Kumamoto International Archive

Archive of the Kumamoto International Facebook group, 2011–present.

Kirk with some Kumamoto-Ukraine news. Reading the article made me wonder how best to contribute (that is, give money) to Ukraine. Any ideas?
17-yr-old in Japan raises money for Ukraine after cousin forced to flee country - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- A high school student here whose cousin evacuated from Ukraine days before Russia invaded has started a humanitarian aid fundraising campa

Kirk here with an article about how Oguni-machi is cooperating with a company called Asteria to manage its forests more effectively. Asteria seems to have a platform that makes it possible for lay people to build simple apps that assist in recording and managing data. The article doesn't use the term, but I think such platforms are generally referred to as no-code or low-code platforms.
Personal aside:
I've been using a no-code platform called AppSheet since 2016 to build some educational apps. AppSheet was acquired by Google a couple years ago and seems to have become quite popular, though the field is filled with competitors. AppSheet has enabled me to build apps that would have been impossible for me otherwise but, nonetheless, there was quite a learning curve; I'd say AppSheet is much easier than learning to code (Python, Java, etc.) but not exactly "easy." Here's a link to a video I made about how I use AppSheet in my classes:
https://kguics.blogspot.com/2020/05/how-i-use-appsheet-in-my-classes.html
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/2022/03/31/special-supplements/town-company-team-achieve-sdgs-kumamoto/
Town, company team up to achieve SDGs in Kumamoto
While the United Nations sustainable development goals present the diverse challenges the world faces, it is important that companies and municipalities ex

Kirk here with some information on opportunities to study Japanese in Kumamoto City. Today, I received the following information in an email from the Kumamoto International Foundation:
---- start quote -----
【The study of Japanese】
Kumamoto International Foundation has restarted Japanese learning. For more information, please access our website or inquire of the foundation.
https://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/list00066.html
---- end quote ----
"Restarted" refers to the temporary closing of such classes (in January?) due to high infection rates in Kumamoto. So, things are back on track now.
The link in the message from the foundation is to a Japanese language page. That's OK if you've already gotten your foot in the door, so to speak, with the Japanese language but I thought I should provide some information in English for people who are just getting started. The image you see was converted from a pdf that I found here:
https://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/kiji003234/index.html
Also, the foundation has a やさしいにほんご (easy Japanese) Facebook page where they share information about Kumamoto and about opportunities to study Japanese, etc. That page can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/kurashinonihongo

William Culinary-wise, Kumamoto hits that sweet spot between mountain and sea. Likely no finer cuisine exists in Japan. My wife hails from the mountains of Yabe, but her grandfather was a fishmonger (her mother was the first female in Yabe to obtain a drivers license so that she could travel to Tasaki Market to buy fish.)
Experience it.

William Support our local artists - tonight!:

William Running does odd things to one's mind, with a singular goal focused. Kumamon inexplicably showing up was likely unappreciated.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/617526

William Noyaki (野焼) - the burning of undergrowth - is a periodic event which prevents Aso from becoming a forest - and allows for these:
https://kumanichi.com/articles/616105

Megumi and I (Douglas) have had our eye on this area since last autumn. About a week ago we drove there to film and photograph the blossoming cherry trees.
The image is 360°, so please use your mouse to drag it around. You can also zoom in and out using the mouse scroll wheel. Look for a rectangle in the top right-hand corner of the image, after you have opened to location, and you can view in fullscreen.
Early April over the Tateoka and Hanazono ponds to the south o...
Early April over the Tateoka and Hanazono ponds to the south of Kumamoto City, Japan

Kirk here with a detailed and informative article about recent Minamata disease court decisions:
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14586947
The primary decision mentioned in the article came on March 30th, after other posts that we've made so far this year about Minamata court cases:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/7070961266310578
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/7050309825042389
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/7062405997166105
Court blocks bid by 7 for Minamata disease recognition | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
KUMAMOTO--The district court here March 30 ruled against seven people seeking official recognition as Minamata disease patients, thereby depriving them of eligibility to receive state assistance for their medical treatment.

