Company

Hey everyone! Sorry for being super quiet last week, work kept me occupied from morning till night and I had zero time for myself. Saturday was spent drawing comic and Sunday… I don’t know what happened to my Sunday but it’s gone, somehow. This was a hectic, fun and very tiring week. I’ll read through your comments after posting the new page.

The reason for my absence and longer working hours were people visiting from US, my whole team came over to Tokyo and I spent my evenings with them, chatting about manga / comics and eating delicious food at Japanese restaurants. It was awesome and I hope we can do that again sometime in the future. Timezones sure make communication with US hard so we don’t have many opportunities to chat even though we’re working on the same team. So don’t worry, it’s not that the work is trying to kill me haha, it was a very special time and it was a lot of fun too.

Some of you wondered what’s going on with my fiancee – he’s still waiting for the visa/work-related formalities to be done so he hasn’t started working yet. It’s annoying, but there’s nothing we can do to speed up the process. We keep hoping he’ll start working in December since we want to move into a different apartment sometime soon… I already know that there’ll be no chance for me to go home for Christmas as he won’t be able to get any time off in the first month of work so we can’t fly to Poland. First Christmas in Japan…. That’s going to be weird.

And, since we had a little field-trip to Hakone, I’m going to share a few details with you~!

LIFE IN JAPAN CORNER #2

Today I want to share some details about my trip to Hakone. You can reach the town easily from Tokyo in under two hours. We bought a special pass that covers the roundtrip and most buses and what not around the town. Hakone has many attractions but they are located at significant distances from each other and it’s not possible to reach everything on foot. So that kind of pass really is handy! Hakone itself is best known for onsens (hot springs) and the lake from which you can see Mt. Fuji on a clear day. We didn’t manage either but that’s okay, we’ll most likely go there again anyhow.

After the train ride from Shinjuku station, we walked around the small town and took Hakone Tozan railway to Gora (a small town that’s even higher in the mountains). Our ultimate goal was to ride the ropeway above the volcanic area but the ropeway was, unfortunately, closed. The reason? Volcanic activity was too intense, sulfurous gases were too strong and the ropeway had to be temporarily closed. Well, can’t argue with a volcano. We went to Gora, ate lunch there in a nice, atmospheric restaurant and walked lower, to reach Gora’s park. It was very beautiful, with lots of red maples and big rose garden. From there we could also see the fumes coming out of the volcano.

From there we went to lake Ashinoko by bus and boarded a fancy pirate ship lol It was kind of cheesy but nicely made and the trip through the lake was really pleasant. We couldn’t see much of Fuji due to cloudy weather but it did peek from between the clouds from time to time. Lake is really big and you can see red tori gates of two shrines on the shore. When we reached the other end of the lake it was already dark so our quick visit to the shrine was very atmospheric. Bright, red lanterns along the way to the shrine set a nice mood.

There’s a lot to see and do in Hakone and I’m definitely going there again, maybe went time for two days and with a nice soak in the onsen in the middle…. ( ´ ∀ ` ) You can read more about Hakone here: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html

28 comments on “Company”

  1. NiWo21k Reply

    These two panels on the left XD i just have to laugh everytime i see them – simple but effective 🙂

    I think if work starts killing you, you will let us know 😉 As long as your work is fun everything is great. Tell your fiancee we are crossing our fingers for him that everything works out. And let’s hope your Christmas won’t be too weird 😉

      • NiWo21k Reply

        Hehe 🙂
        I think it works so great because it comes out of nowhere and its still typical Ada and Rob and you hit the timing spot on XD

  2. Dim Light Reply

    I don’t even remember how these demons hunt. But if hiding from them is effective, I guess they don’t use smell, like they do in some other stories…. I honestly don’t remember if I’ve commented here before, either, but I probably haven’t`in which case: I love the colors in this comic. They’re brilliant and pretty.

