Fun Kanji By Numbers Puzzle Book

     This is my favorite new thing. For around 750 yen, I picked up this book of connect the dots kanji puzzles from the bookstore. As someone who was told too many times as a kid that my creative choices regarding coloring were just wrong, I don't actually find the act of coloring relaxing at all, unlike so many people of my generation.

     Connect the dots, though? That's hella relaxing. Just maneuvering the to the next number and the next and the next. And at the end, I get the actual puzzle of figuring out which kanji I have made. This isn't the most challenging of brain puzzles, but it is easy and fun. It also forces a little more Japanese language study into my daily life.

     Each page has a question in the margin and a select of answer choices. Match the right answer to have a chance to win the prize listed at the bottom of the page, in this case a 1,000 yen gift card.

     Not all of the prizes are gift cards. Prizes in this booklet include a pig shaped electric foot massager, a sony walkman, a jigsaw puzzle, nice slippers and more. Some of the puzzles for these are bigger or harder but they're all pretty easy to do.

     But how do you get these fabulous prizes? Sending in your answers, of course. When you finish with the puzzles, you're meant to submit your answers by postcard provided in the center of the booklet and this has to be done before November 18th to qualify for the drawings.

     My kid and I are on it, finishing all we can before the deadline. Will we finish all 110 puzzles in time? Will we then win any of the prizes? Only time will tell!