Setting The main topic of the book is that former students of the same school receive an invitation for the "６月３１日の同窓会" and die soon after. Review: Liked it, but expected more... First of all, the setting was very appealing to me: when it comes to genre fiction, I like mysteries and murders, but most of..
These days…
You know these days when you have a lot of time (the whole day or the whole afternoon, or several hours) to study your language but end up doing nothing? There are so many things that you want to do (or need to do) that you don't know where to start. If you decide to..
Book Review: 『おはなし・ねこあつめ』by Haruka SHIOTSUKI
Presentation This book of 196 pages contains 8 short stories featuring the cats and universe of the mobile game Neko Atsume by Hit-Point. The book has full furigana and is written for children (小学中級から). Every other spread contains some coloured, super cute illustrations. The stories can be read independently from one another and it is..
JLPT N1: Practice test!
I took my second practice test for N1 this weekend! This time, I bought a Korean collection of 5 practice tests. The book is called JLPT 일본어 능력시험 실전모의고사 and is published by 동양북스. The second volume is for the answers, the scripts, Korean translations and explanations. Even though they devoted an entire book for..
Blog anniversary and new schedule
I am a few days late, but my blog turned two years old! I take the opportunity to announce a change in my blog schedule. I find it very hard to post twice a week as I had planned to in January 😔. Obviously, the preparation for the JLPT is taking too much of my..
Language diary #8: changing things in Anki
My Anki deck for Japanese vocabulary is full of leeches (words you keep forgetting), so I am thinking of ways to remember words better…
Book Review: 『メゾン・ド・ポリス』by Miaki Kato (加藤実秋)
This is the first book of the series 『メゾン・ド・ポリス』. It is a unique detective novel where the protagonists are retired police detectives sharing a house: the maison de police.
JLPT: First Milestone
Time to see if I keep my initial study plan or if I have to review my strategy!
Book review: 『切り裂きジャックの告白』by Shichiri Nakayama
Shichiri Nakayama is a prolific author of crime fiction. 『切り裂きジャックの告白』is the first novel to introduce the police detective Hayato Inukai (犬養隼人). Setting The novel is exactly about what its title refers to: a serial killer who calls himself "Jack", murders similar to those of Jack the Ripper, a police investigation to find the killer. But..
Language diary #7: monthly review
March has been a strange month. I have done my third trip to Japan, and of course, it motivated me a lot. It also slowed down my progression for the JLPT preparation, and it was hard to keep studying the week after my return from Japan. I have been able to find my study rhythm..
JLPT Journal #7: Reading!
In February, I took a practice test (the one that is available for free of the JLPT website), and I found the reading part to be very difficult. I took the JLPT N2 twice in 2017 and got 60 and 59 points in the reading part. I remember that I didn't find the texts to..
Language diary #6: Book haul and reading challenge!
I was in Japan last week for a trip in Tokyo, and of course, I took the opportunity to visit several bookshops and buy Japanese books. (This post is long, scroll down to see the list!) Reading Challenge #2 Last year, I set myself a first reading challenge: read all the 13 books I had..