I got my first 「マイブック」, an empty book published by 新潮文庫 that offers you a page a day to write your own story, notes and thoughts. 「マイブック」has the exact same appearance than any other book published by 新潮文庫. I like the beautiful cover and the paper that may not be the best support to use..
Japanese News: North Korean in Pyeongchang
Some hours before the opening ceremony of Pyeongchang Olympics, I have chosen an article about North Korea's delegation. Link to the article: “米側と会わない” 北朝鮮 米副大統領と接触の可能性否定 This article mainly tells us that the delegation sent by North Korea to Pyeongchang will not take the Olympics as an opportunity to meet with Vice President Mike Pence or other..
Book review: 『豆の上で眠る』by Kanae Minato
In 湊かなえ's novel, the reader is invited to blink into a family's untold secrets, but before we know it, we find ourselves sharing the protagonist's emotions and feeling unexpectedly involved in her story. While personal tragedy and family drama give the novel its deepness, the mystery and quest for the truth make it a real..
Daily Study: adding patterns to Anki
As I am not studying JLPT materials or any other textbook, I have to find the new words I want to learn, by myself. My goal for 2018 was to reach 10,000 words by the end of the year, a plan that can be achieved only by learning 10 new words every day. I started..
Japanese News: Baby panda Shanshan
This week, I chose an easy article that does not bring me much new vocabulary but brightens me up and restores my trust in my ability to read (at least some) news articles in Japanese! Link to the article: シャンシャン きょうから先着順に 公開時間も延長 In June 2017, a baby panda named Shanshan was born in Ueno Zoo...
Currently Reading: 「豆の上で眠る」 by 湊かなえ
I am reading the second book of my 2018 Reading challenge! I chose 「豆の上で眠る」by 湊かなえ（みなとかなえ）. I bought this book because it was presented as a "shocking mystery of two sisters" (衝撃の姉妹ミステリー！), but I am slowly discovering that this novel is much more than a mystery. Even if there is a mystery focused on the two..
My method for the JLPT reading part
Last week, I got the results of the second session of the JLPT (December 2017), and I was happy and relieved to see that I passed with 156 points! I thought that I would pass because, after the test, I felt that my performance was similar to what I did in July 2017, when I took..
Japanese News: Changing article 9 of the Constitution? Discussions inside the LDP
The article I propose to study was published on NHK Yesterday: 憲法９条２項”の扱い 自民 党内意見集約に時間かかるか Political articles are by far the most difficult ones... Today, I want to try to study one and get more familiar with some political vocabulary that is bound to appear often in the news. I want to slowly broaden my vocabulary..
Book review: 『噓を愛する女』 by Etsu Okabe
I finished reading the first novel of my 2018 reading challenge (read one novel in Japanese a month in 2018). I chose a very short one to begin with: 「噓を愛する女」by 岡部えつ（おかべえつ）. To summarize briefly the story, Yukari (由香里), a successful working woman pushing 30, is living with her boyfriend Kippei (桔平), who does not seem..
Motivation: studying Anki
If you are learning a foreign language, you are certainly using a spaced repetition system (SRS) to memorise vocabulary. I personally use Anki and created my deck from scratch when I started learning Japanese. Today, it contains more than 7000 words and expressions and I can say that, contrary to any other material, this Anki..
Japanese News: South Korea and North Korea together in Pyeongchang
On Wednesday (January 17th), officials from South Korea and North Korea have met and discussed the Olympics for 11 hours. Two major decisions came out of this meeting, both turned towards friendship: first, South and Nord Korea will enter the opening ceremony together, under a "flag of the unification" (a white flag with a blue..
Currently reading: 噓を愛する女 by 岡部えつ
I started the first novel of my 2018 reading challenge list! I picked up what seemed to be the easiest novel on the list: 「噓を愛する女」by 岡部えつ（おかべえつ）. I didn't know this author before, I have checked her Wikipedia page and I saw that there was a drama adaptation of one of her previous novel. I first..