Figure Not Responding after returning to console f

Question

At first, I wrote

## show the map and all that ##
def showMap():
    plt.figure()
    plt.imshow(im)
    # draw junctions as squares
    plt.scatter(junctionX, junctionY, marker='s', color='green')
    plt.show()

Then, the interactive console hangs until I close the figure. This question gives a solution for this, and I modified my code to

## show the map and all that ##
def showMap():
    plt.figure()
    plt.imshow(im)
    # draw junctions as squares
    plt.scatter(junctionX, junctionY, marker='s', color='green')
    plt.ion()
    plt.show()

Now, indeed I can return to the console and keep running other codes, but my figure there becomes Non Responding. How may I fix it?

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I am using the Python Tools for Visual Studio, because my project is a mix of a C++ project and a Python one. I have tested exactly the same code in Spyder, and it works perfectly fine there. So I think it is from the differences between IDEs.