This is the last Part of Vol 1. Thank you so, so much for reading with us till the end!
The Japanese release of Vol 2 has been confirmed for December, so we should be back soon to see the world continue to spiral out of control!

As always, here is the map, and for those who want to skip straight to the chapter, here it is: JNC

This time, we have a TON of references (took me a lot of time looking them all up lol). Talk about going out with a bang!

1. Shigoto-osame: The official last work day of the year, when administrative officers give speeches and employees clean their tables and everything.
2. There does seem to be a Sumibi Yakiniku Shichirin-tei, but it’s located in Aichi Prefecture, not Tokyo. If we’re talking sumibi yakiniku (grilled meat over charcoal fire) in Ichigaya, looks like there’s only Sumibi Yakiniku Nakahara. I’ve pinned the latter on the map.
3. The English version of the Japanese Penal Code can be found here.
4. The Level I Examination (国家Ⅰ種) is the civil exam for working in the central government.
5. Japanese Penal Code Article 152 “Uttering of Counterfeit Currency with Knowledge after Acquisition”:
   “A person who, after acquiring a coin, bank note or bill, utters or passes it to another for the purpose of uttering thereof, knowing that it is counterfeit or altered, shall be punished by a fine or petty fine of not more than three times the face value thereof; provided, however, that the minor fine shall not be less than 2,000 yen.”
6. Just a quick praise of Shinozaki-sensei’s attention to detail: When walking from Ichigaya Station to Kudanshita Station along Yasukuni-dori Avenue, Yasukuni Shrine is indeed on the left-hand side. (Pin added to the map!)
7. Two notes on Kazuhiko’s new sword, with one being a mere coincidence and one being the actual reference.
   The coincidence is that the Japanese term for the “Cosmic” part is “Suisei.” ☄️ (Small reference from me to the other vtuber fans out there. 😏)
   The actual reference is the “Zantetsuken” (lit. Iron Cutting Sword) part, which is a reference to Goemon’s sword from Lupin III.
8. The hamon is the wavy pattern commonly found on katanas where “the transition of the martensite to the blade’s primary metal occurs.”
9. Apparently tachi are longer than katanas (and they also came before). There are a few other differences.
10. “Tokyo TV” is a reference to the actual TV station TV Tokyo.
11. “Super Comic Sale” is a reference to Comiket.
12. During New Year’s Eve, it’s traditional in Japan to eat toshikoshi-soba (lit. “year-crossing soba”). You can put a ton of different stuff into it, including the tempura and kamaboko mentioned here (with kamaboko being a “type of cured surimi“). The soba symbolizes many things, such as long life, health and energy in the upcoming year, etc.
13. Whereas toshikoshi-soba is, at its heart, a bowl of noodles, there are also other traditional dishes, all under the general name of osechi-ryori, or just osechi for short. This would be like bento boxes but cranked up to 11, with a ton of variety and super colorful dishes. Take this food porn post!
14. While we’re on food, “candied chestnut and sweet potato mash” = kurikinton
15. “Asa Made Nama Touron” is a reference to Asa Made Nama TV, an actual late-night show (as in, 1 am) hosted by TV Tokyo where experts and critics would be gathered to discuss a certain topic that is controversial and trending at the time.
16. The “reliability in broadcasting” is a reference to a certain meme about TV Tokyo called “テレ東伝説” (Tele-to Densetsu, or “the TV Tokyo Legend”) or “安定のテレ東” (Antei no Tele-to, or “reliable old TV Tokyo”). Supposedly, they have significantly less staff than the other stations, and therefore do not have the leeway to suddenly interrupt broadcasts when something urgent or monumental crops up out of the blue. They therefore resort to merely adding scrolling text at the bottom of the broadcast, otherwise doing nothing else. There are many screen comparisons on this page (a notable example being the continued broadcast of Gintama during the 3/11 earthquakes), and this page seems to be a pretty comprehensive list (it’s veeery long lol).
17. “World Business News” is a reference to the TV Tokyo program World Business Satellite. According to its own website, this is supposedly Japan’s longest running economic news program.
18. “Lonesome Gourmet” is a reference to Solitary Gourmet (Kodoku no Gurume), a real life show where the MC just goes around to a different restaurant each episode and eats there like it’s the most heavenly dish on heaven. Not in the idol “Oishii~!” way, but in the stoic, manly nod of approval way. It’s practically food porn turned into a show.
19. 1seg is a broadcasting service available in Japan, the Philippines, and apparently a ton of South American countries.
20. The “WWC” wristwatch is likely a spoof on IWC Schaffhausen watches.
21. The “M&J” shoes can be either a spoof on Crockett & Jones or Johnston & Murphy, I guess. I don’t know shoes.
22. “Bounen, Nippon no Kayou (忘年、日本の歌謡)” is a reference to Toshi Wasure Nippon no Uta (年忘れ日本の歌), a singing variety show also hosted by TV Tokyo.
23. Just a quick note that I have indeed plotted out the last drive described at the end of the book onto the map. Feel free to check it out!
24. I had previously transliterated the name of the lounge (all the way in Part 1) as “LOCO” after failing to find its website and thus assuming that it was a made-up name. After the confirmation from Shinozaki-sensei in the Afterword that it’s the real name of a real place, I dug deeper and found this part-time job listing. So I’ve updated the translation to “ROCO” and added a pin to the map.

The actual eBook is coming out on Jan 3, so if you liked the series, it would mean a lot if you would go pick up a copy!
Vol 2 has been confirmed for a Dec release (exact date TBD), which means we should be back again soon!
Follow me on Twitter or join my Discord if you want notifications!

As always, feel free to point out grammatical mistakes, typos, and the like on either the relevant JNC forum or on the #translation-talk channel on my Discord.