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

During Golden Week this year I went to Wakayama prefecture for three days. It was my second time going there, but I spent the first two days going to places I had never been before. I planned to go last summer but cancelled due to a big earthquake which disrupted a lot of my trip plans. I originally planned to try and go again this summer, however due to recent news I decided to go as soon as possible, and I had a good chance to go during golden week.

The first day we trained all the way from Okayama to Nachi. It took about five hours. Our main destination was the famous Nachi waterfall. We had to take a bus to get there from the train station. However, we got off at the bottom of the mountain and did a short hike from a spot called ‘Daimonzaka’. It was a beautiful hike, and when we got to the top of the hillside there was a shrine and a temple. Shortly after, we started to descend the mountain in a different direction, towards the famous waterfall. On the way there is a pagoda called ‘Seiganto-Ji’. The pagoda with the waterfall in the background is a famous photo spot, and you can see it in many tourism promotions. After that, we went down to the base of the waterfall. It is quite amazing to see it in person.  The waterfall has a drop of 133 meters and is the longest uninterrupted drop in Japan. It is regarded as a very sacred place. You can pay a few hundred yen to go to a viewing platform slightly closer to the waterfall. You can even pay to drink some of the pure water from it.

The next day we went to Shirahama. Our destination for the day was Adventure World. Adventure World is famous for its four pandas. Recently there was the sad news that all four are going to be sent to China in late June. This was a big inspiration for us to suddenly go to Wakayama and see them before they go. Even though it was a weekday, it was no surprise that the pandas were super popular. They were surrounded by people taking their pictures non-stop all day. Even when they were sleeping. A lot of the park guests were dressed from head to toe in all panda merchandise too. Adventure World does not only have pandas, however. There was an aquarium area with hundreds of penguins. They even had dolphin show and other animal shows throughout the day. One part is also a safari park which you can either walk around or ride a train to see the more dangerous animals up close. There is a large variety of different types of animals and things to do throughout the day. They even have some amusement park attractions.

We stayed at a nice hotel near the beach in Shirahama and spent our last day around the area. Unfortunately, in the morning it rained quite a lot. Around midday it suddenly went from windy and rainy to a gorgeous sunny day over our heads. We went to several different places throughout the day. The first we went to is called ‘Sandanbeki’. The area has many high cliffs next to the ocean, and there is a famous cave. You can take an elevator down and explore it. The cave was used by the Kumano Naval Force a long time ago to hide their ships. After that we went to a place called ‘Senjojiki’ nearby. It has a large rock plateau which you can freely walk and climb around. It is a great photo spot and popular with tourists. On the way back to the town center we enjoyed a foot hot spring. But we were getting a little tight on time and went to our last destination before our trip home, the Tora Tora Fish Market. The market is very famous in Wakayama and has many different shops inside and outside. There is also a large food court there with a huge variety of rice bowls. You can buy all kinds of food, as well as souvenirs and gifts there, so it is a great place to stop by if you are in Shirahama.

Wakayama takes some time to get to, but it is a really nice place to visit. There is great seafood, beautiful scenery, and various activities to do. While I did not have a chance to visit this time, there are also amazing places like Mt. Koya. and the Kumanokodo. It is worth a visit if you have the chance.

Photos by Byron Smith

An old acquaintance of mine named Byron Smith released a photo book last year. I wanted to share it with you here because I think it’s something very special.

The book, titled Testament ‘22, is a collection of images from the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. You can read more about the book here:

www.smittysbooks.com

I met Byron in my journalism classes at Boston University back in 2007-08. We weren’t close friends, but we knew each other from multiple classes, so I often had the opportunity to see his work. He was hard-working and humble, and even back then, it was clear he had real talent as a photojournalist.

Byron has had a truly awe-inspiring career since then. He’s documented major conflicts around the world, spent time in war-torn areas of Iraq, Sudan, and Ukraine, and reported extensively on the refugee crisis in Greece. He’s also won numerous accolades for his work. His photos are haunting beautiful, often presented in stark black and white.

If you’d like to know more about Byron and his work, you can read about him in Japanese here…

www.newsweekjapan.jp

…or check out his website!

www.byronsmithphoto.com

ゴールデンウィークがもう終わります。皆さんいかがお過ごしだったでしょうか？我が家は毎年例にもれず、2泊3日でキャンプに行ってきました。今回も香川の国立まんのう公園です。花が咲き誇っていてそれは美しかったです。そしてきっちり雨女の威力も発揮して、初日の夜に雨も降らしてきました。

腕と肩を痛めていたので予定していたテニスの試合は2つもキャンセルし、代わりに家族孝行をした連休になりました。こどもの日には柏餅を食べたのですが、こどもの日にちまきって食べます？私が子供の頃は柏餅一辺倒でした。

痛めている腕と肩は3月の後半からずっとで、キーボードとマウスを使うのが特に肩に悪い。そこで教えてもらったのが、キーボード入力ではなく音声入力です。スマホのマイク機能をオンにして吹き込むと文字化してくれます。これがなかなか便利で、1日に何回もメールを打つ私にとっては救世主です。でかしたNick 、よく教えてくれた。ちなみに、音声入力だと名前等の固有名詞はちゃんと対応できていないので、個別に手で入力が必要です。うっかり吹き込むと笑える結果となります。ちなみに、何度吹き込んでも「炒めた腕」と表示されます。いためる、が違うじゃろ。