July 11th
陰獣
Completed chapter 11 - the story has pretty much concluded but there’s a small chapter left, more than enough room for Ranpo to pull one of his mad twist endings out.
佳味猫殿 
そうでござる, I’m not familiar with Bunpro but I guessed it was probably from a language learning thing of some kind though it is much more fun to imagine you getting samurai points for doing meritorious samurai deeds 
 |
Book | Read | Edge | Pages | Reread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
ひぐらしのなく頃に 第一話 鬼隠し編 (上) | 89 - 91 | 92 | 328 | No |
Big push today to have content to digest during the week. I dream of the time when a few pages of progress will no longer translate to 30+ new kanjis 
T-too much ! 
You know my secret now…its true…I am learning japanese to complete my secret samurai training 
I shall be shougun neko sama soon 
11th july update !
Read NHK web easy (okay I tried)
Did my lyrics deciphering (its going ? yeah…going i guess…)
…Nothing more (shocking I know)
Just a few pages of よつばと！Chap. 44 today.
It’s time for an update 
For Monday to Saturday of this week
| Day | Book | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 6 | ONE PIECE 25 | one chapter |
| Jul 8–10 | バガボンド 3 | full volume (226 pages) |
| Jul 10–11 | 魔女の宅急便 2 | first chapter (29 pages) |
| Jul 11 | アオのハコ 4 | chapters 26–29 (90 pages) |
Tuesday was my travel day and I don’t recall whether I’ve read anything that day. Maybe played some Xenoblade (like I did most days) but nothing substantial. On the other days, I did definitely read though 
魔女の宅急便 (Kiki’s Delivery Service) was my first proper book in Japanese back in 2020 and after I had finished that, I got all other 5 books from the series as well. I did start the second book and got to around page 100 but it’s been so many years, so I decided to restart it from page 1. I’m not sure if I actually want to read it fully but hey, can’t hurt to give it another shot
You got close, but it’s actually 紙寝子!
That’s only you, mate.. I mean, granted, you are part of POLLfam as well so the statement isn’t wrong, but.. yeah 
7月11日
よつばと1 - 4 pages (9 pages including pages with no writing)
I completely forgot to come back to read more so just some pages of よつばと for the absolute beginner book club.
July 9
I played more Granblue Fantasy Relink but I’m still not strong enough to enter the new story content. Even though I already finished some quests, my characters are still weak and getting stronger takes a lot of time.
Day 11: 7月11日
Home Post
I played what felt like a looot of Animal Crossing today but actually it was probably only about 5-10mins of play time because I’ve been writing down and breaking down each sentence of the tutorial phase. I feel like I’ve been learning a lot from doing this, or at the very least I’ve really hammered home the phrase 無人島 (deserted island) haha! I’m definitely getting a lot more understanding of sentence structure, and also getting my head around basic things like the て-form and different conjugations.
Though I probably won’t carry on entirely with all the writing now that I’m free from the tutorial because I don’t want playing to feel like a chore, I still love that I can reinforce this stuff using video games or comics! I wish they’d suggested this sort of thing back when we had to study French at school! It really is so much better to study using material that you find engaging, who knew? 
July 11
Book: 本好きの下剋上 ハンネローレの貴族院五年生3 L32 (367 pages)
Progress: 42% → 44%
Read a tiny bit before the match between Norway vs England. GG 
Too bad about the goal that was deemed as a foul. England’s defence was strong, well played. I really wanted to see more Norway 
７月１１日
夏子の酒 1 pgs 75 – 86 / 451
7月9日
After a year of looking I finally found 王様ランキング at half-price! 私はとても幸せ!! Today i got through to the 10th page because the kanji is kinda difficult since its in olden times and theres a lot of polite grammar that i’m not used to.
I also got the 27th volume of 魔入りました！入間くん at half-price (which is totally fine because i’ve already read it all online) which i’ll start tomorrow! My brother also got 三ツ星カラーズ which I think will be a lot easier for me to read (since they’re kids).
Other than that I just did I more episode of 明子の日記、留学二日目 and did the flashcards for the past episode.
7月10日と7月11日
Read yesterday another chapter of Narnia where the beaver couple explains the plot after having dinner. There will be 4 monarchs, 2 boys and 2 girls at ケア・パラベル. The phrasing would have rhymed in English but it doesn’t translate to Japanese well. Adam’s flesh and Adam’s bone being the way it describes the genders and bone rhymes with throne. Right as they explain that the kids will all rule together, they realize Edmund hasn’t been there for a while. エドモンドどこ? This is also the first time we read the name Aslan and they explain that he’s the king. Each kid has their own reaction to the name. Edmund is frightened but doesn’t know why, Peter is encouraged and adventurous, Susan finds it pleasant like a nice smell or good music, Lucy is nostalgic as if for a dream or the first day of summer.
