Reading practice: "Kiki's Delivery Service" (Majo no takkyūbin)

If you've watched a Studio Ghibli movie and liked it -- for instance, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle or My Neighbor Totoro -- you might enjoy Kiki's Delivery Service, another of director Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece animations. It's one of my favorite movies!

But for this post, I'd like to introduce the children's book series it was based on. The author, Eiko Kadono, just won the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award for writing.

Reading practice: "Shōwa no kodomo seikatsu e zukan" (Illustrated Guide to Daily Life of Showa Children)

My first library book in Japan. I wanted to start with something I could finish in 2 weeks. This picture book about children's daily life in the Shōwa period was perfect.

Here's the cover of 昭和の子ども生活絵図鑑 (Shōwa no kodomo seikatsu e zukan), created by a husband-and-wife team, Harumi Nagata (illustrator) and Tatsu Okunari (writer).

My library adventure begins

The best thing that happened recently: On impulse, I joined a local library.