Review 「パラドックス13」(read: サーティーン) is a novel by famous crime author Higashino Keigo. Contrary to what we may expect, 「パラドックス13」does not deal with crime and investigation, but with science-fiction. At least, an SF element gives the context in which the characters will evolve but we won't know much about the scientifical phenomenon that stroke the Earth on..
Daily Study: working on input
The concept of "input" may be familiar to a lot of language learners, but I didn't know the word "input" until I discovered the website Antimoon. Antimoon gives advice to English learner, but of course, they can be applied to any other language. The authors of Antimoon stress the importance of input through several enlightening articles..
Japanese News: Moon Jae-in and the comfort women agreement.
Several articles on NHK News Web (main source) discuss South Korea President Moon Jae-in's press conference that took place on January 10th. 記者会見・きしゃかいけん: press conference Of course, Japan media were closely watching what Moon Jae-in would say about the Japan-Korea agreement on the comfort women issue that was signed in 2015 by the two governments...
Reading notes: 舟を編む, part 5 and Review
Finally, the last chapter of 舟を編む! As I haven't taken many notes for this chapter, I will also write my review of the novel in the same post. Reading Notes 血潮が凍る The missing word on the fourth galley proof is 血潮・ちしお which means both "spurting blood" and "hot blood" or "hot-bloodedness". Hence Majime's joke 「血潮が凍る事態です」..
Bullet Journal: daily log or how to spare willpower
Even if I have a lot of things I want to do, I often end up spending most of my time wondering what to do next, overwhelmed by the multitude of materials to study. Every time that I have time to study Japanese, I think that I should make the best of it but I..
Japanese News: Webで見る2017
I found this page on NHK about the news that received the most attention in Japan in 2017. I have decided to go through the 10 first results and see if I can understand what it is about. This implies to understand the titles in Japanese but also, to have followed the news in Japan..
Reading Notes: 舟を編む, part 4
Still reading 舟を編む! Part 4 is told from the point of view of a new character and we know that a lot of time has passed since the end of part 3. I don't really like when many years are skipped in a novel, I like to feel close to the characters, feeling that I..
Japanese news: trying to understand an article’s title…
Yesterday, I searched for an article to study today and I found this: 相撲協会 貴乃花親方の理事解任を評議員会に提案へ on NHK. This kind of article really makes me want to cry 😭! I don't understand the title, I don't understand at all what it is about, I recognize many kanji but I am too lazy to think about what they..
2018 Reading challenge!
Back from Kyoto with a lot of fantastic memories and a lot of books in my suitcase! Kyoto in December was very calm, we were even almost alone in some temples! Very touristic places were full of people but not crowded with noisy groups. Less touristic places were very quiet and sometimes quasi-deserted. Temple gardens..
Japanese News: kanji of the year 北
You probably read or heard about it if you follow the news about Japan: the kanji of the year 今年の漢字 is officially 北・きた. Link to the NHK article on the subject. The 今年の漢字 is a kanji chosen at the end of each year by the Japanese kanji proficiency society 日本漢字能力検定協会 to represent the year that is..
Currently reading a magazine on Moomin and watching the series again
[caption id="attachment_11875" align="alignleft" width="190"] Moe, 2017 dec. ムーミンのこともっと知りたい！[/caption] After my déconvenue at the JLTP, I bought this magazine even though I had no idea what it was about, just because I love Moomin. Moe turns out to be a magazine about illustrated books for children and you probably know Moomin, the main character of children books..