters left for today and I read both of them with pretty much no problems. I got used to the way they speak and by these last few pages I could understand the colloquialism too which I couldn’t in the beginning, so I just had to look up a few words here and there. Pretty satisfied with how it went and I got hooked to reading I guess 
I’ll definitely get my hands on more yotsuba volumes in the future 'cause this was loads of fun 
