📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

june 23 :cherry_blossom: home post

I haven’t been reading as much in Japanese these last few days. But today I read Ch. 38 of 極主夫道. I might read 夜カフェ a bit later today since I’m getting pretty close to catching up with the book club

Yesterday I finally tried ordering from CDJapan for the first time so I’ll finally have more physical books! I’ve been a bit wary about it since I’ve never used the site before and shipping’s expensive, but I’ve really wanted to read physical books lately. So I finally decided to give it a try! some of it’s on backorder though so I’ll have to wait a few weeks :frowning:

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If it makes you feel any better, I know lots of people who have used CDJapan with no issues. :slight_smile:

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Another place you can look is Manga Republic. They can be pretty expensive sometimes too though, but they’ve got free shipping, so if you only want a few books it can be cheaper than CDJapan: they have a lot of manga between about $10-20, which is less than just the shipping alone would be from other sites, so unless you wanted to get several books it can work out to being cheaper.

Though, since the prices can be all over the place (not to mention, the price on the results page isn’t always the actual price…), I kinda use it as a last resort if CDJapan or Amazon JP don’t have what I’m looking for.

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Good to know! I’ve heard the same thing, but I always get a little nervous ordering from somewhere new. I’m not worried though, mostly just excited to get some books!

I’ll keep that in mind! Luckily there were a lot of books I wanted to buy, but if later I only want one or two I’ll check there!

Just looked and yeah, the manga I ordered from CDJapan were pretty expensive on Manga Republic. But I think it’s a good alternative to keep in mind, thanks for letting me know about it!

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Home

Even though I link it every time, I keep forgetting to go back and update my home post lmao

I don’t think my reading speed has improved at all, but it definitely takes a lot less energy to read now! Six months ago I don’t think I’d have been able to finish a single manga volume in a day, much less two, yet here I am today! I also generally have to make fewer lookups, but I don’t think that’s the only thing making it take less energy. Probably more a combination of me getting used to it plus me being able to understand more with less effort. It definitely feels nice. I think currently about two’s my limit on days without work (or anything else) and one on days with, though I don’t know yet if that’s more from energy constraints or time constraints.

I read その恋、自販機で買えますか?②. Yamashita wears his earrings more in this one. In the first vol, he only wore them in ch 3, despite that not being the only time we see him outside of work/coming home from work. And he wore studs in that one, but in vol 2 he wears… well, idk if they’re still called hoops when they’re not much bigger than the diameter needed to fit around your earlobe, but yeah he wears that kind. It’s nice. And there’s a new character introduced, 西新, so that breaks the “rocks” theme. Although it could still be “geography”… Ahhh but this one was cute, too. And even though Nishiarai knows they’re dating, when Yamashita’s back in charge of his usual area (for a time he’d had to fill in for someone else, leaving newbie Nishiarai to handle this one on his own and meaning that Koiwai couldn’t see him at work anymore) and he and Koiwai get to talking, he’s in the background like, “What about me? I’m here too! Ah, I guess I’ll start gathering up the trash…” lol. And sensei wrote in the あとがき that they want to write a cohabitation part sometime, so I hope we will be getting a vol 3!

I really did not expect 嘘 to be one of the words getting furigana, especially considering how little there is in this series, but okay.

Next I read 恋の仕方がわからない, which is about Aimi who’s never fallen in love before and who’ll basically go out with anyone who confesses to him, as long as they agree to his terms (no asking him who he’s with or where he is or what he’s doing or anything like that—and he won’t ask them that, either) and understand that chances of him coming to love them are pretty much nil, and he’ll dump them as soon as they become troublesome. It starts out with the gal he’s currently seeing asking how he feels about her and him dumping her for it in the university cafeteria, and the guy sitting behind him, Kaede, takes that as his chance to confess. He’s the first guy who’s confessed to Aimi, and Aimi agrees, and he ends up falling in love with him after a while, though he doesn’t realize it at first lol when he sees Kaede talking with a couple female friends, he gets jealous and assumes it’s the feeling of when a pet acts friendly with other people. He actually pulls him aside and asks if he actually likes him, totally surprising Kaede. Later when he’s thinking about it, he flashes back to that woman from the opening scene asking how he feels about her and then to him asking Kaede if he actually likes him, and he’s like, “…No, but that’s different.” (へー そうなんスか). This one has full furigana, but the text is kinda tiny, which made it pretty easy to ignore unless I needed it.

