どうぶつの森!I woke up this morning to hear the good news: Animal Crossing is coming for the Switch! To me, Animal Crossing is closely linked to learning Japanese: it is a game I play in Japanese, and it created an unconscious association between "Japanese" and "a fictional world I love, where the smallest acts of kindness..
Currently Reading: 『流星の絆』by 東野圭吾
[caption id="attachment_12973" align="alignleft" width="195"] 『流星の絆』by 東野圭吾, 講談社文庫[/caption] To me, the best way to start reading again after a long period of trials and errors is to start a novel by Keigo HIGASHINO. The magic worked this time too, with the novel 『流星の絆』(りゅうせい の きずな). It is a very long novel (617 pages), but I am confident..
Read the news in Japanese: one-week reading challenge!
I have decided to try something new this week and start a "reading the news in Japanese" challenge. I will read and translate one news article per day this week, starting today and ending on Sunday. I think that the more often you read the news, the easier it gets. Not only because you improve..
Japanese Immersion: September week 1
The main thing I did to listen to Japanese this week was watching episodes from 『ちびまる子ちゃん』. I also re-watched the film 『舟を編む』which is one of my favourite films. I love equally the novel by Shion MIURA (三浦しをん) as the film by director Yuya ISHII (石井裕也) I really recommend this film to anyone interested in the..
Book non-review: I give up reading 『光』by 三浦しをん
[caption id="attachment_11909" align="alignleft" width="177"] 『光』by 三浦しをん, 集英社文庫[/caption] I still want to believe that I will pick up this book again and read the remaining 60 pages of 『光』. If you follow my blog, you know that I have loved 三浦しをん （みうらしをん）'s other novel 『舟を編む』, but I cannot say the same for this one. I struggled..
September, at last!
September is here at last! (I don't like Summer in Korea because it is too hot and the air conditioner everywhere makes me sick.) Only four months to go before the end of the year...! It's time to look at the goals we set for ourselves in January and make some last adjustments to be..
Japanese Immersion: film, anime, magazine and news!
I am quite happy with my immersion in Japanese this week! I watched the film 『ちょっと今から仕事やめてくる』and several episodes of 『ちびまる子ちゃん』. I also spent a lot of time reading and translating the magazine 『趣味の文具箱』. Finally, I started reading the news again. 『ちょっと今から仕事やめてくる』 This film by Izuru NARUSHIMA 成島 出 (なるしま・いずる) is an adaptation of the novel (same..
Book Review: 『のほほん絵日記』by Momoko Sakura
This is not the post I planned to write today (I thought I would post in my "currently reading" section), but I heard on Monday that Momoko Sakura had died from cancer on the 15th. I thought it would be appropriate to devote this Wednesday's post to one of her books. Momoko Sakura is well..
Monthly Review: August 2018
August, or summer in general, is not a good time to study... at least to me. I have struggled with books and haven't read as much as I should have. I blame my lack of productivity on Korean summer heat and hope that writing this monthly review will put an end to this Summer curse,..
Japanese immersion: listening to the film Only Yesterday on iBooks
I am very happy this week because I have listened to a lot of Japanese thanks to the film Only Yesterday directed by Isao TAKAHATA. I am a fan of Ghibli films and I have several of them on DVD. The problem is that I don't always want to sit on the sofa for two..
Book review: 『ちょっと今から仕事やめてくる』by Emi Kitagawa
As the title suggests, the novel is about quitting one's work. The protagonist, Takashi Aoyama is a young salaryman, who has been working for his company for 6 months. He spends most of his time at work, comes home only to sleep, has no friends, no girlfriend, no free time and only waits for the..
Back to study mode!
I am back, after a two-week break from writing my blog. Even though I promised myself that I would continue learning Japanese, I almost did nothing to learn or be immersed in Japanese during these two weeks... Some say that taking a break from time to time is not a bad thing and some say..