That’s a nengajou commissioned by my friend Justin in Shizuoka (the city I lived in, in Japan). I was so pleased with it that I asked Justin if I could use it for my own New Year’s emails. Thanks, Justin!

2010 is the year of the tiger, so eat lots of Frosties I guess? Or you could enjoy the Japanese tradition of choking on mochi:

Because of mochi’s extremely sticky texture, there is usually a small number of choking deaths around New Year in Japan, particularly amongst the elderly. The death toll is reported in newspapers in the days after New Year.

It’s a new decade. The year 2000 was ten years ago — what the hell? Where did ten years go? From time to time a young adult will email me and say something like, “I grew up with your comics.” What? What? How is that possible? What does that mean?