reading notes, どちらかが彼女を殺した

どちらかが彼女を殺した～第２章～２

My reading notes for the second part of chapter 2.

練馬区・ねりまく　is a special ward in Tokyo.

Now, I have always wondered what was exactly a 交番・こうばん. It seems to be a small neighborhood police station. In the novel, two police officers　警官・けいかん come from the nearest 交番 to secure the area while the detectives　刑事・けいじ　will later come from the police station of Nerima: 練馬警察署・ねりまけいさつしょ.

Sometimes, I just learn words without really know their meaning. So I was dummingly learning 交番 = police station, 警察署 = police station. Now I think I know the difference, at least, one difference.

  • 差し支える・さしつかえる　to interfere, to hinder
  • 差し支えなければ・さしつかえなければ　if you don’t mind, if you don’t mind my asking
  • 所属・しょぞく　attached to, belong to
  • 急遽・きゅうきょ　hurriedly, in a hurry
  • 殆ど・ほとんど　nearly, pratically, mostly. (Many words that are usually written in hiragana appear in kanji in novels)
  • 全く・まったく　an another example of usually in hiragana words written in kanji.
  • 迂闊・うかつ　careless, studid, thoughtless
  • 顔を歪める・かおをゆがめる　make a grimace
  • 立ち直る・たちなおる　to regain one’s footing, to get back on one’s feet
  • おだて flattery
  • 隙間・すきま　gasp, opening
  • 特殊・とくしゅ　special, paticular, peculiar, unique
  • 感電死・かんでんし　electrocution
  • 咄嗟・とつさ　moment, instant
  • 遺体・いたい　corpse, remains
  • 解剖・かいぼう　dissection, autopsy
  • 司法解剖・しほうかいぼう　legally-odered autopsy
  • 行政解剖・ぎょうせいかいぼう　administrative autopsy

A search on the internet allows me to say that a legally-ordered autopsy is done when there is a crime or the police suspects a crime and the administrative autopsy if not. In other words, Yasumasa is asking himself if the police will conclude to a murder or a suicide.

  • 裏付ける・うらづける　backing, support
  • 落胆・らくたん　discouragement
  • 遺族・いぞく　bereaved family
  • ダイレクトメール　Direct mail = advertising mail
  • 状差し・じょうさし　letter rack
  • 察知・さっち　sense (like in: sensing danger)
  • 収穫・しゅうかく　harvest, crop
  • 池袋駅・いけぶくろえき　station Ikebukuro, Tokyo
  • ～を　済ませる・すませる　to finish, to get through with
  • 仰天・ぎょうてん　being horrified, being taken aback
  • 腹芸・はらげい　expressing oneself without words or gestures
  • 弔事・ちょうじ　mourning
  • 遺留品・いりゅうひん　lost articles (left somewhere)
  • 推測・すいそく　guess, conjecture
  • 辛うじて・からうじて　barely, narrowly, just manage to do something
  • 鮮やかな・あざやかな vivid, bright, brilliant
  • 蘇る・よみがえる　to be recalled, to be brought back (feelings, memories)
  • 本音・ほんね real intention, motive
  • 痴情・ちじょう　foolish passion, blind love
  • 予備知識・よびちしき　background knowledge, prerequisite knowledge
  • 聡明・そうめい　wisdom, sagacity
  • 歯切れのいい・はぎれのいい　crisp, staccato, piquant, clear

 

About

I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk to people, etc. and for a long time, I thought I was weird to learn languages just for me, just to enjoy media, culture and entertainment in a foreign language, with absolutely zero interest in communicating with natives.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.