Day 40
The solution to the case in Kindaichi Shounen vol.2 is crazy. I like the manga but I would prefer if it was a little bit more down to earth. Anyway I didn’t have much time to read just 40 pages.
2966 pages read
The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den 
February 11th
新書太閣記 progress: 08.64% // Volume I: 100% / Volume II: 0.14% 
Complete the first volume, and read a teeny bit of the second
Words found under the kotatsu
陣羽織「じんばり」ー Battle surcoat
前垂れ「まえだれ」ー Apron
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 - 1555
日吉「ひよし」- Hideyoshi (as child)
Nicknames: 猿「さる」/ 針売り「はりうり」
Name serving Nobunaga: 木下 藤吉郎「きのした とうきちろう」
Family
木下弥右衛門「きのした やえもん」- Father
– – 乙若「おとわか」- Old friend (serves under 織田)
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」
Others:
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
堀田 道空「ほった どうくう」- Chief retainer
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
春日丹後「かすが たんご」- Military commander
Oda Clan
織田 信長「おだ のぶなが」- Leader of the Oda clan (Married to the daughter of Saito Dosan)
– 卯月「うづき」- Nobunaga’s faithful, old horse 
– 織田信秀「おだ のぶひで」- Father and previous leader of the Oda clan
– – 織田与三郎「おだ よさぶろう」- Younger brother
– – 織田信行「おだ のぶかつ」(Other name: 信成「のぶなり」) - Son (half-brother to Nobunaga (different mother))
Retainers (Under Nobuhide rule):
平手 政秀「ひらて まさひで」
– 五郎左衛門「ごろうざえもん」(nickname: 五郎左「ごろうざ」) - First son
– 監物「けんもつ」- Second son
– 甚左衛門「じんざえもん」- Third son
– 雨宮勘解由「あめみや かげゆ」- Servant
林 秀貞「はやし ひでさだ」(common name: 新五郎「しんごろ」/ nickname: 佐渡「さどう」) (served under Nobunaga too)
– 美作守「みまさかのかみ」- Younger brother
青山 信昌「あおやま のぶまさ」(common name: 与三右衛門「よそうえもん」)
内藤 勝介「ないとう しょうすけ / かつすけ」
Retainers (Under Nobunaga rule):
柴田勝家「しばた かついえ」(Nickname: 権六「ごんろく」)
Others:
市川大介「いちかわ だいすけ」- Archery master/instructor
平田三位「ひらた さんみ」- Master of military strategy
浅野又右衛門「あさの またえもん」- Military commander
– 寧子「ねね」- Daughter
がんまく - Former worker/servant, friend of Hideyoshi
Shiba Clan
斯波義統「しば よしむね」- Head of the Shiba clan, at Kiyosu castle
– 斯波義銀「しば よしかね」- Son
Imagawa Clan
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」- Daimyo
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」)
Takeda Clan
太郎義信「たけだ よしのぶ」- Commander
(Married to the daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto to tie the clans)
Non-affiliated
上泉 信綱「かみいずみ のぶつな」(also: 上泉 伊勢守「かみいずみ いせのかみ」) - Founder of the 新陰流「しんかげりゅう」school of Kenjutsu
– 疋田小伯「ひきた しょうはく」- Disciple
– 神後五六郎「かんご ごろくろう」- Disciple
塚原 卜伝「つかはら ぼくでん」- Kensei; legendary swordsman
Historical People
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阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (700s)
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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)
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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 (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」) (Early / mid 1200s)
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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 / early 800s)
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源頼政「みなもと の よりまさ」ー Prominent poet and warrior (1100s)
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平 重盛「たいら の しげもり」ー Military commander and court noble, claimed to be an ancestor of Oda Nobunaga (Mid-1100s)
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桓武（天皇）「かんむ（てんのう）」ー 50th Emperor of Japan, claimed to be an ancestor of Taira no Shigemori, thus ancestor to Oda Nobunaga (Mid-Late 700s)
Volume II: 1555 - 15??
(currently 1555/6)
Oda Clan
木下 藤吉郎「きのした とうきちろう」- Hideyoshi
浅野 又右衛門「あさの またえもん」- Military commander
– 寧子「ねね」- Daughter
11/2 24 pages Orange, 10 pages 夜カフェ (finished book)
I’ve not had too much time to write recently - currently on a plane ride for work (will be working on return flight). So figured I’d type a longer update.
