And finally, to announce the other thing I got accepted for: I’ve been awarded the MEXT scholarship from the Japanese government, through which I’ll be studying Japanese literature, language, and culture in Osaka for the following year. 今度も宜しくお願い致します (Unrelated pic of umeda)

Just finished reading "Considerations on Witches" (魔女考) by Asukabe Katsunori (飛鳥部勝則) Super short story about an art student, a witch, a stage play, and a locked room involving a tuna can. Really fun for its length.

Just finished reading "Shimitomo Naruo of The Mountains" (山ん中の獅見朋成雄) by Maijo Otaro (舞城王太郎). Been a while since I last read Maijo, this book was blindingly wonderful, crazy fast, insanely confusing, but as always with Maijo: brutally honest. I really liked it!

Just finished reading the poem collection, "Refractory" (Refractario) by Mexican writer and poet, Eduardo Parra Ramírez. Incredible, my review of the book is a bit long so it'll go on the next post. ↓

Thread) I usually just talk about Japanese fiction, but I recently got some really awesome stuff from the Mexican editorial Malpaís Ediciones, and felt like talking about their stuff. I translated the synopses of each book into English. ↓

Thanks for all the kind words about my Love & Pop review. Yesterday I went to sleep depressed, convinced I'd written the worst thing my brain has ever produced. Seeing the praise reminds me why I post stuff even when I'm unhappy about it. I really should get back into writing.

I wrote a review of 1998's film "Love & Pop" directed by Anno Hideaki. natsukawacottage.wordpress.com/2025/08/07/l...

Just finished reading "The Martyrdom of St. Catherine" (殉教カテリナの車輪) by Asukabe Katsunori (飛鳥部勝則) Flabbergasting structure, amazing use of real-life paintings, and a wonderfully heart-wrenching love story. Incredibly creative for a debut work. Super enjoyed it!

I spent my entire time there writing a lot of poetry, all of my poems for this girl. This is the only one I've translated into English, and also the only one I never gave her and will never give her. I love writing.

Unironically so much crazy stuff happened. Just as I was leaving there was a landslide (closed circle) and not wanting to spend another day there because of a broken heart, I just decided to climb a mountain with all my luggage to get to the other side of the road

Finally back home, my time as a teacher is over. It was just so wonderful, and I have so many stories to tell now. So many unbelievable stores. I'll write a novel and send it to the Mephisto Prize, just wait for me, I got this 🗣️🔥 I'm really gonna miss that village

Two years ago in Kyoto, at my lowest, I smoked my last cig to the words "Never Knows Best." Today, two years since that day, at my happiest, at an undisclosed mountain in an indigenous Mexican village I'm still smoke free, to the words "Now I Know Best."

Tomorrow's my last day as a teacher, I'm gonna cry, I've loved every single second I've been here, and working with my students has been just so genuinely wonderful and rewarding

Yesterday, some higher-ups from my university visited my workplace in the village. As I was showing them around the school, they hit me with “Whoa, your Spanish is amazing!” Like yeah, I hope so. I was born in Mexico 😭 Wdym I'm good at Spanish? Mfs thought I was a foreigner

My landlord asked me how my wife and children are doing back home. I cannot genuinely look that old I swear, what the fuck is going on, I'm on my early 20s, I'm so single it's crazy wdym wife and kids 😭

Class went so well today that my students decided to not take their break and asked me to make my class longer, and they even clapped at the end of my lesson. Dude what's going on, I'm so happy 😭 I'm an English teacher btw

I became a junior high teacher in super rural mexico 🙏 (View from my window)

I wrote a short text about Asukabe Katsunori's (飛鳥部勝則) "Black and Love" (黒と愛) for my website. It was another really good book. natsukawacottage.wordpress.com/2025/05/19/b...

On May 13th (of most likely 2005) Hitoshiki Zerozaki and Ii from the Zaregoto Series met for the first time under the Shijo Bridge in Kyoto!! Can't believe it's been two years since I first went to the bridge myself. Kubishime Romanticist is still a masterpiece

Just finished reading "The Needle Woman" (針女) by Asukabe Katsunori (飛鳥部勝則) 47 page long horror/mystery short story included with the reprints of "A Fallen Angel's Torture Sentence" It was really good for its length, and I was overjoyed to see certain characters show up

I felt like writing a short text about Minami Asovu's "The Witch Chose to Die With X: Hyperserial Murders at the Eternity Manor" for my website, it's a really good book. natsukawacottage.wordpress.com/2025/05/05/t...

Just finished reading "The Witch Chose to Die With X: Hyperserial Murders at the Eternity Manor" (永劫館超連続殺人事件:魔女はxと死ぬことにした) by Minami Asovu (南海遊) Hyper-amazing book, memorable characters, awesome mystery, and a super well crafted story. I loved it

I made a Bookmeter account! No idea how it works but I logged all the books I’ve read. Here it is if you’re interested: 読書メーター作って読んだ本を全部登録しました！使い方はよく分かってないけど、興味あればこちら： bookmeter.com/users/1583693

Finally started reading Carnival by Seiryouin Ryuusui, 100 pages in and yeah, this book is not good for my mental health lmao, it's been such a rollercoaster of emotions. I love JDC so much

Just finished reading "Fifth" (フィフス) by Asukabe Katsunori (飛鳥部勝則). An amazingly entertaining story that offers a glimpse of what could have been. I’m utterly saddened by its length, I wish it could've been way longer, but as it stands, it’s still wonderful.

