Kippu · Japanese word a day

Kippu gives you one Japanese word a day, and only one. Each morning, the counter prints your ticket. You punch it by dragging the punch across it, and your day is validated. The ritual takes less than a minute. THE RITUAL The ticket comes out of a machine, with the sound of its motor and its paper dropping into the tray. Until it is punched, the day does not count, just like a ticket you validate before boarding. THE LINE Every ticket moves your train along the 毎日線, a line of fourteen stations. You reach the first one on your first day and the terminus after a year. At each station, you take a stamp from the platform and press it into your book. THE INSPECTION Once a day, the inspector comes round with a wallet. He shows you eleven tickets you have already punched and asks whether you still know each word. A word is learned once you have recognised it six times. 596 WORDS CHOSEN FOR…