Today I finished volume 3 of 夜カフェ, and I think we’re having a short break before the next one.
I’m catching up with Orange, but still a couple of weeks behind currently.
And I’m up to date with Spy Family, though haven’t done this week’s reading yet.
おばちゃんたちのいるところ is my other problem child that I’m 2 weeks behind on, despite the fact that the club is finished now.
I’ve held off reading any more of シャドーハウス until I’m up to date with the others, so will try to wait for the club to catch up.
I suspect Rubin was being intentionally humorous there, yeah, but it’s also apparently the case that the widespread use of the 受身形 for the kind of thing English passive is used for dates largely to the Meiji era when writers translating English works into Japanese adopted it as the way to translate passives.
I vaguely recall also reading that Murakami Haruki’s style is quite heavy on this use of the passive, as a deliberate choice reflecting the style of translated literature.
Feb 11, Sat of Week 7 of Winter Q1 2023 
- ふしぎの国のバード Vol.2 Ch.8-9 - 会津道 (end volume)
- うたわれるもの
Words of the day
- こまめ = diligent = 小まめ. In context as こまめに.
- でっぱり = lump; projection = 出っ張り
- コロロダイン = Chlorodyne - Wikipedia
- ダニ = tick; mite = 壁蝨
- みすぼらしい = shabby-looking = 見窄らしい
- おびき寄せる = to lure someone = 誘き寄せる.
- 燻す = to smoke something; to make cover something with smoke. Has Furigana.
- 囃し立てる = to cheer at / to make fun of. Has Furigana in the first half. Also, 囃す.
- 雨上がり = after the rain.
- 健やか = healthy
- 定石 = standard tactic; playing by the book
- 几帳面 = precise; meticulous
- 至難 = absolutely most difficult
- 常備薬 = household medicine. 常備 is emergency reserve.
- 身勝手 = self-centered; egotistical = 自分勝手
- 繊細 = delicate/sensitive (feeling)
- 品格 = dignity
- 博識 = extensive knowledge
- 努力の賜物 = fruit of one’s labor
- 粗暴 = rough and violent manners
- 踝 = ankle’s malleolus. Has Furigana.
- 堆肥 = compost; manure. Has Furigana.
- 蹄鉄 = horseshoe. Has Furigana.
- 草鞋 = straw sandal. Has Furigana.
- 草鞋虫 = wood lice
- 虱蠅 = a louse fly. From 虱 / 蝨 (a louse) + 蠅 (a fly). Has Furigana.
- 切禿 = a children hairstyle in Edo period = 切り禿. Has Furigana.
- 荏胡麻 = perilla, a herb. 胡麻 is sesame. Has Furigana.
- 茅 = grass used for thatching. Has Furigana.
- 機 = a loom, a machine used to weave clothes. Has Furigana.
- 酩酊 = dead drunk. Read by phonetic components, only that the vocabulary’s sound / Kana has to be known. Has Furigana.
- 囲炉裏 = a sunken fireplace. Has Furigana.
- 側溝 = side ditch; sewer drainage on the sides of a road. Has Furigana.
- 麻 = hemp; linen; flax. No Furigana.
- なめし革 = tanned leather
- 肌着 = underwear
- 豪雨 = torrential rain. In this case, 豪 is great in amount; uncommon.
- 護符 = a charm; a talisman; an amulet = お守り
- 道陸神 = traveler’s guardian deity. Second Kanji’s reading is a little exceptional.
- 丑の刻参り = a cursing ritual, nailing a doll to a tree. 丑の刻 is the time around 2 o’clock in the morning (2 AM).
- 木蝋 = wax from a wax tree (ハゼノキ). Second Kanji also used in 蝋燭, and can be used as a vocabulary of its own. Has Furigana.
- 伽羅 = agarwood, a kind of fragrant wood. Has Furigana.
- 衆道 = male homosexuality = 若衆道 = 男色
- 叛乱 = rebellion; uprising = 反乱
- 寵臣 = favorite retainer
- 狂言誘拐 = staged (fake) kidnapping
- 言語道断 = unspeakable; outrageous
- 机上の空論 = empty theory, only seen on the table
SFX
- うとうと = falling into a sleepy doze
Kanji
- 寵じ
- to favor
- チョウ
- 寵児, 寵臣
- 寵愛, 恩寵
February 11th
Aria: the masterpiece volume 3 – progress report
Yesterday: Read up to page 342, finished chapter 29.