Just finished reading "Black and Love" (黒と愛) by Asukabe Katsunori (飛鳥部勝則) and illustrated by Sasai ICCO (笹井一個) Loved it! The mystery fooled me for the entire time, characters were awesome, the twisted love felt grotesquely real. The atmosphere and horror were lovely

Also, it's the first time in over a year that I write something for my blog, if you're curious about his book, go check out this mostly spoiler-free thing I wrote about it. I absolutely adored every single second I spent reading it. natsukawacottage.wordpress.com/2025/03/16/a...

I just finished reading "A Fallen Angel's Torture Sentence" (堕天使拷問刑) by Asukabe Katsunori (飛鳥部勝則). Some books are not merely read, but lived. And now, as I close its pages for the last time, I feel as though a part of my heart has been left behind within it.

Just watched "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX - The Beginning" I'm so happy that it came to Mexican cinemas!!! This was absolutely awesome, seeing Take's beautiful designs in motion was a dream come true. The story, characters, OST, everything was just so good. Cannot wait for more

After getting lost during transportation for a week, fighting customs for a long time, and the Mexico-Japan free trade agreement being ignored, My Asukabe Katsunori books finally arrived 🙏 (More info about the books in the thread below 👇)

Just finished reading the 65th Mephisto Prize winner, "Dead Yamada and the Classroom" (死んだ山田と教室) by Kaneko Reisuke (金子玲介). Mysterious, amusing, non-stop entertainment, heart-wrenching, devastating. This book is gonna linger on the back of my brain for a while.

Foreign trade laws just changed in Mexico and getting physical books from Japan just got so much harder, this is devastating 💀 Not like I can't get them, but it's just more of a pain to import them into the country 😔

Pulled out a bunkobon out of my pocket during an interview and one of the interviewers laughed when I seemingly started randomly going off about the book I'm reading. I think I may like books a bit too much, chat

As the bunko recently came out, I finally felt like reading Asukabe Katsunori's (飛鳥部勝則) "A Fallen Angel's Torture Sentence" (堕天使拷問刑) I am not exaggerating when I say this book fucking rocks. Haven't been this excited while reading in a while, I'm not even 100 pages in

Just finished reading Otsuichi's (乙一) "A Gun and Chocolate" (銃とチョコレート). It was a really heartwarming read. I found it tedious and dragged out during the first half, however, the last chapters made up for it.

Finished moving and got a new bookshelf, here's how they look: (Close-ups and extra bookshelf below ↓)

Hey, I had to move to a new place! Here's a 1 hour+ video of me going through (almost) every book I own as I pack them for the move! If you want to hear a Mexican with a funny accent talk about Japanese books, go check it out!!!! youtu.be/AKKSeZvwUtk?...

Moving to my new place, first thing that I brought in

I got into a classroom and a teacher I'd never met before just said "bonjour" to me. I said bonjour back while thinking about how cool it was to have a teacher from France. And 5 minutes into class I noticed I was in a French class, and my actual classroom was right next door.

Just finished reading Higashino Keigo's (東野圭吾) "The House I Died in" (むかし僕が死んだ家) This was my first time reading Higashino! The mystery left me dumbfounded at how smartly it is crafted, but the story did leave me disappointed. I'll try to read more of him eventually.

I hope this is the year where a new volume of the Natsukawa Saga comes out 🙏

Everyone, thank you so much for 100 followers on YouTube! 100 doesn't sound like a lot, but it means a lot to me, that's 100 people who considered my dumb unscripted videos good enough to give me a follow It took me 4 years to get here, I'll get to a kakuzillion by next year!!!

Hey, I made a video talking about all the Japanese books I read this (and last) year. Go check it out!! youtu.be/SAMjceBWqug?...

Best books I read in 2024 2024年に読んだベスト小説

It's been five years since I read my first book in Japanese (6 years since I started studying Japanese) These are all the physical Japanese books I read this year: 日本語を学び始めて6年が経ち、メキシコ人として今年読んだ小説は以下の通りです（電子書籍は除く）。

I just finished reading Nisioisin's (西尾維新) "The Retreat/Regression of Phantom Deathmarch" (怪人デスマーチの退転).

I usually don't game a lot, but this year I played a lot of great stuff. My favorite games that I played this year were: -Metal Gear Solid 2 -Tsukihime -Metal Gear Solid 1 -Higurashi (I hope to be able to finish it next year)

Randomly remembered that one time when there was a solar eclipse and a friend told me he thought he'd gone blind because he saw a picture of the eclipse without protective glasses...a picture of the eclipse, ON HIS PHONE.

Finished reading the manga of Shin Honkaku Magical Girl Risuka, the art was amazing, Emoto Nao did an amazing job with making this adaptation as beautiful as possible, her art is out of this world.

Just out of the JLPT N1, that was incredibly violent, hopefully I did good 🙏