📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

: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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Jun 26, Sun of Week 13 of Spring :cherry_blossom: 2022’s summary

Death Note Ch.18 and SPY x FAMILY Ch.1 can easily be read, as long as I don’t rush. SHADOWS HOUSE is easier to be read ahead (finished Ch.4, 34%).

  • In addition, I read SPY x FAMILY Vol.2 Ch.6 quite thoroughly, then rushed to finish Vol.2 – so I now know about kids’ stories.

進撃の巨人 Ch.1 is also read to finish the chapter, as well as watched the anime (S01 EP01).

For JoJo, I read a little into Caesar 's single battle arc (Part 2, Vol.3/4, 55%).

I practically put Night Cafe on hold (finished Ch.9, 66%), but it can’t be said that I really give up yet.

  • I do worry about not reading enough “Wall of Text”, but I will probably be reading aloud 福娘(ふくむすめ)童話集 for a while into summer (Q3 for 2022).
  • I also know very well about reading styles (regardless of language) – glancing in an efficient way? really properly read everything? picking up keywords and illustrations? – Everything have their places.

I played MARCOと銀河竜 for about 1 hour, before deciding to request for refund (on Steam). Many vocabularies are similar to Dragon Ball, so I can somewhat understand, without looking up.

I played Yakuza 0 a little. [1] ゲームパッド推奨, but I have bought a gamepad a while ago, anyway. I wonder if I should also read some Yakuza mangas to prepare for the language style and the vocabularies?

I also requested for refund for Metal Gear Solid [2], as I have decided which game to focus; but I still keep Devil May Cry 5.

Everything I play are in the Japanese written interface, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the mood to play them at all. But to be able to infer everything by ears? I am not ready for that yet.

I changed the display language of my Android tablet to Japanese, as I have a secondary gain of Bookwalker starting directly in Japanese store. (Also, no unneeded translations for Pixiv. Kindle would start in Japanese store as well, but I can’t really buy anything.) I don’t change the language on my Android smartphone, as practicality and for work, it is better in English or my native language.

  • I should mention that changing Steam display language to Japanese involves secondary gains as well. (Like I immediately know that a game isn’t available in Japanese.)

I would probably put WaniKani Context Sentence Breakdown on hold, but maybe focus on listening and reading aloud (with recording) instead.

Grammar should still be actively learnt somehow… rather than in a reactive way from listening and reading. (I don’t really call it passive, as I will look up grammar if I want to understand properly. But some structured active methods might be better for now.)


  1. It’s called Yakuza rather than 龍が如く, even if I change the display language to Japanese. ↩︎

  2. and NIOH, that I think it is too hard for current me. ↩︎

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Summary post :bookmark:

June 25th :seedling:

・ 詩的私的ジャック - Jack the Poetical Private (12% → 19%)

I was going to post yesterday but forgot :caught_durtling: I finished chapter 2.


Reply

The whole game is so cute. You start out in a village training to join the postknights in a world where delivering post is dangerous business. The trails are filled with dangerous (but cute) enemies, so you have to fight them on the way to the destination. Kinda RPG type of game, you equip weapons and armor and stuff, and you gain EXP and level up. You clear one area and go on to the next one and you befriend townspeople along the way.

The start of the game was so much fun and so well designed I couldn’t stop playing for 6 hours xD There’s always something more to do, so it can certainly be distracting when you have other activities you planned to do :eyes: :sweat_drops: Best thing is that there’s no disruptive annoying ads (I really hate those, haha). They do exist if you want some extra loot, but they can also be skipped if you have :sparkles: Special Ticket :sparkles:

But yeah, cute game :smiling_face: You get to adopt one pet for free, but other pets are expensive.
cc @windupbird

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Nice! If I can play in Japanese, I’m sold!

to the app store!
Update: there is no Japanese version. A majority of the Japanese reviews are asking for a language patch rip

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Yeah, the game is only available in English right now, sadly. Seems like they’re planning to add some other languages, tho :eyes:

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If you happen to see it as an option, I would love an @ ! I understand if you’re busy or don’t notice though lol

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The new challenge thread is live!!
(If you are still continuing your reading from the Spring challenge, please feel free to keep posting/updating in this thread until the new challenge officially starts on July 1st :blush:)

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I’m looking forward to June being over. It was -for various unrelated reasons- a rather disjointed month, characterized by lack of focus and lack of energy. I missed a few days of reading, and I only read a tiny amount on some others. There were reasons unrelated to Japanese, but it was also because I wasn’t especially invested in most of the books I’ve been reading. So today I sped through the last part of 夜カフェto get it over with. It wasn’t an unpleasant read or anything, but I’m not anywhere near the age group of the target readership, and the book club dragged on for a little too long for me. Anyway, book is now finished and back on its (virtual) bookshelf.
The only scheduled book clubs I’m now participating in are of manga (Happiness, which I will probably follow for another volume, since I already have it from when it was free, and then quit, and Spy X Family). I can only enjoy manga for short amounts of time as I’ve previously written. When I think of curling up with a good book, I never think of manga for some reason. So, while these are enjoyable, they still don’t particularly excite me.
Now 糞尿譚 is quite interesting, but also very challenging, so it’s best enjoyed in small doses. I had been hoping I could finish it within June, it being so short, but I don’t think that’s possible.