And then even though it was 7:30 so I wouldn’t have time to read a full volume anyway so why don’t I read some of something I’ve already started if I still wanted to read, my brain’s still like, “No. I need new things,” so I started SとN, reading ch 1. Unlike the last Furuya Nagisa manga I read, this one’s a HS love story, following first-year Setoguchi who fell in love at first sight and third-year Natori who wants nothing to do with it. He finds Setoguchi exhausting lol. And Setoguchi’s bi! (Well, gender doesn’t matter to him.) Sensei had a bi character in 星だけ too, so I’m not really surprised, but it’s always nice.

Some vocab of note:

浮かれる (うかれる) [一, intransitive] to make merry; to be festive
師走 (しわす) [noun] 12th month (esp. of the lunar calendar); December
酢豚 (すぶた) [noun] sweet-and-sour pork
つい [adverb] unintentionally; subconsciously; by mistake; against one’s better judgement
迂闊 (うかつ) [な-adjective] careless; stupid; thoughtless; heedless; unobservant; inadvertent; incautious
ヤキモチ [noun] jealousy. Yes, the kanji is 焼き餅. I have no idea how “roasted rice cake” also came to mean “jealousy.”
調子が狂う (ちょうしがくるう) [expression, ア五] to be knocked off stride; to lose one’s bearings; to lose one’s presence of mind; to lose one’s balance
よりによって今日 (よりによってきょう) [expression] today of all days
根掘り葉掘り (ねほりはほり) [expression, adverb] inquisitively; pryingly; nosily; thoroughly; persistently; through and through

Speaking of Manga Republic, I ended up getting a couple manga that I couldn’t find available on the other sites I know. Luckily, they’re ones that are on the cheaper side. (Honestly, the prices can be pretty ridiculous. $40 for a single volume, some of these! And they’re not limited edition or with a bonus included or anything! Even with free shipping, that’s way too much. And they sell series sets, which you’d expect to be discounted, but they’re not. You’re way better off checking eBay for those.)

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June 23 :cherry_blossom: Home Post

I didn’t read a whole lot today, just messed with that short story from yesterday and played a little bit of バディミッションBOND. Really uneventful overall so not a lot to report :joy: all good though!

Oof that must’ve been rough, I’m really glad you got it worked out!! I can only imagine how frustrating that must’ve been :sweat_smile:

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Well, that is me too with previous clubs I’ve joined. (And only one did I keep reading and only finished a bit late. All others I gave up on, but I mean to come back to later…)

So as I’m leading it, I guess I set myself up to have to keep reading. :joy: (I know I’m not forced to keep reading, but my conscious would beat me up if I didn’t. :sweat_smile:)


I did a big book order the other day and meant to order from CDJapan, but when I looked at the options for shipping I balked. All the cheap slow options are currently not available for Sweden. And import fees would have been added extra on top of that.

So I checked the same order on Amazon JP and while the books were a bit more expensive, shipping was so much cheaper that it still came out cheaper.

Amazon also added the import fees right there (with those Amazon wasn’t cheaper, but I would expect to pay the same amount (or near enough) whichever option I used so…). Although Amazon didn’t figure out what it should be exactly and instead overcharged for it, so the shipping company have to send Amazon invoice/receipt of exact import fee, and I’ll be refunded the overcharge.

Anyway, I wanted to share because shipping fee makes a big difference. When the cheaper shipping options opens for Sweden again on CDJapan, I’ll finally get to make my first order there, because almost every book I bought was cheaper there than on Amazon.

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Mmm, I did a book order last week (10 books, to the UK). I used to use honto.jp because they seemed to have cheapest shipping, especially if you were patient enough to have your parcel sent by seamail; but they’ve now stopped doing deliveries to outside Japan and instead have integrated with one of the proxy-forwarding services. So I priced up the same thing on Amazon and CDJapan – Amazon were more expensive shipping for a few books, but as the quantity in the shipment got over 4 or 5 the shipping costs went below any method CDJapan was offering. Also CDJapan didn’t have several of the books I wanted. So I’ll probably do another cost cross-check next time around, but for the moment Amazon seems like the best option.

