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lete lyre@中秋の名月

@letelyre.bsky.social

170 followers 120 following 2.1K posts

J→E・E→J translator & interpreter, occasional writing+design for indie projects. Hobby blog @ https://betterletethannever.blogspot.com/ Games, anime, & a love for the obscure/obsolete. Current obsession: what I write about next?... FF外リプ歓迎 sfw but 🔞

betterletethannever.blogspot.com

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

ＫＡＮＺＥＮ★ＦＵＫＫＡＴＳＵ
One cross-Pacific transfer later, my #blog Better Lete Than Never returns from hiatus for a visit to Japan's premier doujin event!
Come on by for a casual chat about my day at this summer's sweltering Comiket 106--the legendary 夏コミ.

📰 betterletethannever.blogspot.com/2025/10/summ...

Summer Comiket 106 Report

Wait a minute, I'm not supposed to be here! Comiket 106 , held earlier in August (just a couple weeks ago at the time of writing this intro)...

betterletethannever.blogspot.com

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 6h

That's awesome! Wishing you luck.

Having done that move over here myself only recently, I can confirm that every incremental point of language skill you have opens so many doors. It's impossible to understate how important it is.

Also keigo 🙂

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 7h

Yeah, people are very kind and patient! Putting yourself out there has some pressure to it, but I always encourage people to do it. It's by far the fastest way to learn Japanese in a way that's actually natural-sounding.

Fear is temporary, but the glory of increasing fluency shines eternal.

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 7h

To me at least, it's pleasantly surreal to see some game or anime and be able to say "I want to experience that RIGHT now"

Sometimes it feels like a superpower! One that you happened to have trained over thousands of hours over multiple years.

In a way it makes it all the more "super".

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 7h

It is funny how it all synergizes together, and one of my favorite side-benefits of the studying.

I sympathize so much with having nobody locally to practice with. I'd set up multiple exchanges and groups while in the States and they were always hard to maintain for long. Props for pushing ahead!

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 8h

I despise LinkedInposting so I hope this doesn't come across like that. Any remotely grandiose-sounding things I say are because I genuinely believe them.
I don't wanna pat myself on the back, I just want to yell "we should all love reading and writing in any language we can" from the mountaintops.

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 8h

I'm doing well, and have support from my team. But the reminders that the learning never truly ends, both in my native and foreign tongue, are humbling in a welcome sort of way.
I'm glad the outcome is "keep reading, keep writing" because I'd hate to live a life without those things.

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 8h

Putting on my Serious Hat for a moment:
My recent TL/interp work has been pretty technical and challenging.
"Have passion for language" isn't just an empty platitude—it's what keeps me going sometimes.
We can't forget the immense value and inherent art in expressing ourselves & understanding others.

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 17h

It may be hard to believe but sometimes life is exactly like this

You just gotta roll with it sometimes

🍞 Brad 🍞 @baust528.bsky.social · 18h

Today (10/9) is Kasumi Asou's birthday & I had an early morning meeting get cancelled so I spent that time putting together another stupid little scene using "Tokimeki Factory: Tokimeki Memorial 2"...

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 18h

Oof, may the tech-support-fairy and/or engineering rubber-ducky of choice grant you technical solutions soon!

Reposted by lete lyre@中秋の名月

Videogame Beaches 🏳️‍⚧️ @videogamebeach.bsky.social · 19h

San Miguel (Circuit Beat, PS1, Prism Arts, 1995)

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 19h

Whoa, those looks like some pretty capable rally games! Consider me interested in giving Prism Arts a thorough look-see through their PS1 library one of these days...

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 19h

I turned up the volume half-expecting to hear some rendition of Rotterdam Nation as the soundtrack! Really like the boxy vehicle model--I find them cute in a similar way to the original Ridge Racer's vehicles!

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 20h

Evening, Sasha! Hope it's been a good week so far!

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 22h

Side note: unlike in the States where little promo minigames like this practically guarantee you win, Japanese point apps can and will hand you loss after loss on the regular.
Extreme example: Rakuten SPS lets you watch 5 ads for the privilege of a CHANCE to get 1 point. My win rate is about 50:50.

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 22h

Did I win?
Of course I did.

The prize?
Multiplier to get... even more Rakuten Points. Now if only I could exchange that for the DMM points I actually use...

Anyway, here's a link for those who want to learn more:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_H...

Monty Hall problem - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 23h

Any game theory enthusiasts out there?
You might appreciate the fact the Rakuten Points app jumpscared me with the actual, literal Monty Hall problem, complete with three doors, hint reveal, and option to switch your initial choice.
Obviously I chose to switch doors like a good statistician would.

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Ahh yep I recall references in stuff like Lucky Star/Denki-gai no Honya-san (and SSB for the few that remember it), and while there were the "Comiket is a battlefield" types of comments, there'd also be plenty of slice-of-life scenes with characters casually chatting among the chaotic booths.

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Uma scholars know the real-life horse's former childhood name was ハツラツ (Hatsuratsu), bestowed by Inaba Farm in hopes that he would grow up healthy and energetic despite being born with a leg issue.
I'd say that dream has been (thankfully) very much fulfilled.

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Uma Musume fandom referring to depictions of baby Oguri Cap （オグリキャップ）as オギャリバッブ (Ogyari-babbu) is a flawless bit of wordplay.
10/10, up there with ボブネミミッミ in my book.

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

アメリカタイム上げアゲーʸᵉᵃʰ( ᐛ✌️)
New article on the blog all about my time at Comiket 106!
★"Maybe I can fit a little visit to 夏コミ in between work commitments" and other ill-advised ideas of mine!
★Summer heat!
★Queues!
★And the indomitable indie spirit, doujin soul.
All this and more in Lete's C106 Report 📰🔗🔽

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Summer Comiket 106 Report

Wait a minute, I'm not supposed to be here! Comiket 106 , held earlier in August (just a couple weeks ago at the time of writing this intro)...

betterletethannever.blogspot.com

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lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

They really were impressive!

It's chronologically a bit later, but I recall being staggered at how beautiful the FFX FMV animations were. I absolutely would have loved a feature film in that style.

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you for reading! 🙏

Yeah, it really feels like the corporate booths were transplanted from a totally different, commercialized sort of event!
As a stubborn "Comiket is indie" person myself, I'd personally recommend to reserve corporate for Day 1 overtime.
Doujin is what makes Comiket, Comiket!

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

And thank you for reading!

I remember my first time attending, being so surprised at how "Market" Comiket really is. Booths galore!

Really wish I had some more photos of the actual rows of booths to illustrate. I'm always sensitive to photo privacy for IRL events here in Japan!

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed it!

If only we could time-travel back to Comiket in the 90s and early 00s, I'd be fascinated to see how that experience is first-hand.
I owe so much of my interest in the doujin world to the earlier, double-digit Comikets that I observed in awe from afar.

lete lyre@中秋の名月 @letelyre.bsky.social · 1d

Profound and very true.

I hope to one day find a nice large home for my family: OG iDOLM@STER merchandise, stacks of doujinshi rescued from the Surugaya discount shelves, and big-box galge for Windows XP