In any case, that’s June summed up for me. 4 more days, and then I can start the summer challenge with (mostly) new books and renewed enthusiasm (hopefully :slight_smile: )

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Can relate sooo much! I’m so over and done with schoolgirl stories, I can’t even start telling you…

:joy_cat: When I started to read it the first time around, I was also young and naive and thought the same…

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6/25

Prefectural stories

2 pages I think?

I tried to catch up but I kept getting frustrated by not being able to tell if something was unfamiliar vocab or grammar :sweat_smile: it shouldn’t be so hard at my level, but it was a pain lmao

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@windupbird Thanks once more for the hosting <3


A small update is in order. I've had a couple chaotic weeks where I didn't have energy to put into much more than distraction, so I haven't done much Japanese reading ever since I updated last time sadly. I've been thinking about how I want to approach the challenge again, and reflecting on what I said a while back about experimenting with no checkboxes... I don't think it's a good idea for me right now. I think it will make it too easy for me to skip days, and even if I don't want to force myself to do something that is supposed to be enjoyable, I think a tiny bit of direction is positive. So I'm not getting rid of the checkboxes, but at the same time I'm changing to a weekly approach, instead of a long two months approach. What I mean by this is that instead of checking day after day after day filling a calendar that will eventually mark two months, my challenge will consist of many mini weekly challenges, where my goal is to mark each day up to seven and try to have a full week.

I think having such a long period eventually burns me out, and I’m hoping that changing to weekly challenges keeps things a bit fresher for me, celebrating small victories along the way. Seeing the calendar and the many days that are left feels overwhelming sometimes, so I’m getting rid of the calendar altogether; I will just add the completed weeks to the home post as I go.

It’s all just mind games to keep me doing the thing, honestly :crazy_face: .

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:tiger2: :books: The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220626 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

No Longer Tanuki Progress: 50.64%

Not a whole lot of time today, but managed to fit in some sentences.

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

Learnthings

書画骨董「しょがこっとう」ー Calligraphic antiques; antiques and curios
ヒラメ「平目」ー Flounder; olive flounder
電話機「でんわき」ー Telephone
消毒「しょうどく」ー Disinfection; sterilization
麻繩「あさなわ」ー Hemp rope

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For the next challenge, I’ve already got 穴 and a Riku Onda book (木洩れ日に泳ぐ魚) lined up, but it being Japanese ghost season, I wonder whether anyone has a good horror-ish recommendation? Nothing too extreme, mind (although I couldn’t tell you what is too extreme, I don’t know myself!). I guess 雪女 might fit the bill?

Right? :rofl: I’ve been looking at my books list, and, just like with funerals, there’s barely a book (okay, a couple maybe) that doesn’t feature a schoolgirl in some way.

:joy:
It’s worth it though. I’m really enjoying it, whenever I find the mental energy to tackle it, that is.

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I don’t really think that’s horror although I did enjoy it. To me it’s horror in the same sense that Little Red Riding Hood is :sweat_smile:

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Oh. :sweat_smile:
I noticed it with yokai stories, they’re not really all that scary. I guess I’ll need to keep looking…

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Oh yeah, I wanted to ask whether you had looked into it yet? I still have ~10 pages to go in the main story (and haven’t read the two other stories yet), but so far I must say it’s somewhat fascinating but not necessarily a story that I enjoy a lot… (just so you cannot say you haven’t been warned :grin:)

Oooh, that’s my favorite word (no, not ) - there is even a book that features it in its title?
dashes off to bookmeter to add it to the list

Do you mean like supernatural stuff? Hm, maybe this ゲゲゲ manga? :woman_shrugging:
If you mean horror as in “crazy people do crazy bad things to other people”, I think that リング is quite popular in that regard? (but I haven’t read it yet, so this is all just hearsay)

Clearly you need to alter your book research techniques :joy_cat:
(or maybe your selection techniques, i.e. when you see the label “Light Novel”, RUN! :wink: )
I think I’ve managed to accumulate quite the list of books without schoolgirls, happy to share if you’re interested!

I totally don’t dispute that! (Even my Japanese friend liked it. But it only took him an hour or so to read it, so it’s of course much easier to like something that way.)
It’s just that I maneuvered myself pretty much into a corner right now, with ~150 pages worth of weekly reading just from the two Advanced clubs alone (and I can’t even blame anybody as I set up both schedules myself) :joy_cat: plus the last week of JLPT preps :crazy_face: plus occasionally being required to do something so that the incoming flow of money does not stop :confounded:
But the advantage of those heavy-load book clubs is that they are over pretty fast, so there is light at the end of the tunnel August :grin:

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June 26

After 3 days off reading, I feel refreshed and went back at Zenitendou. I did as I planned and reread the first story 6 pages of the first story. On the last page I was reading I could feel my mind drift/trying to fall asleep. I blame the heat a little, but not entirely.

Interesting that even when reread and not looking up even one word (I remember what the sentences mean so I can usually recall what any word means too from that), I still find it tiring to read this. 6 pages felt like a lot.

That actually baffles me even more. I honestly expected to be able to just read through it on the reread without any problems. And I’m not having any problems with understanding, but I’m still getting tired? :thinking: :unamused: :face_with_monocle:

If it is this tiring on rereading, no wonder I found reading only 2 pages, when looking up everything and wrapping my head around the sentences, was hard enough for a daily amount.

Anyone have any idea why it would still feel dense and tiring on reread? :eyes: I’m baffled. :dizzy_face:

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