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:tiger2: :books: The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220624 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

No Longer Tanuki Progress: 48.31%

:seedling: Japanese found in the tall grass :seedling:

Learnthings

見すぼらしい「みすぼらしい」ー Shabby; unsightly
貧富「ひんぷ」ー Rich and poor; wealth and poverty
前後不覚「ぜんごふかく」ー Unconsciousness
羞恥「しゅうち」ー Shyness; shame
脳裡「のうり」ー One’s Mind
骨身「ほねみ」ー Flesh and bones
所詮「じょせん」ー After all
始末「しまつ」ー Management; dealing with
義絶「ぎぜつ」ー Disownment
好都合「こうつごう」ー Favourable; convenient
幇助罪「ほうじょざい」ー The crime of aiding or abetting [a crime]
保護室「ほごしつ」ー Holding cell; isolation room

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Summary post :bookmark:

June 24th :seedling:

・ 詩的私的ジャック - Jack the Poetical Private (5% → 12%)

Haven’t posted any updates since Monday, but have been reading a bit every day except Tuesday.


As a side note, I’ve been playing a phone game called Postknight 2 and I’m aiming for this pet right here. Look how cute! :maple_leaf: :raccoon:

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June 24th!

I read the next chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san today. It had a bit of grammar used in it that I learned earlier this week, so I was really pleased that I recognised it and was able to understand it :slight_smile:

(Home Post)

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:pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face: :pleading_face:

Not me considering downloading the game just for the smol tanuki creature :joy:

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Home

It’ll be fun, after I’ve gotten vol 3 of ハイキュー!! and I’ve got them all, to sit down and see how many I can read in a day when I’ve got nothing else I gotta do. iirc it took me about 4 hrs to read vol 2? So unless it starts getting wearing, I should be able to manage 4. Unless it was 5 hrs, in which case it would be 3… Ahh but I’m happy I’m starting to get to the point where I can spend all day reading, even if I can’t read as much as I can in English yet.

Busy today, so I didn’t have much time to read. One of my stops was to B&N, where I picked up a couple novels as well as vol 3 of Play It Cool, Guys—the first two vol of which were on one of their “Read With Pride” endcap displays for some reason? lol? I mean, I’d like 35 to become canon as much as the next guy, but I doubt it’s happening, and the only queer thing that has happened is when those two random schoolgirls mistook 14 for boyfriends—and vol 3 of Life Lessons With Uramichi-oniisan, because I’ve apparently decided I am gonna collect them both in both ENG and JP after all. That’s something like nine series decided… I’m not sure how many more to go. I also got a free bookmark with my purchase, but of course it’s a “Sign up for a B&N Mastercard today!” one that I don’t care about. At least I’m not exactly choosy about what I use as a bookmark—as long as it’s thin, flat, and won’t damage the book, it’s fair game—so whatever, I’ll still use it.

I read ch 2 of SとN. Natori has to take his two younger siblings to the zoo, and on the way there, he runs into Setoguchi, who joins them and helps him look after the kids. They’ve already been getting along marginally better since the end of the last chapter, so there isn’t too much trouble. They exchange LINE info so that they can stay in contact when they separate to each take a twin to see their favorite animal again, and Natori agrees readily enough but then is like しまったあああああああ and decides he can always block him later. He does not. Though he does send a sticker of a bear that looks like it’s either giving a thumbs-up or flipping him off lmao (I feel like it’s more likely flipping him off. Setoguchi’s still excited either way just to receive a reply from him though.)

Some vocab of note:

コケにする [expression, する verb] to make a fool of someone
成り行き (なりゆき) [noun] course (of events); development; progress; outcome; result

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June 24 :cherry_blossom: Home Post

Just played some more バディミッションBOND today! It feels like the main chapters are getter denser and longer as I get into more plot which makes sense, or maybe my brain just isn’t having it :joy: It’s not like it’s harder really, just feels like I’m spending longer on each story because… the stories are longer, but who’s to say :man_shrugging: All the interactions and stuff are still wild, so all good!

some screenshots!

I realized after the fact that the only screenshots I took today are of チェズレイ, which like… yeah, not surprising :joy: I mean look what he’s up to:

Not the shredded shirt… he’s such a wild combination of over-the-top polite yet will say anything he wants with no hesitation lmao. And he’s so conniving? He probably has like 8 plans in motion at any given time; you can never assume anything he does is just because, no throw-away scenes!!

Dramatic… rip モクマ

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(📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱 - #12 by DIO-Berry)

  • ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 17巻

6/24
start - 30

I finished the car fight. I had to look up how the car worked on the wiki because it didn’t make any sense to me. The wiki didn’t help a lot lol. Nor did my memory of the episode. :crazy_face:

I’m going to let sleeping dogs lie on that front and just enjoy the next battle. This one I remember pretty well. It’s spectacular in the OVA, regardless of the changes they made.

