Jun You by Jun You

GOAL

junyou3 — 2025-01-11 21:50:21 UTC

After this semester, I want to be more fluent in Japanese, especially so that I can have more fluent conversations in Japanese. Also, I hope to read more in Japanese while learning more kanji so that eventually, I can read mangas.

Reading 01/11

junyou3 — 2025-01-11 22:23:11 UTC

The title of this book was ジョンさん日本へ, and it was the first Japanese book I read outside of textbooks. I found it interesting to see how I was able to read some of the sentences. The pictures were helpful too because if I didn't know a certain word, I could guess by looking at the pictures. Thus, I think it was quite fun because it felt like solving a puzzle. Also, the story was between two Japanese people, but I felt like they were too polite and would never see these types of genuine interactions in real life (who knows), so it was a great refresher. I learned that Japan has a similar tradition to Korea, such as public transportation etiquette.

Reading 0/18

junyou3 — 2025-01-18 20:42:26 UTC

The title of this book was 子猫ユキ, and it was a fun book. I found the pictures very cute as I want to own a cat or fox when I grow up. I realized that I didn't want to marry or live with someone else, but I would probably adopt a few pets. I think I am getting better at reading, as I understood almost everything this time compared to the last Tadoku book. The book reminded me of a Japanese anime called "The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again (デキる猫は今日も憂鬱)''. I enjoyed the images of the book and would recommend it to beginners. Sometimes, I feel like I want to live like a cat

Reading 01/24

junyou3 — 2025-01-24 23:30:59 UTC

The title of the book was 日本のお米, which I believe is Japanese rice. The book mentioned that Japanese people tend to eat rice the most often during meals, and there are so many foods in Japan that can be made with uncooked rice, such as mochi, dango, etc, which are all good. Even in Korean culture, we tend to eat rice a lot, but it's interesting that even though I'm Korean, I usually don't like rice and would skip eating it. It made me realize that Japan shares some similar culture/traditions with other Asian countries as well, which I think is so cool and interesting. If I had to recommend this book, I would do so to those who are a little bit more advanced than beginners, but it was a good read! I hope to visit Japan one day and try all the お米!

Reading 01/31

junyou3 — 2025-01-31 18:59:23 UTC

Today, I read a somewhat easier book, and it was still interesting to see the grammar forms that I am learning in class appear. The book basically explains the busy morning of the family and how they greet each other before they leave. The repetitive "言います” felt a little bit redundant, and it made me think about how the same meanings can be made using different intentions or words, which was really cool. I felt like the mornings (or in general) are more relaxed here in the United States compared to other countries. Also, it gave me inspiration for my book project, which I decided to write a short journal-like book.

Reading 02/09

junyou3 — 2025-02-09 21:59:24 UTC

For this week's reading, I read a book that contained some onomatopoeia. For example, there was a rabbit using the word "ぴょん", which I think means a light jump or hop based on the picture. Also, the turtle was described with the word "のろのろ", which I think means that the turtle was going slowly. It was interesting to see how words can describe action sounds. The story was the typical fast rabbit and slow turtle and the turtle eventually winning, but I think it is a weird assumption to think that the rabbit would be distracted by carrots (why wouldn't the turtle be distracted by something else too then? ) It was a good read and would recommend to Japanese beginners!

2/17/2025

junyou3 — 2025-02-17 22:23:44 UTC

Today's reading was something light (I forgot to submit last week, ごめんなさい） and funny; it was about a person catching a fake Santa Claus. I think the story had an onomatopoeia where Santa Claus's bag ripped. I think ビリビリ was used to describe it, but I'm not sure if it's correct. It was nice to see some grammar patterns that I learned previously appear, and I think it would be a great book for beginners to read!

2/23/2025

junyou3 — 2025-02-23 21:00:39 UTC

This book was a little bit more difficult than the usual books I read, but it was interesting to see some new kanjis and grammar that I learned in class, such as 言いました, 来ました、よ。The story was refreshing as it talked about marriage, which I am not interested in because I don't want to marry and I don't think I will ever because I don't want kids :)), but I noticed that birth rates were dropping in Korea and Japan, so I would suggest this book to any intermediate Japanese learner who is still on the fence about marriage!

Reading 3/17

junyou3 — 2025-03-17 18:50:56 UTC

I read about Japan's curry rice today. Basically, I think I like food and animals, so I decided to read this because it was a cookbook on how animal chefs cooked curry rice. It was interesting to see the ingredients because they looked similar to the ones my mom used to make curry rice, and even the curry looked the same. I don't like rice, but I do want to try curry udon in the future. However, since I am going to live in a studio next semester, I want to try this cookbook to make curry rice. I would love to try this in Japan in the future, and I would suggest this book to anyone interested in Japanese cuisine. (ごめんなさい、 this was for last week's reading ㅠㅠ)

Reading 03/29

junyou3 — 2025-03-29 22:54:58 UTC

Honestly, I couldn't understand much of the content, but I think this was a book about Yamata san. Different kinds of people were entering his house, but they all looked the same. I think he got smacked by a cat and wanted revenge because I saw a picture of a cat being burned, but later it turns out it was a dream ( I think, I am not sure). I can relate so much because I am so tired and want the school to end. I hope we can all stay motivated for the last few weeks of this spring semester :)

Reading 04/06

junyou3 — 2025-04-06 19:57:19 UTC

Today, I read about Japanese tea. The book told how to make tea, and it was interesting to read how Japanese people brew tea because it seems a little bit different than how I brew tea at my cafe. The book said that different aged people drink different tea, so if I go to Japan one day, I'm pretty sure I would try all the different types of tea as I love drinks. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into foods and drinks

4/20 Reflection (makeup)

junyou3 — 2025-04-22 05:28:45 UTC

This semester has been challenging yet fun, and I hope I can take another tadoku class in the future. Reading about Japanese books, even though a lot of the time they were elementary level, has improved my self-confidence. After this class, I decided to read more Japanese books during the summer, and hopefully visit Japan in the very near future. Doing the Tadoku book drawing was fun, and I hope I can do something similar next time I take this class or have a chance anywhere else. Thank you so much for all the interesting stuff that has been made possible for this semester.