Kumamoto International Archive

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

Baseball holds little attraction for me unless it's Koshien, but I like my hometown teams, the Dodgers and the Angles. There is no race there, just talent, as in the two Mexican pitchers, Víctor González, a Nayarit native, and Julio Urías, originally from Sinalo, show. Here's an article about how Japanese native Shohei Ohtani learned MLB from comic books. - William
Hernández: How a comic book character influenced Shohei Ohtani's two-way dominance
Shohei Ohtani's cartoon-like feats for the Angels have stunned the baseball world, but it's very similar to the comic book world that influenced him.

Y'know when you've forgotten "my bag" and have purchased more than you can stuff in your pockets but are loathe to pay the 5円 for a bag that will contribute to the garbage cycle? Some stores now offer city-approved garbage bags as a way to finagle yourself out of this quandary (and finagling oneself out of quandaries is what life is all about). - William https://kumanichi.com/articles/238545

Our friend Oyama-san had posted on my private feed about what it was like to live in wartime, meatless Japan. Without comment, I'd like to copypaste what he'd written. It is an education. - William
People who could get peasants and ducks ate them, then they had to hunt in the mountain area depending on where they lived. People who possessed horses or cows for doing agriculture could eat them if they tried to. But they should have been a treasure or the way to live on with. That must have been a rare case, I guess. Of course, people live near the sea could eat raw fish, but corned fish was available even in the mountain area. But we didn’t grow mammals just for eating. Growing mammals for food could come out of Japan after Edo era. In the countryside of Japan, even my parents house, had several chickens for their eggs, and sometimes such as neighbors party held once a year or two when I was only a child. It was about fifty years ago. Monks couldn’t eat mammals, I heard, so they pretended rabbits were a kind of birds and counted them like birds and made it a excuse to eat rabbits. Sometimes the Japanese are blamed for eating whales or horses, but I think nobody can blame others for their cultures on eating. Each has their own situations, he or she was or is trying to live his or her life with given situation.

Hi-I’ve been absent on here for quite awhile but it seems that my profile is being used to edit or erase other people’s comments on Kumamoto International. Hopefully this situation will be fixed and the moderator in charge can take actual responsibility in what people can say or do on this site. Also that moderator should explain to those certain folk why their comments were removed.-Thanks John Onyskin

I know you're sad. I feel your pain. The cause is that we can't find sour cream. Here is a recipe for making something akin - William
Mexican Crema Recipe – A Couple Cooks
Mexican crema is a thickened cream for dolloping over tacos and soups! Creamy and slightly tangy, it's easy to make at home!

Hi friends.
For me, KUMADAI OG, it's the ポプラ that the convenience store placed near Kumamoto university.
I met lots KUMADAI friends in front of POPURA. I also used the store as meeting place to pick international friends up.
POPURA will change but doesn't disappear!
For Kumadai students, POPURA is very famous convenience store but I don't know other POPURA well.
It's so sorry red POPURA has disappeared but so nice new system POPURA still exists!!ーAtsuko.(งᐛ )ง

Hi Joe Tomei here on a bit more serious note than my usual about adopting a pet. If interested, please contact using the information given in the last paragraph.
====
Hi Kumamoto-I Community,
My family and I will be moving abroad while I attend graduate school, and we are actively looking for animal lovers who would be interested in adopting our pets. We have a pair of cats and freshwater fish.
Cat 1: Ta-chan (ターちゃん)
Male mixed silver tabby adopted from a shelter. About six years old. Enjoys chin pets, sunbathing, hiding in boxes, and playing with anything resembling string. He is very much not a lap cat, but he will always follow us around the house and sometimes ask for pets when he's in the mood. My wife is very experienced with cats, but I had never taken care of a cat before we took him in. His personality and lifestyle rhythm are just right for me, but the people at the shelter did mention that he sometimes gave visitors the impression he was antisocial.
Cat 2: Ten-chan (テンちゃん)
Male mixed brown tabby adopted from the same shelter. Former stray. About four years old. Enjoys head and tummy pets, playing with balls and disposable chopsticks, exploring, and any kind of "skinship". If a lap is open or if there is space on the bed, he will jump on and snuggle. He hates getting his claws clipped and can be a kicker when he gets too excited, so I've had my fair share of scratches. However, he is very sociable and cuddly. His personality was perfect for my wife, but she's also very experienced with cats.
It has been much easier to take care of the two cats together than it was taking care of just Ta-chan. They play with each other, sleep together, and groom each other, so it's usually just a matter of providing food and water and cleaning the litterbox. We don't want to separate the couple, so we would highly prefer they both go with the same person.
Fish: 60cm x 45cm x 40cm Planted freshwater community tank with livebearing mixed platies and mixed mollies, pygmy corydoras, panda corydoras, black phantom tetras, red phantom tetras, and glass catfish. The livebearers are in their third generation. Most of these fish are very hardy and great for beginners, but the panda corys can be a little sensitive to environmental changes. Overall, it's very easy to take care of the tank after familiarizing yourself with the routine. We will provide everything needed including food, filter, heater, light, and water chemicals.
If you're interested in adopting our cats, fish, or both(!), please reach out to me on Facebook Messenger or send an email to [email protected]. We'll provide everything you need to get started and can drive anywhere in the prefecture. We just want to make sure they have a loving home. If it's not too much trouble, please sure this with anyone else you know who may be interested.
- Jeremy

