Kumamoto International Archive

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

Kirk here an update on Dr. HASUDA Takeshi's efforts to prevent infant abandonment and some genealogical information about him. First, the news:
Japanese government stays silent on legality of confidential births
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/.../kumamoto-confidential.../
As there is a risk that Dr. Hasuda might be held legally responsible for not following current Japanese law regarding the registry of births, he submitted an inquiry to the Ministry of Justice about "whether submitting a birth notification without the mother's name would violate the Penal Code." But, the government refused to give a clear answer. In effect, they said "we might arrest you or we might not. Have a nice day!" The Kumamoto city government is supporting Dr. Hasuda, but I don't know how much that will help if the government decides to charge him with a crime. I guess this is the kind of thing people have in mind when they say "No good deed goes unpunished."
Now, here's some genealogy that I think is pretty darn interesting. I was prompted to look into Dr. Hasuda's family background because Anett mentioned that there are lots of Babyklappe (baby hatches) in Germany but only this one in Japan. I was able to confirm that Dr. Hasuda's father, Dr. HASUDA Taiji, visited various Babyklappe in Germany in 2003, long before beginning his baby hatch here in Kumamoto in 2007:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/蓮田太二
And then, somehow (I'm not really sure how myself), I stumbled upon the Wikipedia page of Dr. HASUDA Taiji's father (the grandfather of the current head of the hospital), HASUDA Zenmei. During his time, Grandpa Zenmei was even more well known than his progeny and was a quite a character, it seems. Here are some highlights:
* his father owned a sword that once belonged to KATO Kiyomasa
* was a big fan of the Shinpu rebellion that occurred in Kumamoto (modern right-wing nuts tend to idolize participants in this radical uprising)
* wrote a ton of books (amazingly prolific)
* was one of the first to recognize the literary talent of a young MISHIMA Yukio
* killed his commander when he attempted to surrender at the end of WWII and then committed suicide
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/蓮田善明#家族・親族
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasuda_Zenmei
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinpūren_rebellion
One thing I see that Grandpa Zenmei had in common with his son Taiji was the courage of his convictions. Zenmei took decisive, if ill-conceived, action against his commander and Taiji was willing to stand alone to do what he felt needed to be done. But, despite that common thread, it's the differences that surprised me and prompted me to put this post together.
I wish I had a little pot of gold for those of you who have read this far. I know from experience that long posts such as this one don't get many eyeballs but I couldn't resist sharing what I learned today. Thanks for reading!

William Reading the inestimable Mark Twain (this time, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court,") it occurred to me that the book might be available online. Sure enough, it is, at Gutenberg.org: https://gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm
Twain was a periplectic guy. He traveled and lived across the country, particularly in the "west" (when the "west" meant anything to the west of the Ohio river), and the characters he met had great influence on his works. In this novel, characteristics of gender, educational level, social status and wealth embody each character. The reason I am bringing this up on this page is that a read gives insight into the rubric with which Japanese - Kumamotoites - might view non-Japanese (and vice-versa). It is worth a read - and it's free! (though non-native English speakers will find his "local" dialects - those of a 19th C. New Englander and a 9th C. Englishwoman - difficult to parse).
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE, COMPLETE, By Mark Twain
The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the Eng...

William　Dominos Pizza has a shop around the corner from my house. They have an annoying practice of stuffing my mailbox with "Half Price!" advertising whenever cruising by. But an angle occurred to me: If I brought in TWO half-price coupons, shouldn't the pizza be free?
So I gave it a try. The guy at the counter eventually judged the request above his pay grade so called for his manager, and after I had slowly and patiently explained the loophole for the third time, he slowly shook his head and told me that's not how it works.
I am simply posting this in case our readers have a similar experience with the same or different result, in which case, please let us know.

Hi friends, Atsuko here.
It's cold every day, but spring is just around the corner.
It's time of NOYAKI for Aso to prepare for spring.
The beautiful grasslands of Aso are protected by wildfire. The bracken, Warabi sprout, after the wild fires are also my favorite spring flavor.
(๑˃ᴗ˂)و
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Aso City has announced the schedule for wild fires.
Aso City HP
https://www.city.aso.kumamoto.jp/
Schedule of wild fires
《Aso foot area (around Yonezuka, etc.)
Date and time
Sunday, February 27, 2022
From 9:00 a.m.
Preliminary date
March 6 (Sunday)
March 13 (Sunday)
March 13 (Sunday) ・March 20 (Sunday)
March 21 (Monday, National Holiday)
March 27 (Sunday)
North Outer Rim Area (Daikanbong Area)
Date and time
March 6, 2022 (Sunday)
From 9:00 a.m.
Preliminary day
March 13 (Sunday)
March 20 (Sunday)
March 21 (Monday, National Holiday)
March 27 (Sunday)
Prohibited items
Entry into the wilderness
(It is dangerous. You will get caught in the fire.)
Parking your car on the road
(It is dangerous. You may get caught in the fire.)
Parking and stopping on the road
(It may obstruct the traffic and cause an accident.)
Please note that
The time for lighting the fire differs depending on the pastoral association.
If the weather is bad, the event will be postponed to the above date.
(Depending on the wind direction, flames may approach and melt or burn your car.)
Please follow the instructions of security guards or local wildland firefighters as they may restrict traffic.
For inquiries, please contact
Agricultural Policy Division, Economic Department, Aso City
TEL 0967-22-3274
I hope that the fire will be finished safely.