I did not read today on the 11th. I was busy at the airport earlier and seeing the local Narnia stage play later. I figure seeing the adaptation refreshes my memory some and is a good reason to miss a day. Lot of things are very directly from the book. Most of the added sections are before getting to Narnia. Everything has to adapt or cut some but this seems pretty close. I was especially impressed by how the chapter with the professor was adapted. It gets to the core of Lewis’ allegory for belief in Christ without feeling blatantly like a lecture. The line asking “don’t they teach logic in schools” almost feels like a rhetorical dig at public schools the way I’d expect a Christian homeschooling group to say it, but it’s directly from the book which is about 75 years old now.
home post ・ previously on Doll House
  |
Book | pages |
|---|---|---|
   |
ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ・１冊 | 230-248 |
I finished chapter 7! what an eventful day + night for the gang! I don’t recall whether I understood that the 堀北学 scene happens the same day as the disaster study group AND 櫛田's heel turn. i’m getting a bit of a sense of how i’m supposed to be taking in 綾小路 and why the anime is characterizing him the way it does. in two cases, he thinks only really about the physical danger somebody is in, and there’s some line past which he’ll intervene and otherwise it’s not his problem.
actually, in and after a text message scene (yay! practicing reading fluent text-speak!!) that’s not in the anime, he literally calls them 他人事 (somebody else’s problem) in his thoughts, which i thought initially was a 義訓 reading but apparently may not be? but then he’s really quick and careful about how to manipulate people: invoking 櫛田’s possible displeasure to diffuse people going after 堀北, and then giving 堀北 equal parts tough-love and “let’s save the 赤点組” pep talk after her brother is like “you won’t ever make it to class A”
Nice to see some familiar faces! I’m new to the community and was just referred to this challenge. Will be starting late, but excited to get it going 
Wondering if anyone has any good reading recommendations for very, very, very new Japanese learners?
|
Book | Read | Edge | Pages | Reread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ひぐらしのなく頃に 第一話 鬼隠し編 (上) | 92 - 100 | 101 | 328 | No |
So erm about that… Had a surprising low number of new kanjis for a few pages so I decided to finish the section to round it up.
Now a good 60 back on the pile… but that’s an absurdly low number for a section that takes 6% of the book. (After checking it seems there’s “only” about 500 new remaining kanjis in the book…) guess it mean it’s time to crank up the 熟語… (But for now we’re gonna go through a good bit of 消化 to chew and absorb all those mined terms)
I’m away for a few days so see you around friday.
@LordsOTB Joining the Absolute Beginner Book Club: Preparation and First Reading Experience Expectations | https://www.satorireader.com/ (graded reader) | NHKやさしいことばニュース | NEWS WEB EASY (news and articles)
If you’re still at a “deciphering a sentence is hard” stage. Training the very early stamina on https://bunpro.jp/ exercises or https://jpdb.io/ examples sentences can help to bridge the gap.
You are going to be baked raw patate ! 
12th july update ! 
I read 11 pages of 聲の形 1 , still had to look up some vocabs and grammar even though I have completely read it before 
I felt stupid for a second and then went “Oh well its japanese” 
No stress at all…
Its still afternoon here right now but I will be busy later so making this update early
Happy reading ~ 
2026/07/11
Four pages (60-63) of 幼馴染は、にゃあと鳴いてスカートのなか
7月11日
読み終わった本： 漫画1巻、読み切り0作, 連載漫画1話
home post || 
natively
| status | name | natively lvl |
type | pages / characters |
time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 第6話 |  |
聞き耳ラジオ | n/a | Satori Reader |
1100 char | 58m |
Today was the day off that I needed. Basically just hung out with my dogs and studied Japanese. I think I’m starting to figure out a routine with the puppy that gives me some time back but also keeps him engaged and enriched. Soon he’ll be old enough to go on adventures with me and then it’s game on! Probably need to queue up some listening material…
Anyway, caught up on SRS, did my WK lessons, and then did quite a bit of grammar study on MaruMori. Read 3 chapters of 聞き耳ラジオ, and also read a surprisingly long narrative as part of the N4 grammar study on MaruMori that was nearly 1400 characters. I’m not counting that as part of my log here, but definitely felt that I got my fair share of reading in today!
Felt a little strange not reading any manga today, but it’s been fun trying out this whole “pictureless reading” gimmick for a change. 
I saw yesterday that the Beginner Book Club is reading a Haruki Murakami short story かえるくん、東京を救う for their next read and I’d love to give that a go. Cue the training montage!
A final reflection on some studies from today. I feel like I’ve been kinda just brute forcing my way through Japanese grammar by reading a lot and using Yomitan to piece things together. It’s been interesting reading the grammar pieces on MaruMori and Satori Reader because often times they’re not introducing a new concept to me but rather clarifying something I’ve seen before without fully understanding. Time will tell, but I think that these concepts will stick better since I have something already in my memory to tie them to instead of trying to commit a fully new concept to memory.
I was hoping Norway would pull through, too! Especially since England took out Mexico and I’m still miffed about that…
Welcome!! If you’re just starting out, maybe try the free Tadoku Readers. The intro S level is reallly basic and gives a lot of context clues from the pictures. It maybe won’t feel like “reading” per se but it’s a start. When you’re ready to move on check out the Absolute Beginner Book Club for ideas. (Hint: you won’t ever feel ready so just take the plunge sometime!) Happy reading!