REGISTRATION FOR INFORMAL ZOOM CHAT.
Hello there,
Here is the invitation to the Informal Zoom Chat.
When: Apr 24, 2022 11:00 AM Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
You must register in advance for this meeting.
The meeting is limited to myself, Kirk and 6 other registrants.
Please make sure that you will be able to attend before registering.
Register at the following url:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkdeiopjsqG9G6imN9NFnTOkSTJvxz9hbu
After registering successfully, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
If you are unsuccessful, but would like to join future Informal chats, please send me an email ( [email protected] ) and I will add you to a waiting list.
Regards
Douglas
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Getting to know You. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Kirk here, thinking "learn something everyday" because, even after running this page for a long time, I still keep finding stuff I don't know about Kumamoto. Today I learned that Kumamoto has a local organization to promote world peace and that each year they chose a high school student to be their "Peace Ambassador." This year it was FUKUHARA An (pictured) of Kyushu Gakuin High School. She (and others?) collected signatures in favor of the abolition of nuclear weapons that, if it hadn't been for COVID-19, she would have delivered in person to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
The TV segment I saw can be found here:
https://rkk.jp/news/index.php?id=NS003202204071759500111
(The screenshot is from this.)
An article in Japanese about Ms. Fukuhara that is on the Kyushu Gakuen websited (Japanese-language only, unfortunately) is here:
https://kyugaku.ed.jp/hs/news/2021/05/2-24.php
And the website of the "Kumamoto Organization of Peace Ambassadors" (my unofficial translation of 平和大使協議会) can be found here:
http://3752906peace.org/index.html
Peace!

William Our friend Greg has provided a job listing:
Freedom English School, located in Kamitori and Suizenji in Kumamoto City, is seeking an English teacher for a full-time position starting in July.
Applicants should be comfortable teaching children of all ages, ranging from kindergarten age through to Junior High School students. Experience is preferred, but not essential for the correct candidate. Pre-employment and on-the-job training will be provided.
We offer a competitive financial package - details of which will be provided on request - and an excellent working environment. If you are interested in joining our growing teaching team and would like to find out more information, please contact Greg Howes at [email protected] or 096-322-7100.

William Today is "castle day" (4/6 - しろく- okay, ya gotta be a castle nerd to get this). Most who visit the castle only see the main keep and its adjacent Ninomaru park. Other areas, particularly to the southwest - head to 三の丸 and venture from there - are quiet, mostly unvisited, eternally evoking the grand aspirations of the castle's remains.
If you've time and knees (lotta stairs at varying angles), a walkaround is recommended.

William As a newbie to Kumamoto, I'd chosen a campsite near Yabe when an experienced resident cautioned: "If it rains, you will die." I moved camp.
Historical memory is of great value. Arroyos abound.
Science helps too. Kumamoto Prefecture has created a new "inundation estimation area map" based on the assumption of a "thousand year rainfall," which meteorologists suggest may occur quite more frequently. Shirakawa has been widened and fortified to deal with this, but lower-lying areas in Kumamoto are at the mercy of nature. Learn potential dangers near you and how to prepare and respond.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/614595

Kirk here, posting a photo I took almost a month ago near the Prefectural Building (Kencho). It is of a monument to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly's 2001 resolution (in March, before 9/11) calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the promotion of world peace. Personally, I strongly agree that nuclear weapons are accidents waiting to happen and that we human beings need to do what we can to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons before they are used again. I was slightly surprised, though, that Kumamoto's government had passed such a resolution. It's my impression that Kumamoto tends to be rather conservative (strong support for the LDP, etc.). As many of you probably know the national leadership of the LDP (including the current Prime Minister, who is from Hiroshima) have not been willing to take the risk of upsetting the United States by signing the UN's treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Here's a list of current signers:
https://treaties.unoda.org/t/tpnw
So, it seems that the Kumamoto government is more progressive on this issue. In 2009, the prefecture called upon the national government to put pressure on the U.S., China, and Russia (and other nuclear powers) to more toward the abolition of nuclear weapons:
https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/59552.pdf
Of course, current events make the need to get rid of nukes all that much clearer. I don't think the continuation of humanity can be trusted to the sanity of whatever hypermasculine character happens to be at the head of a country that has nuclear weapons.