William An update to Kirk's post regarding Jikei Hospital, which continues its lead in dragging Japanese sexual and reproductive health issues into the 21st C. At issue is the "shussan todoke" (出生届, report of birth), which by law must list at least on parent in order for a child to be registered as a Japanese citizen under the koseki (戸籍) law - more here about that: https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00385/.)
To those familiar with the biology of reproduction, the maternity of a child is quite more easily ascertained than the paternity. As such, children born with either uncertain or unstated paternity are included only on the mother's koseki - and, once listed, the fact that that woman has had a child of unknown paternity can only be erased by adoption of a later male spouse. This info is available to anyone willing to cough up a fee at city hall for a copy.
This not only grossly violates rights of the mother; it also does that of the child, as those with no registered paternity often find their opportunities restricted. Furthermore, children with no parental registry may even have their right to education curtailed.
What Jiseki Hospital has done is to supply a certificate of birth with the names of both parents blank. The ball is now in the hands of prefectural officials - and ultimately the courts - to determine whether this is legal, and, if not, whether they have determined the child to be stateless or whether the law should be rectified.
(This is rather a complicated topic, and if I have errored in my comprehension, please inform me.) Link to Kumanichi article and image of Jikei Hospital: https://kumanichi.com/articles/555437

Kirk here with some news on Jikei Hospital's continuing efforts to prevent tragic cases of infant abandonment. It you are unfamiliar with the background of Jikei Hospital's "baby hatch" (the only such system in Japan), please see the following article:
https://metropolisjapan.com/the-controversy-of-japans-baby-hatch/
To understand the background of the latest news, it might be best to start with this quote that comes toward the end of the Asahi article:
"In December last year, a teenage girl gave birth at the hospital, after telling it that she wanted to give birth anonymously.
She was released from the hospital after disclosing her identity to a staff member and preparing a document for a special adoption, on the promise that her baby would be registered without her name listed."
The decision made by Kumamoto's city government was occasioned by this baby's birth and the decision of the mother not to acknowledge the birth publicly.
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14544529
Kumamoto to allow hospital’s confidential birth system | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
KUMAMOTO--The city government here has decided to allow Jikei Hospital to proceed with its confidential birth system, which lets a baby be registered without the mother's name.

Kirk here with a clam scam update. When I posted about this issue earlier, I wrote that "this was all a well-known secret until TBS quite publicly spilled the beans":
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/6817247441681963
(If you missed it, this post contains a link to the original expose video [in Japanese] that lit the fuse of the current controversy.)
This article is confirmation of the "well-known secret" aspect of the current scandal.
Many years ago I read a book by a guy named Karel van Wolferen called "The Enigma of Japanese Power." One of the things he wrote was that people in the media are often well aware of issues that are not being reported but, for whatever reason, they agree not to report about these matters to the general public. Then, when some event or some brave media outlet brings some such matter to the attention of the public, a media frenzy ensues where everyone reports on it as though they are learning about it for the first time.
In this sense, I'm interested in this issue as much for what it says about the media (and, or course, government) in Japan as for what it teaches us about food safety and the environment.
Kumamoto fishermen knew of fake 'Japanese clam' imports for decades - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- Local fishermen here say that it was long and widely known that Chinese and South Korean littleneck clams were being imported and sold in

William When Kato Kiyomasa was summoned from his native Aichi prefecture to become Lord of Kumamoto, he took umbrage at its kanji - 隈本 - which literally means "foot of the hinterlands," so rewrote it with a homonym, 熊本, which means "origin of bears," despite the fact that no bears live in Kumamoto. But at least that gave rise to Kumamon.
A reference of relative bear sizes, none of which live in Kumamoto:

William Pyroclastic flow (火砕流-かさいりゅう) is something you don't want to notice, because if you notice it, you'll likely be soon dead. Think about the charcoal from your barbecue spreading over a few hundred kilometers.
I'm not saying it's gonna happen soon, but I'm not saying that it's not, either. But when it does, there's really nothing you can do. Just ask the people from Pompei.

William It's February, the saddest month of the year but, on the bright side, is also the shortest. Of botanical note in this blighted month is the tsubaki (camellia, or 椿 or 山茶花 or 玉椿 - tsubaki, or sazanka - the central one: "mountain tea flower," is nice - yes: the leaves infused in water are drinkable). Their splayed flowers give access to birds to drink their nectar, necessary as bees hibernate during this time, so pollenization is an issue. The "Higo tsubaki" is world-recognized as a particular strain. A garden just below Ninomaru Park at the castle is devoted to the plant. Now is the time to visit.
https://castle.kumamoto-guide.jp/galleries/detail/789
https://flower-k.at.webry.info/200701/article_19.html

William As Jay Onyskin has done, do.

