One of the most important festivals that marks the Japanese calendar, August's Obon festival marks the time when visiting ancestral spirits must return to the other world, and it's the duty of the local families to come together and throw a big party to send them off. Exactly how this is done varies from region to region or even town-to-town. In Akita, Nishimonai is renowned for one of the oldest traditional Obon dances in all of Japan, and Yokote bombastically clashes straw boats representing the neighborhoods of the town in its Okuri-bon festival.

日本に行った前に、お盆祭りのこと何も知りませんでした。秋田県に住んだ頃、西馬音内盆踊りも横手市の送り盆祭りもたくさん教えてくれました。離れた十年間が早く飛んでも、その夏祭りの太鼓と笛が聞こえます。

The Old World demands eyes attuned to many compositional techniques at once. Frames-within-frames, contrast, patterns in sequence, spot color, lack of color, texture--each one will call to you, insisting upon your patience and sense of timing.

It's already cliche to describe Iceland as a place shaped by the Norse gods, but when you're there, going from grazing fields to vast glaciers to black sand beaches and crags marked by temperamental volcanic might, the creative and destructive hands of Thor is all but inescapable.

This is one place I ache to visit again and again. As much beauty has passed before my lens, it is only the tip of the iceberg.

A short bus ride from Nagano City brings you to Jigokudani, literally Hell's Valley. The mountain springs here are geothermally heated, natural hot springs that bring domestic and foreign tourists in droves every year.

There is one special group, however, who have reservations every year--a colony of Japanese macaques can't resist the soothing pools.

In 2018, I joined a group of photographers and artists on a travel project called "Did We Get Lost?" Our tour took us through Da Nang, Ha Noi, Hoi An, Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh and to the famous temple Angkor Wat.

Whenever a cologne or perfume fragrance promises to give the aroma of the sea, a perfect beach vibe, I inevitably try to compare it to the experience of being in the Virgin Islands, and the islands are always the more beautiful. It is difficult to capture, in a bottle as much as in a photo, what it is like to gaze out over the blue and teal sea from their sandy beaches and lush hillsides.

For three years, I made Japan's most backwoods prefecture my second home. This was not my first journey into the northern countryside, as I had previously been hosted in neighboring Iwate Prefecture.

Since the day I left, I have yearned to come back to this beautiful country. "All that is gold does not glitter," as Tolkein said. This is my box of treasures.

三年間住み、東北はまるで第二故郷になったと感じています。秋田は大自然が麗しくて、勤勉な県民の温かいおもてなしがあふれる場所です。絶対に戻ります！

In 2005, the Nagano family of Mizusawa, Iwate Prefecture, took in a 17 year old American boy for a six-week homestay in their countryside town. They owned a little shop called Yatsushiroya, a name that references the eight balls of pounded rice dough (two per skewer) that serve as the base for their homemade sweet treat known as dango.

To this day, I call and keep up with my Otoo-san and Okaa-san.

高校三年生の夏（アメリカの高校には、学年が四つあります）岩手県の水沢市に六週間のホームステイをして、今までもホストファミリーの長野さんたちに連絡したりします。あの時、長野さんが「やつしろや」という団子のお店をやっていました。

Some beautiful souls whose paths I have had the fortune of crossing.

幸いなことに人生の岐路にぶつけ合った方々