Today: Continued up to page 358.
Only a few dozen pages left. I’ve just stopped at the part where the ‘gang’ – as in seemingly all characters we’ve met so far – is starting to gather. I’ll read the remaining pages tomorrow and pick up Card Captor Sakura again.
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Word or expression of the day:
定員 - (ていいん) - capacity (of a bus, boat, theatre, etc.), seating capacity
Honourable mention(s):
屋形船 - (やかたぶね) - houseboat; pleasure boat
February 11
Home Post
Orange 
Finished the last chapter of volume 6. Next week start volume 7 which is the last volume. I’m so excited to finish my first proper read through of a manga series. (I technically extensively read another 7 volume one but considering I’ve read it in English tons of times, I’m not sure if I understood the Japanese as much as I almost knew what they would be saying anyway. xD)
I also decided to stop replaying Breath of the Wild. The thing where people say “they wished they could play/read/watch something for the first time again” really applies. I loved playing BotW the first time. I spent, I think, around 180 hours playing it. I don’t think I’ve spent that much time playing a game, except for MMORPGs. But while I still enjoyed the gameplay, I just couldn’t get into it.
So glad, the next one is coming in just a few more months.
@pm215 Did you catch the zootr match between Engel and MrMario? Losers bracket round 3. It was epic. I think it might just be the most exciting match so far this tourney. And there have been plenty of good ones. Here is the link to it on youtube. (I know you watch on Twitch but in case someone else wants to watch it too.)
Thanks for the heads-up – I don’t catch every match and I’ve been away this weekend and not had time tk wstch stuff…
Home post // Feb 11
・薬屋のひとりごと３ (31% → 45%)
Got to read a fair bit on the train, was distracted a lot by the scenery and landscape outside.
And oh! (not reading related but I have to share this) Train staff made an announcement through the speakers seeking for someone who knew how to speak Japanese and so I went to the café coach to see what was going on. Turned out a young Japanese woman had trouble with her luggage and missed her station and thereby her connecting train. The train staff had trouble with language barrier so I tried to help them (I never practice my speaking skills 
unless singing counts). And guess what? …I was nihongo jouzu’d (first time!) She seemed genuinely impressed too, I’m so conflicted! xD At first when I heard her say that I thought to myself “are you kidding me” but the expression on her face made me so happy. It was so bizarre to suddenly be in a situation where all my studying so far has paid off. In my own country too. I don’t think a lot of Japanese people come here especially not to the inaka middle of nowhere during the winter.
Anyway, hopefully she reached her destination okay! 
Reply
As a warning, it involves bugs and a corpse whose condition was … not fine 
so yeah, gross and morbid. The chapter title was 冬人夏草 and it’s a pun on the bug 冬虫夏草 (some nasty looking caterpillars if you ask me 
please do not look them up, you’ll need bleach for your eyes). Story: The main protag is walking around the forest and finds a bunch of rare poisonous mushrooms. Turns out they only grow when there’s a dead animal or human buried underneath. She knows there’s a person who has been missing since a year ago and connects the dots. …There’s a reason she requested gutsy (腹の据わった) people to help her dig up the ground for her.
Day 41
After a long time it was an awesome day for reading. Finally I finished reading the second volume of Kindaichi Shounen. The conclusion was ridiculous full of plot twists and great amounts of drama. At the end all of the people in the village were dead. I think this manga is going a little bit over board with all the drama. Outside of that I am slowly reading through my gigantic pile of magazines.
3096 pages read over 15% of my yearly goal accomplished
Day 37: February 6th
Missed 
Day 38: February 7th
What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ 
How much did I read?: 5 pages
How long did it take me?: 25 minutes
Day 39: February 8th
What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ
How much did I read?: 9 pages
How long did it take me?: 34 minutes
Day 40: February 9th
What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ
How much did I read?: 4 pages
How long did it take me?: 15 minutes
Day 41: February 10th
Missed
Day 42: February 11th
What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ
How much did I read?: 10 pages
How long did it take me?: 41 minutes
I haven’t posted in a while 
Work has been busy and honestly I just…didn’t want to talk to people (even in the speaking-into-the-void sort of way), nothing related to anyone or anything in particular, it was just a very “don’t look at me” sort of week, idk 
I feel like I fall into the trap of “I don’t feel like posting about the thing, so therefore I will just not do the thing” sometimes, but I’m proud to say that most of the time I avoided that and still read despite not posting. The reading is more important than the posting (is something I am reminding myself and finally actually starting to practice). I might continue to not post as frequently while work is crazy which might be most of the rest of the month, tbd, it did seem to help my overall stress balance this week.