Mainichi . . . er, I mean Kirk here with a followup to William's post about Tsujunkyo.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220325/p2a/00m/0na/045000c
And here's William's post:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/7075707569169281
168-yr-old Japanese aqueduct to open for visitors for 1st time since 2016 Kumamoto quake - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- Tsujun Bridge, a stone aqueduct in the southwestern Japan town of Yamato, Kumamoto Prefecture, is slated to reopen to the public on April

Informal Zoom Chat
A few weeks ago I asked Kirk if he would be interested in joining me in an experiment with Zoom.
I was curious to see what sort of positive outcome we could get by chatting with a few of Kumamoto-International's members.
Personally, I am negatively inclined to any so-called "social" media, and keep my presence there to a minimum.
However, when I lived in Sweden many years ago,I joined the newly started Swedish creation - Skype. In those days there was no such phrase as "social-media". Since Microsoft acquired Skype and then proceeded to kill it off, I eventually moved to Zoom.
There is a lot to be gained by communicating with people in a real-time face-to-face environment. There are less misunderstandings and any that do arise can be quickly clarified.
But I ramble on too much....
On Friday (8th), I will post the url to a sign-up page for the Informal Zoom Chat, which will take place on Sunday, 24th April at 11.00am.
Apart from myself and Kirk, there will only be 6 other places available.
If you are interested in taking part in the meeting, think carefully and make sure that you can attend on that date.
Then follow the url and register for the meeting.
If you are too late in registering, but would like to have a chance to attend a future meeting, contact me and I will add you to a waiting list.
Kirk and I are hoping that we will get to know six of Kumamoto-International's members better by giving us a chance to communicate on a more convivial level. It should be a taken as a chance to meet the person behind the posts!
Regards
Douglas

William Firefly season has arrived. To call the firefly a beetle (which it is) is to call the lowriders of my native Los Angeles cars (which they are): they've just been incredibly tweaked.
Warning: Content below may be disturbing to some readers
Firefly larvae are specialized predators which feed on other larvae, snails, and slugs. They have evolved mandibles which deliver digestive fluids directly to their tummies from their prey. Yikes. Slugs.
When mating season comes, the males must find females within the two or so days allotted to them so fly around flashing in bioluminescence "Let's have sex!," and the females, who generally don't fly, having found an appropriate place to lay eggs, respond with a gentle bioluminescent wink. They then get it on.
The larva require very clean water both for their own health and that of their prey. As such, firefly habitats have been greatly reduced. Kumamoto, famous for its spring water, remains a major habitat. Google "熊本蛍マップ" to find a likely sighting spot near you, or click on this link: https://kumamoto.guide/seasons/firefly/ . (One such place is the garden behind the city library at Ezuko).
Below: Firefly female; males hoping to get lucky.

Kirk with some information on the "Green Vision Expo" (in Japanese this is the くまもと花とみどりの博覧会 or くまもと花博 [Kumamoto Hanahaku] for short).
First, the English you see is from the following address:
https://kumaryokkafair.com/assets/ryokkafair_outline_en.pdf
It's nicely done but, unfortunately, it seems that this one pdf is all there is. So, if you want to take advantage of the free shuttles between the three areas (City Center, Waterside, and Machiyama [Tatsutayama]), you need to look at the Japanese website. The image you see is from an RKK segment that ran today. It seems that the city is spending 16 million yen (about $130,000 USD) to pay for free transportation that very few people are using. I can't translate all of the information on the Japanese page but I can tell you that there are schedules and information there in Japanese about how to get free rides (via taxis in some cases!!) between the venues. Check out the "access" (アクセス) information on this site:
https://kumaryokkafair.com
And, I learned about the free 20-minute taxi rides from downtown to Tatsutayama here:
https://rkk.jp/news/index.php?id=NS003202204041702090111
Finally, one thought about name confusion: I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few Japanese people who were asked about the "Green Vision Expo" failed to realize that it was the English term for "Hanahaku." Translations help us English speakers understand the gist of an event, even if we don't understand Japanese, but lack of a common event name (even in parentheses would be enough) can cause communication problems.

Kirk here feeling a bit surprised by the popularity of books on Kumamoto dialect (熊本弁). When I posted about "atozeki" here, it turned out to be one of my most popular posts:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/6666171880122854
It seems that lots of Japanese readers also have a fondness for Kumamoto dialect: This series is made up of three books!
Two of them can be found on Amazon but the third (in gold) is new and so you need to look on the Kumanichi site:
https://www.kumanichi-sv.co.jp/booksinfo/bookinfo/まっだしでヨカですか%E3%80%80熊本弁コージ苑ファイナ/
At least one other book about the dialect is available on Amazon and still others may have been published in the past.