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Have you seen pictures like this pop up on Instagram or other social media lately? I have, but I never paid attention to where it was. Well, last week I ended up visiting this place myself – I didn’t even realize it until I got there.

This photo spot is from the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), not far from Tsuyama. Some friends of mine suggested driving up there, and I was mostly attracted by the idea of a great pizza restaurant, Pizzeria la Gita, next to the museum. As it turned out, the pizza and the art are both worth it.

The museum is actually quite small, with just 3-4 exhibits. The famous one from the photos, called “Sun,” is a mind-bending cylindrical room with sand gardens crawling up the wall and out-of-proportion playground equipment hanging from the ceiling. Nothing is roped off and you’re free to walk around the space, which is pretty cool.

There’s another room with lots of old photos from the ‘80s and ‘90s, and a separate exhibit called “Moon” with some amazing acoustic properties. I’ll leave it to you to explore the rest on your own.

If you decide to make the trip, just be aware that Nagi is pretty far – it’s a good 2 hours from Okayama, depending on the traffic. And that pizza place is popular, so call ahead!

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Last year I wrote about going to many concerts. By the end of the year, I had been to about seven different concerts, and in many different cities around the country. While I do not think I will go to as many this year, I have been starting to make a new list.

At the very start of the year in January, I went to Nagoya and saw the singer Vaundy. I have been a big fan of his music for several years now. This was actually my third time seeing him live, but the other two performances were shorter and at events shared with other musicians. This time it was the first time I had seen a full concert by him. The sound and setlist were great, and he played most of my favorite songs. We were quite far away from the stage however and the venue’s shape was not ideal for a concert. He also does not like to use screens for close-up cameras, and there was no encore, so it suddenly ended and felt short. It left me feeling a little disappointed despite how good the music was.

More recently, I went to Osaka in late May to see Official Hige Dandism. It was the first time they had done a stadium tour, and while the weather was humid it thankfully did not rain. It was a great concert. The sound, presentation, and production were all very high quality. We luckily had seats in the center area of the ground area of the stadium. The setlist was almost all non-stop hit songs too, so it was a fun experience. Even though they are so famous, the band members seemed shocked to be performing in a stadium for the first time.

Several months ago, I also went to a small live house show of a former NEO student. It was cool to see one of our students performing on stage. Some of their classmates also showed up and gave support. Watching their performance inspired me to put more time into my own bass practice. It would be nice to find someone to play with sometime in the future.

 
While I have only been to a few live shows so far this year, I have tickets to see Creepy Nuts next week here in Okayama and tickets for the Monster Bash music festival in August. I have been considering buying some tickets for another concert around then as well. There are so many musicians I want to see live; I need to get lucky with tickets and scheduling first.

I’ve been to the Osaka Expo twice now. I enjoyed it quite a bit and I think it’s worth going, but it’s not for everyone. This expo has had a lot of problems: the reservation system is difficult and confusing; the traffic flow around the gates is painfully slow; there’s little shelter from the sun and rain. On top of that, it’s a fairly expensive and exhausting day. You’ll spend hours waiting in lines and navigating huge crowds of people.

On the other hand, there’s a lot to appreciate inside the pavilions. Some of them truly great, and it’s interesting to compare them and discover what you like. And the giant wooden ring is honestly pretty cool.

If you decide to go, I highly recommend the Poland, China, and Pasona pavilions. Those were by far the most well-rounded and educational of the places I visited. If you’d like to ask me in person, I’ll tell you which ones to avoid, too!

Here are a few photos and videos from my second visit.

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This month our student C-san, traveled to UK for a vacation.

She went to London, Oxford and the Cotswolds.

In London, she watched a musical, Les Miserables, a very famous show, in a West End theater. She said it was fantastic.

She also saw Big Ben, the famous clock tower next to the Parliament building.

This King’s Guard was near Buckingham Palace.

Do you know The Beatles album Abbey Road? It’s a real place and tourists still visit there today to recreate the famous album cover.

The Tower Bridge is another famous attraction.

C-san visited Oxford University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities on Earth.

Out in the countryside, she saw a lot of farm animals as well as some beautiful old architecture.

There are many charming villages in the British countryside.

C-san said that she used a lot of English to talk to local people and to ask for directions.

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On Sunday, we had our 2025 Spring Picnic. We hadn’t done this event for 6 years. We took a break from holding it when Covid started. We were excited to schedule it again this year, but we were very worried about the weather because it was raining a lot last week. The weather turned out to be very nice, not hot at all and mostly cloudy throughout the day.

Over 30 NEO students, plus friends, parents and younger siblings all gathered together at Futsukaichi Park behind the Central Library. In total, there were over 50 people participating, including all of NEO’s staff.

First we made hand squeezed lemonade. The kids each squeezed their own lemon and then got the reward of a delicious and refreshing drink. We made regular lemonade and also pink lemonade. If you want the recipe, please ask Nick-sensei for it.

Next, we had some some races. We did a potato sack race. The kids were hopping like rabbits across the park.

Then we did a three-legged race. It was surprising which pairs could move forward so smoothly. The winner for each race got a bag of umaibo as a prize.

We had a super-ball scoop game set up and the kids were really good at scooping up a lot of balls.

The next event was watermelon breaking, which is a very classic game in the summer in Japan.

The kids put on a blindfold and tried to break open a watermelon with a bat.

After the watermelon was finally broken in half, we sliced it up and everybody got a slice.

The final game of the day was a water balloon toss. Each pair of players got one water balloon and had to toss it back and forth over increasing distances. Some of the kids and the parents were pretty good at this game.

The event was a great success and everybody had a fantastic time!

If you want to see more photos, click the link here: 2025 Spring picnic の写真