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What kind of game is it? It looks cute!

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:tiger2: :books: The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220625 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

No Longer Tanuki Progress: 49.85%

Halfway point! (more or less)

:seedling: Japanese found in the tall grass :seedling:

Learnthings

徒然「つれづれ」ー Boredom; tedium
猥談「わいだん」ー Indecent story; dirty talk
述懐「じゅっかい」ー Speaking about your memories/thoughts/recollections; reminiscing
赤痣「あかあざ」ー Red birth mark (like haemangioma)
好色「こうしょく」ー Lechery; lust; lewdness
執拗「しつよう」ー Tenacious; obstinate; persistent
検事局「けんじきょく」ー Persecutor’s office
血痰「けったん」ー Bloody phlegm
「あられ」ー Hail; diced food
身元引受人「みもとひきうけにん」ー Guarantor; surety

Forms
怺える = 堪える「こらえる」(to bear; to stand; to endure)
訊問 = 尋問「じんもん」(Questioning; interrogating)

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June 25th!

I read Chapter 12 of Yoru Cafe today. Getting close to the end now as there are only 13 chapters and then a 3 page postscript. I’m excited to be so close to finishing my first novel.
I also read Chapter 10 of Happiness today, finishing Volume 2. The last chapter was really interesting so I’m looking forward to starting Volume 3!

(Home Post)

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Home

I didn’t read much in Japanese today, since most of my free time that I didn’t spend lying around wishing I could nap I spent reading Meet Cute Diary. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting. I mean, it was still good, not an entire waste of a 400-pg read, but still disappointing. Hopefully the other book I picked up yesterday is better.

I did read ch 3 of SとN. The rainy season starts, and Natori figures out that Setoguchi won’t approach him (or even wave hi or anything like that) when he’s with other people, so he spends two weeks making sure he’s not alone when he’s at school. He starts feeling a little bad though when he sees how sad that makes Setoguchi, since it’s not like the actually hates the guy or anything, even if he does find his vibrancy and persistent cheerfulness a little annoying (they are definitely a “grumpy x sunshine” couple), and he lets himself be bribed into hanging out for a bit after school with dorayaki. Dorayaki is his greatest weakness. He curses his little brother for telling Setoguchi of it, but also, he’s in heaven because he got to have amazing fresh dorayaki lmao. On the way home, Setoguchi blocks Natori from getting splashed with water from a passing car (can’t have an exams student catching a cold!) and gets soaked himself, and, unable to leave him alone, Natori invites him to his house (!!)

Some vocab of note:

白々しい (しらじらしい) [い-adjective] barefaced (e.g. lie); shameless; transparent
手に乗る (てにのる) [expression, ラ五] to fall for a trick; to be taken in; to play into the hands (of)
躍り出る (おどりでる) [一, intransitive] to jump (e.g. into first place); to shoot (e.g. to the top); to come to the forefront; to suddenly become prominent

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June 25 :cherry_blossom: Home Post

Started late but still a good reading day today actually; I started with some バディミッションBOND which was a good time as always. Then I started on this week’s reading for 海辺(うみべ)のカフカ and once I started I was determined to finish a chapter in a sitting, and I did! :tada: I read chapter 10 which was 23 pages in a little over 2 hours which like… yeah? That’s pretty good, definitely a major improvement over me struggling for hours to get half that far :laughing: so that’s always nice to see! It was interesting trying to figure out a character where the main character had no idea what they were saying lmao, but pretty low stakes since clearly I wasn’t expected to understand either :joy:

buddy bond chaos like always

Not a whole lot plot-wise today either, still doing preparatory investigation for the current mission. I learned about a fun metaphor though:

So metaphorically わらじ seems to be used in the same way like “wearing multiple hats” is in English when referring to jobs and skills and such. What モクマ said isn’t word-for-word a set phrase, but there are things like 二足(にそく)草鞋(わらじ)()く meaning wearing two hats, having two irons in the fire, etc. etc. so it was fun seeing it extended like that and understanding it! モクマ uses a lot of idioms lmao so I’m always running into weird stuff, it’s fun though!

Also he got absolutely roasted:

They were investigating at like an イケメン security agency because that exists here and モクマ said something like “wow they’re sparkly, you’re sparkly, it all looks the same to me!” and yeah, shot down immediately :joy: rip モクマ :pensive:

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