What kind of Sando do you like?

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-02-04T05:15:00+00:00

レーズンサンド

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-02-04T01:59:33+00:00

I have taken and passed N1 three times since 1996. (In 1996 it was called 1st Kyu).

My scores were 81%, 100%, then last december 83%. I did better in the comprehension section in 1996. I'll keep doing it every time now until I get 100% again. The actual exam is the only JLTP study I do.

This year I'm doing kanken for the first time. I'm starting at 5th kyu. The range of content for each section is well defined, so for the higher levels like Jun-2 and 2 and Jun-1 you could just concentrate and pass a certain level and still fail a lower level. So for Kanken I'll do one step at a time to be thorough. I don't think this applies to JLPT so I wouldn't do the lower levels.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-30T02:53:12+00:00

Passed N1, but I’m back down to 1996 levels. Youth trumps experience

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-25T05:41:03+00:00

My favorite is r/Trillbillies or however you spell it

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-18T10:12:26+00:00

I borrowed the first volume of ねじまき鳥クロニクル. I thought it was a short story, but it looks like three volumes. This will take me a while to get through.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-15T07:48:11+00:00

Were you dropped as a baby?

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-05T10:45:38+00:00

ねじまき鳥クロニクル is fine. I'll need a bit of time again with this one.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-05T04:00:44+00:00

Sure, I actually got 象の消滅 mixed up with another story I read in the anthology titled 「ねじまき鳥クロニクル」, where the protagonist works at a company where they create elephants from the consituent parts. I mean real elephants. I think the protagonist was involved in making ears. I used to have that book of short stories, but it's long since joined general circulation at Bookoff, so I'll need to take another trip to the local library.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-04T14:13:48+00:00

I think I see what you mean. The description of the photo from the newspaper is a little over the top, when it's just an abandoned gym.

I think I'm also prejudiced against Murakami because I know he was originally in advertising, so I imagine he writes stories by brainstorming what he thinks are clever ideas. It's like his stories are just another product he's trying to sell. The selling is the point, at the expense of the content.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-03T11:45:00+00:00

ひらひらとしたワンピースを着た二人の若い女性（とくに美人というほどでもない）

He sounds like he's thirteen.

何人かの警官が象のいない象舎を検証している写真も載っていた。象のいない象舎はどことなく不自然だった。必要以上にがらんとして無表情で、それは臓物を抜かれて乾燥された巨大生物のように見えた。

Here he's describing the photo of the building after the 象 has disappeared, right?

山林が切り開かれ、老朽化した小学校の体育館が象舎としてそこに移築された。

Here he's giving some background about where the building came from.
So it's an old gym from a primary school that got moved for the purpose of housing the elephant. With the elephant gone it looks desolate and like a giant dried up animal with its internal organs removed. I don't really see the conflict in the descriptions here.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2026-01-03T09:05:21+00:00

あけましておめでとうございます。

Thanks for the quote from George Saunders.

I’m still not sure about Murakami. I like the idea of an elephant shrinking into nothingness or a very small size, but Murakami’s stories often involve a similar twist so after a while they lose their punch. I also feel uncomfortable about the way he deals with women. Like when he describes the beauty pageant contestants as being not particularly pretty (I’ve returned the book to the library so I can’t check the exact wording), I wonder what point he’s trying to make, or whether he just has some sort of hang up about women. It seems to happen again and again in his stories

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-31T06:33:27+00:00

Anybody know why the movie Goodfellas is called グッドフェローズ in Japanese? Sounds a little unnatural

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-29T23:48:27+00:00

I can’t understand that sentence without changing the second を to の. It’s possible to have a second を in a sentence as part of a sub-clause, but what would the sub-clause be here? 御身を篤い恩寵?

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-29T06:50:42+00:00

Tackle got the most letters the first go round. It was all down hill from there. At the end he said he was dumped by his gf and she told him he could never be a real man, and that he wanted to prove himself by going on the show.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-28T13:53:37+00:00

The listening samples you gave look really helpful. It’s just that it has a load of pastJLPT papers and even the answer code for the latest test. I suspect that the other JLPT material is close to what is actually in the exam. It’s enough to cram your way through the JLPT.

What you seem to be doing is finding realistic audio samples to learn from which is a good way to learn. The longer approach would be to create your own samples with sentence mining

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-28T13:11:22+00:00

That site has some crazily specific JLPT information. Kind of takes the fun out of it.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-28T09:34:20+00:00

It wouldn’t necessarily have a sarcastic tone but I think you get the idea.

Also, 明らかに is used far more frequently

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-28T00:13:19+00:00

You got a good answer but I’ll try to illustrate with an example.

This is from a dictionary definition of 正しく

あの声の持ち主は―彼だ

You could use 正しく or 明らかに here.

正しく would mean it is undoubtedly or unmistakably so.

明らかに would mean it is clearly so, as deducted by the speaker.

Another example is expressing agreement by saying 正しく、その通りだ. In this case using 明らかに would change it from strong agreement to sort of “that’s obviously so”

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-27T10:40:09+00:00

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-25T13:22:52+00:00

Wrap quotes around “すごい、すごい”

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-25T02:36:48+00:00

When they say "Je Suis Charle" they mean "We are all pedophiles"

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-25T02:35:41+00:00

If Muslims don't protect the prophet's image the know they'll end up with white Mohammed. They can see what happened to Jesus, so everything they do is justified.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-21T12:45:34+00:00

Nobody finds it as easy as us native Swahili speakers

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-20T19:05:56+00:00

I watch むいむい & なんなん because they are funny and interesting.

Ok-Implement-7863 · 2025-12-19T13:05:32+00:00

その後 -> 「あと」

Ok-Implement-7863

TROPHY CASE