EVACOMICS BLOG

My friend had a last minute extra ticket so that's how I landed up watching the Opening Day of Sumo season in Tokyo. The ticket includes entry from 8.30am to see trainees but it would be kind of boring so we arrived around 2pm to see the  Juryo Division Ring Entering Ceremony (professional sumo newbies).

I am a small Snoopy fan so I became very interested in this exhibition. The exhibition showcased artwork in traditional Japanese style or craftsmanship inspired by Snoopy. They included marvellous wooden sculptures, lacquerware, kimono motif, paintings, etc. It was awesome but no pictures allowed as usual!

Yokohama holds an International Parade every 3rd May to celebrate its port opening. The whole parade lasts for 4-5 hours so I was only there for an hour to capture some photos.

First time to see baseball match on Sunday after staying in Tokyo for 3 years! Our trip was accompanied by two Japanese friends who loves baseball and one is still playing actively in his own prefecture.

This post has nothing to do with Japan, except that I have the tendency to fall sick during long Japanese holidays like year end and golden week. So with weak Japanese medicine not working, and even with kiwis and lemon honey drink all failing, I resorted to my friend's advice: coke and ginger . It sounded unusual so I googled and found the recipe. Amazingly, many people swear that it works wonder to cure their coughs and sore throats, so I decided to try out of desperation because I had already been coughing for four days and four nights. Preparation: Put a can of coke (around 350ml) and sliced ginger into a pot and bring to boil, simmer for 10 mins. You can either add lemon when it was simmering or squeezed lemon juice after you pour into your mug. *I couldn't get old ginger from my Japanese supermarket so I used young ginger that was not so spicy. Verdict: I couldn't believe it, but it tasted rather good! Even my friend who disliked ginger said this remedy taste

Gift Money Preparation Preparing for a Japanese wedding can be quite challenging. The notes have to be brand new by changing at a bank, the facing of the notes into the envelope has to be proper and the way to fold has to be according to occasion. It is so complex that you need to refer to the attached instructions of the envelope to make sure. Even the number of notes has to be an odd number, symbolically meaning that the couple cannot be divided. The "market price" for women seems to be at least 30,000yen and guys at 40,000yen (10,000yen note x3 + 5,000yen note x2). This depends on the seniority of the attendee and the location of the ceremony. Women usually pay less because we have to buy a nice dress or pay for professional make-up and hairdo. But all these didn't deter my excitement in attending my friend's wedding reception last year on 13th Oct 2012!!!

My nose and eyes were becoming allergic to pollen at the beginning of March, so I did what a normal Japanese would, go shop for some innovative Japanese products that deals with the problem. For example, the facial spray above claimed that its substance will magically trap pollen around you. At 1680yen, I would rather not risk having any breakouts.

So I thought I'd go to see another round of sakura at the famous Meguro River before they all fall. Weather had been crazy these days. Not only that sakura opens 2-3 weeks earlier than usual this year, but the temperatures go up and down drastically. Sometimes winter, sometimes almost summer... It's difficult to figure out what to wear when you go out.

Taken at Kanda River near Waseda University. Free :) Hopefully Spring will last long and summer be delayed!

I woke up early at 6.45am to catch the first annular solar eclipse of my life! Without brushing my teeth and eating breakfast, I dashed downstairs to catch the sun and moon in action. Luckily it wasn't that cloudy. (photo taken with solar eclipse glasses) 今早6.45起床，沒刷牙，沒吃飯就換衣出門看日食了。還好家樓下就看得到，而且雲朵也沒那麼厚，真爽。（照片通過特製日食眼鏡拍的）

It's Golden Week and temperatures are getting more comfortable at around 22 degrees. Time to backtrack on places that I'd visited! First, introducing Namja Town in Sunshine City Ikebukuro. Admission fee was cheap, with an option to purchase a pass that will allow you to access rides. 不知不覺又到了日本的黃金週！天氣也終於沒那麼冷了！難得有空，就介紹之前去過的室內遊樂園Namja Town。入門費很便宜，但是要進入鬼屋或坐車的話就需要買昂貴的遊玩券。

Finally we got to see SUMO! Although not the actual contest, but it felt just as good to see them practice in their sumo stables within such close proximity! Photo: With current Sekiwaki (Sumo 3rd rank) Aminishiki, 33 years old. 我的獎學金集團終於安排我們去看相撲了！雖然不是看真正的比賽，但是可以近距離看相撲手練習也是很精彩的！ 照片：和很累的現關協（相撲界第3頭銜）安美錦33歲合照。

