My YouTube Journey | February 2023 Update

I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey to give you an update on my Wakizashi’s Teahouse YouTube Channel. On Christmas Eve last year, I reached the fabled 1K subscribers after working on my channel for 18 months. I’d already passed the second requirement of “4000 public watch hours” that you need in order to be considered for the “YouTube Partner Program.” My channel was “checked” by (possibly) a human being and I got monetized a few days later. Great! I could sit back, relax and watch the money pour in. That’s how it works, right?

Insider Knowledge from a Small YouTuber

Making Mochi at New Year

It’s traditional in Japan to make mochi for New Year. I want to share this very short video with you. It’s my family making anko mochi. We use a special kind of rice called mochigome, which translates as mochi-rice. The anko is made from sweet red bean paste. You put it in the center of the mochi and roll it all into a ball.

The anko mochi are delicious. But take care not to eat too many. You might get stomach ache like me 🤣

Thank you for reading. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and all the very best for 2022!

-Wakizashi, *enjoying a wee dram of Scotch whiskey from Islay*

Thank You for YOUR Support!

It’s 7:30 in the morning on December 27th as I type this. I can’t quite believe it but thanks to your continued support I just reached a new milestone on this blog. 10K views. 😍 I’m up 3K views compared to last year, which is pretty incredible. “Someone up there really likes me!”

I’d seen that I was getting close, but I didn’t think I was going to hit it before the end of the year. I know “the numbers” aren’t why we do this, but it was still really satisfying to reach it.

Thank you for visiting this blog, for reading and commenting, for liking what I’m doing here. It means so much to me. I truly appreciate it.

-Wakizashi, *smiling from ear to ear!*

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I made a short Thank You video on my YouTube channel. This goes out to everyone!

Wakizashi’s Teahouse Origin Story: part 1

To celebrate getting 100 subscribers on YouTube, I made a video where I talk about how I got into reading comics. I cover five comic book titles that had a big effect on me and helped develop my love of the medium. It’s at the bottom of this post and is twelve minutes long. If you watch it, please let me know what you think about my choices. Also, I’d love to hear from you if you’ve read any of these titles! 😀

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The FIVE comics are:

Groo the Wanderer

Groo the Wanderer #17 was the first American comic book I bought with my own money. I’d read some of my brother’s Batman comics before that. Also, the Marvel UK reprints of the popular Marvel Star Wars comic that became a big seller after the first Star Wars movie. I think it was the cover of Groo #17 that caught my eye and led me into the madcap world of this bumbling yet deadly barbarian. Sergio Aragones’s detailed cartoony style blew my young mind and I quickly fell in love with the bonkers, silly humour.

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