EVACOMICS BLOG

Yup everyone has to drink beer in Japanese parties, even just a tiny sip. I personally prefer sweet wine and mixed juice+alcohol such as: レモンサワー (Lemon Sour: Shochu with soda and fresh lemon juice)、ゆずサワー (Yuzu Sour: Shochu with soda and fresh citrus) and カシスオレンジ (Cassis Orange:  Mixed orange juice with Creme da cassis, which is a sweet dark red liqueur made from blackcurrants). These cocktail mixes are usually served with ice. Many women also like to order 梅酒 (Umeshu/plum wine) and it is served with either ice (ロック rock）or soda water (ソーダ soda) in Japan. ---------- Sake 酒: Often referred to as Rice wine although the fermenting process is closer to beer. Shochu / Shouchuu 焼酎 : Distilled spirit from barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat or rice, etc. Typically contains higher percentage of alcohol content. It is also often mixed with soda and fruit juice to become Chuhai 酎ハイ. My favourite is with lemon or grapefruit :P Cheers :P

Based on Trompenaar's dimensions of culture:  Sequential Time vs Synchronous Time (How people manage time).  http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/seven-dimensions.htm Although Japanese are deadly punctual for meetings, they are quite vague when it comes to setting up deadlines in business setting. For example to finish a certain thing by a certain date... and not to forget that we have no idea what's going on at Fukushima... Previous cultural dimensions: Collectivist and Individualist Neutral and Emotional Universalist and Particularist Specific and Diffuse Achievement and Ascription

Of course, it is always a good idea to not let your bag out of your sight unless there's really nothing important inside...

I usually give talks (20-25 mins or so) as part of a program for festivals or at bookstores. But this was the first time that it was just me, yup, JUST ME alone to sustain a 2 hour session consisting of a 45mins talk, 10 mins demo and 15 mins QA session. The venue is far from shopping malls and their restaurants only serve Japanese Association members. So people who came were really there for my talk only.

This is the original version... but the haze in Singapore became heavy today... (from fires in Indonesia) so I changed it to this: I guess we need air-con anyway...

After releasing my first book in late June, my distributor took 1000 copies from me to be distributed to local AND Malaysian bookstores. However after selling another 500 copies by myself through talks and conventions, they STILL have not gotten ANY of my books to Malaysia yet! WTH!? WHY!?

You must be thinking it's crazy to have a hot spring bath in our hot sunny Singapore but I can assure you, it was VERY GOOD and can improve your blood circulation! Thank you Ikeda Spa for inviting me to experience Japanese hot bath again!