Japanese Reading Group | How to Japanese

I run a Japanese reading group in Chicago for the local chapter of the JET Alumni Association. We meet every second Tuesday of the month. The goal of the group is—to borrow a phrase from the director of my graduate writing program—“be helpful.” We read a relatively short Japanese text, read it out sentence by sentence in Japanese, and give an English translation to ensure we understand the meaning.

We welcome non-JETs interested in studying Japanese. If you’d like to participate, message me at rupansansei atto gmail. If you’d like to run a Japanese reading group on your own, please feel free to borrow from the reading material we’ve used. Our past meetings are below. I’ve provided links when possible.

Most of our local Chicago members have moved away, unfortunately, and there has not been much traction online. I’ll continue to post readings in the spirit of the group, but it is unlikely that any meetings will take place. Please message me if you’re interested in reviving the group!

November 2014: 「駄目になった王国」 from Haruki Murakami’s collection 『カンガルー日和』

December 2014: Finished remainder of 「駄目になった王国」

January 2015: 「特許の品」from Shin’ichi Hoshi’s collection 『ボッコちゃん』

February 2015: 「雨降る夜に」 from Aki Misaki’s collection 『バスジャック』

March 2015: 「ハイネケン・ビールの空き缶を踏む像についての短文」 from Murakami’s 『全作品1979—1989』

April 2015: 「カナリヤ」from Yasunari Kawabata’s collection 『掌の小説』

May 2015: 「第一夜」 from Natsume Sōseki’s 『夢十夜』

June 2015: A few days’ worth of posts from Shigesato Itoi’s daily 「今日のダーリン」 blog post. I collected them in this file on Dropbox. You can access Itoi’s website here.

July 2015: The blog post 「ドイツとビールとノーニュークス」 from the blog 『八百八町』

August 2015: 「学園祭で知った真実」 from Kenji Tsuchiya’s collection 『紅茶を注文する方法』

September 2015: 「不得意な仕事」 from Kenji Tsuchiya’s collection 『紅茶を注文する方法』

October 2015: 「ホテルロビーの牡蠣」by Haruki Murakami

November 2015: The blog post 「ノーベル財団めちゃすごい」 from the blog Chikirinの日記

December 2015: Two blog posts from the Beer Boulevard staff blog: 「「ビアブルヴァードサトウのブログ」（仮）スタートします！」 and 「雨あがりのピルゼン」

January 2016: First three pages of 『ブレーブ・ストーリー』 by Miyuki Miyabe

February 2016: 「まぼろし」 from the first volume of Naoto Yamakawa’s manga collection 『コーヒーもう一杯』

March 2016: 「ご愁傷様の意味と正しい使い方」 – a blog post by a funeral director.

April 2016: 「2000年お正月の思い出」 – a short essay by Momoko Sakura from her collection 『さくらえび』

May 2016: First half of 「初恋」by Kunikida Doppo

June 2016: Second half of 「初恋」by Kunikida Doppo