July 21 was “Marine Day” in Japan, a time to head to the sea and enjoy beach life. This year we had a boy’s trip to Shiraishi Island off the coast of Kasaoka.

Nick and I and 5 other guys who formerly lived in Okayama City plus Tatsuki and Satoshi. People joined us from Fukuoka, Kurashiki, Tokyo, Hiroshima and San Diego, California.

We stayed at a place right on the beach this year and had a beachside bbq for dinner, watched a gorgeous sunset, enjoyed a mini local beer fest, and played cards until all hours of the night.

The next morning, we did SUP (stand up paddle boarding), but it was hard and we fell into the ocean a lot. Satoshi probably did the best out of all of us.

After coming back to Okayama, we had Indian curry and saw the new Superman movie at the mall.

Recently Nick posted about his experience at the Osaka Expo. During the NEO break I had the chance to go there myself and it really impressed me. So, I thought I would share some of my own experiences there.

I managed to go to a lot more than I expected within a day. Yet there is so much there that I feel like I only saw a small percentage of the Expo. None the less, I managed to go to six large pavilions. Some of them really stood out such as Germany, Austria and Poland. Many of them used music, sound and technology to show off their unique ideas and visions. Germany used a mascot character as a cute audio device to teach about their ideas for cities of the future, while Austria allowed visitors to mix sounds of different instruments and create their own symphonies. There were also pavilions unique in their concept such as the Pasona pavilion with its ideas about the future of medical technology. It was also a lot of fun just to see the design of all the pavilions from the outside. It was like being in a bizarre city full of strange buildings.

There are also a lot of smaller sized pavilions that are easy and quick to get into and are for smaller countries you might not know much about. We managed to walk straight into the pavilions for Bangladesh and Cambodia. Both were a single room but well designed with good visual elements and information about the countries. We also spent some time in the commons, which very small countries might have a small space or booth. You can learn and see some fascinating things about tiny countries you might know almost nothing about.

After only a day there, I had figured out some tricks to queuing and started to understand my way around the expo. But there is still a lot I would like to see there, and I hope I may get the chance to go again.

フルサイズで表示

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!

フルサイズで表示

フルサイズで表示

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.

フルサイズで表示

フルサイズで表示

フルサイズで表示

フルサイズで表示