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。

A few weeks ago I went to a large dog café not far from NEO. While it is called a ‘café, it does not serve any food or drinks. It is a place where you can spend an hour with some friendly large-sized dogs. It is called ‘Mofuchiru’ (or in its full Japanese name 大型犬ふれあいカフェもふちる). Japan is a country of mostly small sized dogs, but I have always preferred bigger dogs. I grew up with golden retrievers and think they are much cuter than most smaller dogs. So, I was curious what the dogs at this café would be like. I had a bad experience with a cat café many years ago. All the cats were unfriendly and slept in high spots the entire time. It was a waste of money. Luckily this dog café had many friendly dogs, and it was fun to spend time with them.

We arrived late on a Monday afternoon. I think the dogs were a little tired and hungry at the time. When we arrived, we were hit by an immediate strong dog smell. We were worried about how friendly the dogs would be but one patiently came over to us straight away. Throughout the next hour we got to spend time with many different breeds of large dogs with varying personalities. Some had a lot of energy while some were more relaxed and patient. Every once and awhile one of them would think dinner time was coming and would get everyone a bit too excited. It was funny to see their reactions, but also their reactions when they got told off for being too noisy.

They had many different breeds there. Most of them were very young. It is surprising how big some of them get at such a young age. The St. Bernard they had was only a one-year-old and yet was already very large. They had various mixed breeds too, including mixed retrievers. I talked with one of the staff members about a border collie they had. I was confused because my mother has two border collies, but their one had very different ears and body shape. The staff did agree that it is probably mixed with something and that the store they picked it up from was incorrect about its breed.

It was cute to see many kinds of dogs play with each other. By the end, most were sleeping. I think they had a long day. If you are interested, it is a fun way to spend an hour. I have heard they plan to open a dog salon upstairs in the building too. But if you are keen, maybe go in the early afternoon when the dogs are still full of energy.

Two weeks ago, K-san visited Guam with his family during his spring break from school.

He had a lot of fun. Of course, he enjoyed the beautiful beach and the pleasant weather.

K-san also went to a shooting range and tried shooting a few different kinds of firearms.

He went four-wheeling and enjoyed spending time outdoors.

Since nobody else in his family can speak English, K-san was also the interpretor for his family, so he had a lot of chances to use real English while they were traveling.

Have you ever been to Guam? How was it? What did you do there?

Last Sunday we had our annual cherry blossom viewing party.

This year, the weather was great. Some years it is too cold or rainy, but on Sunday it was about 15 degrees and sunny. It was a little windy, though.

It was also good timing for the cherry blossoms. The trees were in full bloom, so it was the best time for the party.

I usually go alone to reserve our place with a groundsheet early in the morning, but this year my older son, Tatsuki, went along to help me.

Around 7:30 we arrived at the Sakura Carnival area. There were already a lot of groundsheets reserving places, but we found a large open area and put down our 24-tatami sized sheet.

After that we went home again and relaxed a bit and then rode back the hanami area a little before noon.

Few people came during the first hour, but from 1pm more and more people arrived.

This was not just a NEO party. Every year, I invite some of my friends and everybody is allowed to bring their own friends and family.

We don’t have a BBQ at the party. I just provide a place to sit and gather and guests bring their own food and drinks.

I like this system because people can join and leave the party any time they want to, so there is no pressure to arrive at a specific time.

Also, when people bring their friends and family, I can meet new people, which is always fun and interesting.

When the sun went down, it got chilly because of the cool breeze, and most people left by that time.

A few people remained and helped me clean up the trash and the groundsheet.

I guess that more than 50-60 people came out over the course of the day.

I was happy to see so many people enjoying the blossoms and spending time with each other.

Please join us again next year!