I used to read constantly. After moving, I stopped almost entirely for about six months, and it took me a while to work out why. It was not time. I had the same amount of time, arguably more. It was that everything else had become effortful. When your commute, your shopping, and half your conversations all require concentration, sitting down with a book in the evening felt like more of the same rather than a break. What brought me back was lowering the bar. I stopped trying to read serious things and read whatever was easy. Once the habit came back, the harder books followed on their own. On the practical side of finding books: Second-hand shops have surprised me. The selection in languages other than Japanese is small and unpredictable, but the unpredictability is half the fun and I have found things I would never have chosen deliberately. Libraries are worth checking. Mine has a small foreign language shelf that I did not know existed for over a year. Digital solved most of it, honestly, though I resisted for a long time because I like physical books. Living in a small apartment eventually made the decision for me. The unexpected development is that I started reading in Japanese, beginning with things intended for children and slowly moving up. Progress is slow and I read at a fraction of my normal speed, but there is a particular satisfaction in finishing something that would have been impossible a year ago. I have also been to a couple of small reading groups here, which I found through a noticeboard rather than online. Both were friendlier than I expected and neither cared that I was slow to express myself. If anyone knows of a reading group that meets regularly, or a shop with a decent foreign section, I would love to hear about it. Also happy to swap books, I have a shelf I need to clear. #books #reading #livinginjapan