William I found a meteorite. Seriously: It is a meteorite. What should I do with it?

Carlton. Today marks the acceptance for the 3rd tranche of reservations for Covid booster shots in Kumamoto. Those eligible will be age 65 or older who received their 2nd shots before July 21, 2021 or those under 65 who got their 2nd jabs up to and including June 27, '21. If you have not received a "ticket" or voucher from the government authorizing you to get a shot you are out of luck to the best of my knowledge.
I was part of the 2nd group and, after going on-line at the vaccination website last week, made a reservation and received my shot 4 days ago. It was a Pfizer dose, equal in volume to the first 2 shots, and I have had no side effects to date apart from the temporary sore shoulder where I was stabbed by the needle.
The clinic I went to was entirely unbusy and probably only doled out about a dozen shots for that day. That seems to be the case for all the small clinics and hospitals involved in this project. Kumamoto continues its steady and measured pace of distribution.
I heard that there may be a or a few mass vaccination sites with Moderna medication opening from February 14 in order to speed up the process. I hope so since I imagine many people are getting rather impatient.

William How the Kumamoto Clamshell Scam unfolds is interesting to observe. As suspected, clams originating in other Asian countries are temporarily planted in Ariake sea and when harvested are then claimed to originate from that area.
As a Californian, I can understand the dilemma. California makes excellent sparkling wine that cannot be termed "Champagne" is it is not from the Champagne region of France; thus, it is termed "sparkling wine" or "cava" though it is really the same thing (and saves you money!) So the question is: when is a clam from Ariake termed to be actually from Ariake, and how much is that distinguishment worth? (The graph regarding who flows what to whom reminds me of the meth flow from my home state - just a reminder that it could be quite worse.)
https://kumanichi.com/articles/549507

William A magical point arises when the westward setting sun alights the westward facing windows with majestic goldenness. Our friend Kubota-san has provided us with such an image (but you really had to be there!)

William A "gomaki" (護摩木) is not something you're likely to confront in everyday life: it's that little stick upon which Shinto priests inscribe prayers and promptly burn in the belief that said prayer will take the express elevator to heaven (but at least you don't have to swallow it, as Catholics must do with the offering).
Aso Shrine in Ichinomiyamachi yesterday conducted this festival. Questions of belief are irrelevant here. What is is the tradition of ancestors and subsequent respect.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/549326

Fiona here with a recommendation for a really good pizza place in Kikuyo. Horikawa Pizza serves authentic Italian pizza (the chef trained in Naples) and offers indoor and outdoor seating as well as takeaway service. It's open for lunch (11am to 3pm) and dinner (6pm to 9pm), closed on Tuesdays. There's ample parking and it's also close to Sanrigi station.
https://horikawapizza.com/

William Tomochi （砥用) might be considered a "town" were it not in perpetual peril of sliding down the hill into Midori Kawa, which knives through as a river does impatient with better places to go. Tomochi embodies that kind of feeling akin to when you've tilted your chair back to the point where you're going to fall backwards but somehow don't and retain that position for a thousand years. Tomochi is more of a thing of the mind than it is an address. There is, to say, no "there" there, a land in which the concept of "flat" remains completely foreign, more of a concept than a location. My wife's maternal side hails from Yabe, a basin offering bounteous agricultural opportunities, and Yabe people have long looked down on her paternal side's Tomochi people, both literally and figuratively (and Yabe people have long learned to figurate everything). Tomochi is, though, a hidden treasure, harboring many stone bridges and trailheads of paths heading out to Kyushu hinterlands more hinterlandish than itself. Buses headed out that way depart from Kotsu Center. Spring, when the trees are blossoming, is a nice time to visit. (My wife's mother was said to have remarked every time she saw the "aka bus" heading out of town how lonely she was for her homeland.)　http://misato.town/footpath.html?id=6perpetuall

Kirk here with a little note on the Winter Olympics. I'll be following Kumamoto's own Miyabi Onitsuka -- the amazing snowboarder this southern prefecture has produced. Her first event is tomorrow (Saturday). See the attached images for the schedule.
Here's a blurb about her:
--- start quote ---
Took up snowboarding when she was five at an indoor practice field (Alts Bandai Snow Park), in Fukuoka City, Japan, winning her first domestic competition in the first grade. Signed her first sponsorship deal at seven. In 2017, she begged the park operators (Hoshino Resorts), to make a world-class training slope where she could base herself - and they did, calling it "Miyabi Park." (nitrosnowboards.com; olympics.com, 22 Nov 2021)
--- end quote
Source: https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/en/results/snowboard/athlete-profile-n1043812-miyabi-onitsuka.htm

William A note from the Kumamoto International Desk of Kanji At Which Even Native Japanese Through Hands: This is the year of the tiger. One would think it would simply be rendered 虎、but we aren't so lucky. A kanji often used is lifted from the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten of around 1005-07 AD: "寅," pronounced the same, "tora." Impress your friends with this knowledge.
https://japanknowledge.com/articles/blognihongo/entry.html?entryid=491