Anyway, enough about that, onto the reading 
I would like to say that I am very pleasantly surprised by my speed gains - last week, 10 pages took me 58 minutes and today I read that in 41 minutes? It’s probably the smoothest novel reading experience I’ve ever had, I’m not really sure why that is lol. One thing that helps is that I definitely don’t need to look up as many things as I usually do (there aren’t that many unfamiliar words, and a lot of the unfamiliar words get repeated a lot so I kind of start to remember them). Story-wise, I feel like there’s a lot of like…filler? But it’s pleasant filler lmao, basically just Aoyama thinking and exploring with his bestie Uchida. Maybe it feels like “a lot of filler” because I don’t read that fast still lmao, like if I were reading in “real time” maybe it wouldn’t feel like as much. Also I feel like it’s highly possible that the filler-ish parts will come back and be relevant later, the relevancy may just not be apparent yet. But I love how Uchida just randomly reveals that he has a penguin hidden away Apparently the penguins don’t eat, which is an intriguing detail when combined with the fact that they can be created from soda cans. What are you, penguins 
This is so awesome 
I’m sure she was super relieved you were there to help 
February 11th!
Today I read a chapter of Orange, and finished Volume 6. I can’t believe there is only one volume left now!
Home 
February 11th
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険9
50 - 76
I cleared most of my reviews yesterday, but there’s still not enough time in a day. I’ll be doing some work from home and chores today, so not sure if I’ll get through much more either.
Just a bit of きみのまち ポルティア today. Hopefully after tomorrow I won’t be so tired anymore.
February 11 Home Post
Back to BU$TAFELLOWS again! I wasn’t great with time management today so didn’t read as much as I would’ve liked, but it was a good time anyway 
very exciting, can’t wait to see where it goes
Chapter 6 of 魔女の旅々completed. Unsurprisingly for the chapter called " 瓶詰めの幸せ", word of the chapter is “幸福”.
It also is the last chapter that was entirely spoiled for me by watching reviews of the anime (I never watched anime, only multiple reviews where reviewers liked that Elaina is not suffering from the world-saver syndrome). I know coupld of details from future episodes, but they are vague enough.
12th feb
another day of reading the apollo justice script, this time going over what i did yesterday (the stuff i didn’t read in advance anyway). i’m really enjoying seeing the character’s speech patterns and punny names, and even four games in i’m still amazed at how different the localisation is. more granblue later too!
I read a lot of manga the last few weeks, but I think it’s time for me to focus on reading books again as the challenge is going to end in a few weeks. I might hit my 3 book goal if I pick up Re:Zero again and read the final stretch, but I just want to read 夜は短し歩けよ乙女 for right now. I am pretty comfortable now reading it now, so I want to dedicate my time to it now.
orange Volume 6 (81% ➨ 100%)
からかい上手の高木さん Volume 10 (64% ➨ 74%)February 12th
Aria: the masterpiece volume 3 – progress report
Yesterday: Continued up to page 358.
Today: Read up to page 376, finished chapter 30 and volume 3. 
Picked up Card Captor Sakura volume 9, read up to page 18.
And with that cozy chapter, volume 3 ended. The only thing I have to say about chapter 30 is that is seems oddly convenient that all three guys already know each other?! Are there any gatherings or whatnot where all 4 ‘elements’ the Salamanders, Gnomes, Sylphs and Undines get to meet each other – similar to the meetings(?) Alicia goes to here and there? Or was it just a plot convenience by the author to save on pages that may have been spent on Akatsuki, Al and Woody getting to know each other resulting in making the chapter too long for serial publishing? I’m leaning towards the latter.
I admittedly forgot what happened in the chapter from where I stopped reading Sakura before picking it up again and I’m too lazy to look it up. Given that this chapter starts with White day, I’d assume that the last chapter was the Valentine’s day one.
Repiles
@Zakarius
I almost missed it – congrats on finishing the 1st volume of 新書太閣記! 
@Redglare
Sounds like you had quite the impactful incident that day. I’m glad that your studies payed off and you managed to help that person …and that you have gotten your first 日本語は上手です – though it seems to have been the good kind based on your description. 
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Word or expression of the day:
気が利く - (きがきく) - to be thoughtful, to be tactful, to be sensitive