Okay I jusy read 赤い手袋 for December 2 (its 7am December 2 here). What was up with that ending 
I thought it was going to be a happy ending where the sister got the gloves and was happy. I guess it’s a harsh reality story.
I learnt some new words: 接吻, わらじ, お銭 and
外套.
I’ll read the other 2nd of December one tonight if I feel up to it.
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I read the story about 正岡. I don’t know who that is (maybe I should look him up) but that was fun too. ハヽヽヽ 
アムビション was not the katakana spelling I would expect.
That story gave me some 火花 | L35 vibes.
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December 2nd stories:
Mystery:
Also I realized that the pre-vetted calendar I actually set up to go to the Natively page which will link to YouTube readings so I’ll skip doing that here.
I realized this story is actually nonfiction so I’ll put in a request to recategorize it.
I really ought to read こころ or something because this is my second essay by Soseki and I found them both terribly boring Although this one is at least not about pens…
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I’ve read the first few lines and I got really bored and had to stop. I think it’s a bit above my level, I can understand the sentences but I feel that as a whole I’m not really understanding what he’s talking about. Oh well, I’ll try again later, and if I can’t get through it, at least I read the other one for today.
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As a whole, the story is all over the place. The original topic is just an excuse to start recalling a bunch of anecdotes about the titular character, but they aren’t that well connected (even by the official premise). I can see how that would be confusing.
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That’s good to know, thank you! I might just put this one on my wish list and come back to it next year, when I’ve got more reading experience.
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Mmm. The bit at the bottom says it’s taken from the 談話 section of Soseki’s collected works, so I guess it pretty much is just anecdotes recounted on the spot.
正岡 子規 was a famous and influential Meiji era haiku poet who became friends with Soseki when they were attending the same school as teenagers. Masaoka died of tuberculosis in 1902, six years before this piece was published in Hototogisu magazine. Hototogisu was a literary magazine focused on haiku, and Shiki was both heavily involved in it and also published poems and essays in it. (It was also where 吾輩は猫である was first published, a few years previously.) So the original readers would likely have been interested in this bit of inside gossip on a man whose poems they enjoyed and who’d had a major impact on the field.
There is also some obscure vocab in there; I had to stop halfway through to look up what a 雪隠 was and then exactly what part of traditional Japanese toilet design the きん隠し is 
And although it’s in modern kana spelling it’s a lot more kanji heavy than a modern text. I got a bit bored of 其 after a while…
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Same! What a strange word if you’ve never come across it before it must be quite rare
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masochistic trait unlocked. 
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Thanks for this introduction. I thought as much, since apparently people gathered to learn/listen to him.
But yeah, random stream of memories is not the easiest to follow. 
but also, apprently 10 Yen were valuable at some point.
何でも十円かそこら持って行ったと覚えている
did I understand correctly that they used to use toilets the other way around from today?
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Just finished 赤い手袋 and I… am surprised… I did not expect that. At all. 
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I found a source that says that around that time schoolteachers and policemen had a starting salary of 8 to 9 yen a month, and a good craftsman could earn 20 yen a month. (The yen was a gold coin at this time.) So Masaoku blew the equivalent of a month’s wages in a few days.
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At least in this story, the “normal” way round seems to be the same as it is today, i.e. squat facing the きん隠し. Masaoku is deliberately using it the wrong way around so he can put the hibachi conveniently in front of him rather than awkwardly behind the きん隠し.
I did find some web pages suggesting that in the Heian era the custom was to face the other way and to hook the back of one’s kimono on the wooden stand at the back so it didn’t get soiled, and that the origin of the word きん隠し is from 「衣かくし」(きぬかくし). But I’m a bit suspicious as usual of etymologies found on the web… In any case this is a red herring for understanding this story.
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死体蝋燭 was… a thing. That felt really stressful for very little reward.
About the content:
That was a lot of comparisons, metaphors, and Buddhist terms.
I was relieved by the last plot twist, although I feel like the thief is going to spread that rumor, though.
That being said, even during the most dramatic part, 殺されては困ります made me laugh. Ah yes, very convincing.
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Oh I actually really enjoyed the story!
I didn’t find the Buddhist terms too bad, although admittedly when they were listing off the items on the alter I did kind of tune it out. I was hoping for a bit worse of an ending if I’m being honest I’d have loved for it to be like ‘we’re gonna kill the thief’ and then fade to black. But I’ve noticed a lot of the short ‘horrors’ I’ve read end like this where things wrap up all ‘oh actually nothing was ever bad to begin with’.
BTW I looked up the story they mentioned and found a quick summary in English: Japanese Urban Legends - The Blue Robe/Hood ||•Aozukin•|| - Wattpad
1700s Japanese writing is a bit old even for my tastes
Anyways, here are the links:
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Nice, between our diverging interests, I think we can cover all bases of the advent calendar
That being said
is what I meant by little reward.
and
is what I meant by a lot of Buddhist terms, so our feelings about the story aren’t that different in the end
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For today I’ve read 待つ from the pre-vetted calendar. I probably won’t read the other, because I’m exhasted from the JLPT n2 which was earlier today.
Here are my thoughts on 待つ: I really enjoyed it. It was a good take on what it’s like to have anxiety. I’ve got social anxiety so I can relate to it, but mine isn’t nearly as bad as the woman in the story. When my Japanese gets better I definitely want to read 人間失格.
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I liked 死体蝋燭 too, though ditto on not really caring about the listing of items on the altar.
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死体蝋燭 was fine, but I am genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed 待つ. I think I should try some more 太宰治 at some point. 
(My ratings for short stories is all over the place. 
)
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死体蝋燭 managed to capture the creepiness that temples can somehow exude, so I appreciated that about the story. I didn’t mind the listing of items on the altar since I was happy to finally learn the names of all of them.
待つ was…what can I say? I just love 太宰治.
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