Next month, I have plans to go to Guam and Yap, two islands in the Pacific Ocean. Guam is well-known as a tourist destination and an alternative to the much more expensive Hawaii. But I had never really heard of Yap before my friend suggested it to me, so I had to do some research.

First, to prevent some confusion: Micronesia is a large region of Oceania with thousands of islands, but it can also refer to the country known as the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Yap is one of the four island states of the FSM. It’s not the biggest island, but it’s famous for giant stone currency that was used hundreds of years ago. These days they use the US dollar, but the enormous “coins” remain scattered around the island. Yap also has excellent marine sports, especially snorkeling and scuba diving.

The history of Micronesia is fairly complicated. Many islands in the region were controlled by the Spanish for a long time, but they eventually sold or traded them to Germany in the early 1900s. The islands changed hands again during World War I, when the Japanese took over, and once again after World War II, when the US took control via the United Nations. The FSM finally ratified their own constitution in 1979, although they maintain a very close relationship with the United States.

Most of this information is easily available online. However, it’s surprisingly difficult to find detailed information about the native peoples of the islands, so I’m interested in learning more when I visit in person.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Obon!

暑くて外へ一歩でもでるのが躊躇われる日本の夏がきました。本日の予報は39度。その灼熱がくる前に、人に誘われてタイ料理を味わってきました。その名も「カオサン」です。カオサンと言えばタイのバンコクで有名なカオサン通りです。私はこのタイのカオサン通りで食事をしたら20分ですぐにお腹を壊したことがあります。

岡山のこのレストランは小さいですが従業員さんは皆さんタイの方の様子。お客さんの中にもタイの方がいらっしゃいました。出てくるものはどれも美味しく、持ち帰りもできるというので、私は持ち帰りでパッタイを注文しました。米粉で作られた麺が旨い。写真がそれです。入れ物が思った以上に日本っぽく、まさかタイ料理が入っているとは感じられません。ここで私の頭に浮かんだのは「折に詰める」という表現です。我ながら書いていて何とも古臭い印象がぬぐえません。

この表現は英語にだってあります。持ち帰り用で（食べ残しを）詰めてもらう場合のdoggy bagという言葉です。昨今そんな単語を使う人はいないでしょう。

英会話を習っている人ならもう知っていますが、持ち帰りのテイクアウトという表現です。アメリカ英語圏であればto go、イギリス英語圏ではtake awayを一般的に使います。日本語のテイクアウトのもとになったtake outという言葉も使えますが文脈がないといきなり使うのは厳しいです。私は"For here or to go?"（店内でお召し上がりですか？持ち帰りですか？）を聞くたびに、中学1年生で習う単語ばかりが並んでいるにも関わらず単語がどれも短すぎて音の同化が激しく聞き取りづらい、初級者泣かせの英語だなぁと思うのです。

因みにこのパッタイの持ち帰りですが、一緒に添えられていたのが唐辛子とあと1つ。なんと砂糖でした！

My father just sent me this newspaper clipping from 1976. I didn’t know that my photo was in the newspaper at such an early age. Other than the hairstyle, I don’t really think it looks like me!

I grew up surrounded by music. Many members of my family can play an instrument or sing. My father has been a musician for most of his life and would often play his music in the house and in the car. He had several instruments around the house. While he was a bass player first, he also had a keyboard. As a child I often played around with it and dreamt of being a keyboard player in a rock band.

It is not so surprising then that during Elementary school I started taking piano lessons. My parents found a local teacher and even bought a piano for our house. I played for several years and learnt a lot of things. Around the time I was 11 or 12, I started to lose interest in some of the hobbies I had done for years. Piano was one of them. While I did not stop loving music, I think piano was just not for me.

When I got into high school, the idea of performing in a rock band was very appealing. I noticed my father and his bass, and decided I would like to give it a try myself. My father was probably overjoyed at me being interested in bass guitar as my older brother had become a drummer instead. He quickly took me out to buy my own bass guitar and amp. I started taking lessons from a bassist who was a member of a fairly well-known local band. He was very talented, and I learnt a lot from him. Me and my friends formed a band at school and started practicing together. Over the next several years I played with several different people, performed at school events, and even did school assessments with my bass.

 While I played less in University, I still played here and there. And eventually, I came to Japan. I originally decided I would buy a new bass here but… I never did. I found a few chances to play over the years, but overall, I played very little and never got back into playing. Recently I had the urge to finally buy a bass and so I decided to look at some local shops. I found a second-hand Ibanez in very good condition at a great price. I always wanted my own Ibanez, my friend’s dad had one and when I played it at his house it was so nice to play. So, I decided I should take this chance and pick it up.

Playing bass again has been a lot of fun. There is one problem, however. My skill has dropped...a lot. I can’t play like I used to at all. My fingers are getting sore quick from the thick strings too. It is going to take some time to get my skill back. None the less, it is a great feeling to return to a hobby of mine after such a long time. Hopefully I keep playing consistently and can get even better at playing than before.

Over the break at the end of June, Dave and I attended a whisky blending event in Hiroshima. It was held at the Hilton Hotel, so it was a fancy event in an upscale bar. The blending kits, which were produced by Chivas Regal, looked like this:

They included 5 small bottles of whisky with different flavor profiles (fruity, floral, smokey, etc.) as well as a dropper and a beaker to mix them.

We all tried different combinations and had a fun time, but that’s not the end of the story. One of our friends entered the contents of the kit into ChatGPT, and it told us the ‘ideal’ blend: 30% floral, 25% fruity, 20% citrus, 15% smokey, and 10% creamy. We tried that, and everyone agreed – it was the best!

It’s kind of depressing that the AI blend was better than anything we made on our own, but I guess we’re living in the future now…

After 20 years, Japan updated its banknotes on July 3rd. They are rolling out slowly, but I went to the bank and got one of each (¥1000, ¥5000, ¥10,000).

The back of the 1000 yen note features the famous woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai.

Just by luck, the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art is now having an exhibition of Hokusai and Hiroshige (Japan’s other famous woodblock print artist) works. I’m not sure how many original prints of the Great Wave still exist, but I got to see one of them!

This exhibit ends tomorrow, but features hundreds of the most famous prints. There were also a lot of other “books” by the artists with a lot of black and white prints that put modern comic and manga artists to shame, and these were from the early 1800s!