Sakura in Tokyo are "officially" in full-bloom today! This year was a bit later than previous years due to the abnormally long and cold winter. I didn't have money to travel and enter the parks, so I just walked 15 mins away from my apartment to Kanda River (canal?) to admire those roadside sakura. Here are a few scenic photos to share with everyone. 今天東京的櫻花正式盛開嘍！可能是因為今年的冬季比往年長命，所以“滿開”的時間稍微延遲了。因為（前）貴婦今年沒錢去公園，所以就散步15分鐘，到附近的小河(神田川)看免費的路邊櫻花。在此和大家欣賞欣賞這美麗的景色！

I was looking at my comic strips printed out before my computer broke down. I found out that after all these years, my favorite is still the old comics that I drew in my Taiwanese blog, literally translated as "rich lady series". Maybe I'm really vain and materialistic? Or maybe I really enjoyed drawing comics without the black boxes with complete freedom to escape the boundaries? Or maybe I just write better in Chinese? Or was it due to stress from slow growth of FB fans? Although my computer broke down, I talked with a few new friends. One of them actually gave me a wise advise... don't worry about these, the most important thing is to enjoy the creation process. Many people told me the same thing before but those words just didn't penetrate through my skull. But somehow this time, it did. So I reflected on why I enjoyed drawing the old series. 1) Writing the dialogues in Chinese somehow makes my expressions more exaggerated? 2) I prefer drawing without

It has been ridiculously cold since January and my new apartment is 3-4 degrees colder than my previous dorm room. Interior temperatures hovered around 10-14 degree Celsius and turning on the heater means blowing up the electricity bills. Well, not to fear! Japanese always have clever ways to deal with such circumstances, such as this microwavable heat pack to warm up my cold feet while sleeping. Unfortunately, this failed to work at my new apartment so I was forced to buy something even more powerful... 自從一月開始，天氣就一直冷到現在！新房子比之前的爛宿舍冷了3－4度。室內溫度一直在10－14度之間，真是冷到沒話說。又不想一直開暖氣耗電。所以想繼續用之前買的保暖包。可是...還是冷到爆!!! 整晚無法入睡，結果敗給了寒冷，又開了暖氣睡覺了。 Yes, like this electric blanket is helping me to tide over these cold nights without blowing up my electricity bill! Made in Japan and bought at Rakuten for less than 1900yen. Now I can sleep in my warm blankets without blasting the heater. Feels good to save money again, good night everybody! 還好有網絡購物樂天！在上面買了一個便宜又不超過1900yen的電毛布，而且日本製喔！現在我都能舒舒服服在被窩裡一覺到天明，不用開暖氣

After 22 months of perseverance and savings, I finally moved out of my dorm on 2nd Feb to stay in a studio apartment near my university! Here is the last photo and sequel to my crappy dorm series and a few photos on my new place :") 經過22個月的忍耐，我終於在2月2日搬離爛宿舍，到大學附近的一間小型公寓去了！呼～終於，我的 爛宿舍歷險記 得到了一個圓滿的結局。好不容易存到老本搬家，當然要住好一點！

Evacomics wishes all readers a wonderful and prosperous Dragon year ahead! 祝大家龍年行大運，萬事如意，龍馬精神，身體健康，富貴榮華！

On sale only at Sunkus convenient stores in Japan! 150yen. 現在在日本的Sunkus便利店才有賣喔!

My friend from Singapore wanted to see falling snow but we had limited budget and don't ski. So the uncle from my university's tour agency recommended Kusatsu Onsen (Kusatsu hot spring) because it's a ski destination with other activities available and closest to Tokyo. Located in Gunma prefecture, there was high chances of snow because the place is located on a mountain. Coach ride (round trip 5000yen) takes around 3.5-4 hours depending on traffic conditions from Shinjuku. 來自新加坡的好友堅持要看正在下雪的雪景，但是我們的預算不高，也不滑雪。所以大學旅行社建議我們去 草津溫泉 。那裡除了能滑雪以外，還有其它活動或可以觀光的地方。而且距離新宿約3.5-4個小時的巴士車程（來回5000yen）。草津溫泉位於群馬縣。因為在半山腰，所以下雪的機率高。 With great luck, we were able to see snow on 30th Dec 2011 and beautiful snow flakes fell onto my coat! 不知道哪兒來的好運，竟然在12月30日看到下雪的美景。而且是一到那裡就開始下了！美麗的冰雹就掉在我的外套上。

I wasn't around during last new year so I ordered my L'occitane lucky bag online. This year I decided to go to Mitsui Outlet and Shinjuku. 因為去年新年不在，所以上網買了法國護膚品 L'occitane的福袋 。今年難得沒回國，就去了三井的outlet和新宿逛。