    • JW Reply

      Maybe (these) demons are color blind. It would be fortunate as they were, because if they spot Ada and Robert, they’re gonna get killed (by which I mean the demons, of course)

  4. Ada’s nonexistent sister Reply

    She looks startled, but then just doesn’t question b/c she’s sort of used to it. Instead of “what was that for?!?!” Its “demons?”

      • Ada’s twin sister Reply

        Identical Twin. My hair is longer though. Older by a few minutes. Currently about 27 miles away, also protecting people from demons with spells, although I borrowed and memorized Ada’s book. And then returned it. But I’m hiding people in the cabin because it was the safest place i could find. (Sorry sis, but i couldn’t ask cause it was the only place i could find when we were being chased. I did a protection spell.)

      • Ada’s twin sister Reply

        Well are they gonna see me and all the people I’m hiding and freak out, or are they just going to be calm? Knowing my sister, she’ll probably yell at me for a minute or 2 for using ‘her’ cabin, then for not writing in 4 years, then glare at me until i hug her, after which she’ll grab the book and most likely bring us back to camp and be friendly, talking about everything that’s happened to her in the past few years since we got separated.

      • antrik Reply

        Let me get this straight: Ada’s awesome imaginary twin — who apparently could make magic work long before the apocalypse — hasn’t talked to her in four years? That’s harsh…

  5. Refugnic Reply

    Heh…don’t really know what to say about this page, other than it’s both cute and funny at the same time. 😀

  6. Aeldryn Camp dweller Reply

    Awwe princess carry for Ada! Granted the circumstance is not… ideal, but take what ye can :’P Always love having this to look forward to on Mondays 😀 Keep up the good work!

  7. xthorgoldx Reply

    Hah, my own luck with visiting Japanese lakes is a bit less fortunate than your trip! My buddy and I were at Noboribetsu up in Hokkaido, and after visiting Hell Valley we decided to hike up to Lake Kuttara. We made rookie mistakes: first, assuming that the weather report was accurate; second, not checking to see that the facilities at said lake were open during the off-season.

    Now, for context on the gravity of what I did, my buddy and I are Air Force lieutenants. Lieutenants have a bit of notoriety in armed forces the world over, in that a butterbar navigating on foot anywhere is doomed to get lost. Knowing this, I joked to my friend “Two lieutenants walking in the mountains, alone, with no map? What’s the worst that could happen?” Yes, I taunted Murphy. Literally screamed it to the heavens. Murphy, in all his schadenfreude, gazed upon the haughty butterbar and laughed, for he knew the events to come..

    We get to the lake. Beautiful… but the facilities there are closed, so no food, and no shelter. Which is important, because after seven kilometers on foot away from civilization, the “scattered showers” of the forecast has turned to “torrential downpour.” We had no choice but to hike back in the middle of the deluge. Raingear soaked through, drenched to the bone, it was a very awkward bus ride back to the hotel once we made it back to noboribetsu proper. My buddy gives me shit to this day over how I was completely responsible for what happened by tempting fate.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Hahaha that sounds like a true adventure! I did get lost in the woods during a storm (and it was completely dark too) so I can imagine it nicely hah. Glad you guys managed to find your way back to the hotel!

      • xthorgoldx Reply

        There was a point at which we came across a trail leading off the main road, with a map next to it – it, supposedly, would’ve taken us back through the mountains to where our hotel was, instead of us looping around to Hell Valley and the bus station there. But that would’ve involved leaving the road we KNEW was the right way back and going down an unknown, wet, mountainous path into the forest.

        I’m stupid, but not that stupid.

      • Ada’s twin sister Reply

        Oh, hah! That reminds me of the time Ada and I got lost in the forest and I decided to test my magic but the only spell I could remember was the one for rain. Good going. We were young, maybe 10 or so, at the time, and it took us several hours to get home, by which time we’re completely soaked, and our parents were not happy because we had snuck out without telling them, expecting to be back in 10 minutes. Needless to say, it didn’t exactly go as planned.

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