In my checkpoint about how good I was doing in 2018, I had to admit that I hadn't work much on listening. I regularly come up with a renewed motivation to listen to more Japanese, but as long as it does not find a concrete plan and schedule, it often remains at the stage of..
Japanese News: July week 1
The topics I studied this week are: The labour reform: a recap Post-Abe: a list of the 5 candidates who could succeed Abe Football: Politicians' reactions to the last match and a Korean digression The execution of Aum Leader Matsumoto. Labour reform On Friday 29th, the Diet enacted the Labour Reform bill. Despite many criticisms,..
Book review: 『虚ろな十字架』by Keigo Higashino
「虚ろな十字架」is both a typical Keigo Higashino and a surprising one. Typical in its setting, its characters and the way the story unfolds. From the very beginning, I felt that I was on familiar grounds, reading an author that I appreciate and whose writing style seems to be unchanging throughout the years. The novelty of this..
Half-way through 2018! Time to check our yearly challenges.
We are halfway through 2018, it is time to check our New Year's resolutions! How are your challenges doing? It is now the perfect time to adjust them if it didn't work or even drop it all and make a new start with mid-year goals. As for me, I had a lot of ideas and..
Japanese News: June week 4
Politician criticises the press Let's start this post with a shocking statement by Taro ASO, who is both Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. Seeing that the LDP had received high support among people under 30 during previous elections, he used this result to criticise the press. He said: "一番新聞を読まない世代だ。読まない人は全部自民党（の支持）だ." To me, this is..
Book Review 『君たちはどう生きるか』by Genzaburo Yoshino
I have finished reading 『君たちはどう生きるか』, and I did not enjoy reading this book. This being said, I do think that the novel has a lot of qualities and a unique format that makes it interesting, but it just wasn't for me. This book was first published in 1937. It is a novel for children or at..
Monthly Review: June
We are entering the last week of June and almost reached the half of the year! 😮 If I had to sum up the month of June, I would call it: "going back into my comfort zone." Though I am still drawing and journaling with as much enthusiasm as last month, the focus of this..
Japanese News: June week 3
Only two main topics this week! The Diet session and M. Kake's press conference: Japanese supporters clean up the stadium after winning against Colombia On Tuesday, Japan won its first match (2-1) of this year's World Cup against Colombia. What struck observers, however, is how Japanese supporters took the time to clean up after themselves..
Currently reading: 「虚ろな十字架」by 東野圭吾
I am a little frustrated with some of the books I am reading at the moment, and I sometimes avoid reading at all because the books I have are either too difficult or not that interesting to me. This is why I thought that I could always have a novel by Keigo HIGASHINO as back..
Writing in Japanese every day: how I built a new habit with マイブック
I am not doing much to actively study Japanese lately, but there is something that I do every day since February: writing a page in Japanese in マイブック. マイブック is a sort of agenda that looks exactly like a book. It is published by 新潮文庫 every year. It uses the same format, paper and characteristics..
Japanese News: June week 2
These are the topics that I found interesting this week! As usual, I have skipped all international matters. Fukushima (imperial visit and dismantling) The attack in the Shinkansen Wedding anniversary Hakamada case (paragraph break down and some reflexions on Japanese grammar) Majority at 18 Fukushima Imperial visit It is the sixth time that the Emperor..
Currently reading: 「君たちはどう生きるか」by 吉野源三郎
[caption id="attachment_media-365" align="alignright" width="177"] Cover of the novel[/caption] If you live in Japan or stay in touch with recent Japanese publications, you certainly have come across the title 「君たちはどう生きるか」by 吉野源三郎（よしの・げんざぶろう）. Though not living in Japan, I happened to see several times the cover of the manga version of this book but never really paid attention..