"In the great journal of things happening under the sun..." - thus begins Lincoln's Lyceum Address. We encourage all of our readers to suggest or submit ideas that would help the greater community. Please do so directly or, if not possible, PM us, and we'll post. - William
Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address
William Herndon, who would become Lincoln's law partner in 1844, describes the event this way: "we had a society in Springfield, which contained and commanded all the culture and talent of the place. Unlike the other one its meetings were public, and reflected great credit on the community ... The s...

Shino shrines are a bit tricky for non-Japanese as they tend to be very nationalistic (read: racist). The Kato Shrine (加藤神社), which used to be behind what is now the baseball stadium until it was moved into the castle grounds during the Meiji era, is celebrating its 150th anniversary there. Attend and be shunned. - William https://kumanichi.com/articles/238592

Hi friends.
It's nice weather today, tonight.
Can you see the beautiful moon?
If the weather will be fine on 26th May, you can enjoy total lunar eclipse.
Partial lunar eclipse will start from 6:45 pm. Partial lunar eclipse will rise up from East in evening.
Total lunar eclipse will be from 8:09pm to 8:28pm. 8:19pm is maximum.The moon is super moon, biggest one in this year.
Japanese have TUKIMI culture. I love TUKIMI more than HANAMI.If the weather will be good, it's so nice season to enjoy moon light, drink in the moon light, go for a walk under the moon light.
For me, especially, on that day, it's my elder daughter's wonderful 20th Birthday!
Hoping you also enjoy it with your closely family, closely friends.ーAtsuko(๑˃ᴗ˂)و♡

Kumamoto is often described as “Mori no Miyako (森の都), or Capital of Forest”. When you see trees at a park or a school, have you thought about people who actually planted them?
In the late 19th century, there was a person who started a project to plant trees all around Kumamoto aiming at getting back nature. His name is Yoshio Kawakita (河喜多義男) who was born in Kikuyo Town.
Back then, many parts of Kumamoto were burned down after Seinan civil war in 1877. It is said that when Lafcadio Hearn, who is famous for his work "KWAIDAN (怪談)", came to Kumamoto in 1891, he said Kumamoto didn't have much trees and it was like a desert.
Kawakita donated his fortune and started to plant trees. He started this work not just because he wanted to bring nature back but also he wanted to make resources in Kumamoto.
Check the link below and get to know more about his stories.
- Chieko

In college, I double-majored in economics and Asian studies, so I was a bit busy. In my senior year, the dean notified me that if I didn't take a science class, I couldn't graduate, so I enrolled in geology. As life has it, turns out to be a life-long hobby. Japan is a paradise for geologists. Look around you and ask: Why are these hills bent? Where do these rocks come from? (3 Types of Rock: Igneous, Sedimentary & Metamorphic). There are huge boulders in places where they shouldn't be - they must have been spit out of the volcano long ago as volcanic ejecta. Just look around you and notice. Kumamoto is a paradise for geologists. - William

There's a hill next to the Athletic Park (運動公園) at the base of which is one of those dilapidated hotels from the Showa Era. I like dilapidated hotels - otherwise, I will camp. It barely survived on groups of students gathering for athletic events, but those have dried up during the pandemic, so it has given up its last breath and will close. That is too bad - there are few facilities like it in Kumamoto, especially given its location. I wonder if the city government might consider taking it over and incorporating it into the park. - William https://kumanichi.com/articles/237363

Yesterday's rain was quite intense in Ashikita and Minamata, as well as other parts of Kumamoto. This TV report shows areas where fields were inundated and some damage occurred. Usually, heavy rains don't come this early in the year. I'm not exactly sure what records were set but the rains are being described as "record setting" (kirokuteki). The Yahoo link below (also with video) that describes the rain in that way. -- Kirk
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/56b264cb9201de049643896a9c52606c07e76c52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHm66v-dTbI
冠水・避難指示も九州で記録的大雨　西・東日本も警戒へ
梅雨前線の活動が活発化し、九州を中心に大雨が降っていて、熊本の一部地域に避難指示が出されている。20日午後から21日にかけて、四国や東海でも大雨のおそれがあり、警戒が必要。九州の一部では19日夜から雨が降り続...

Just one other post about citrus: etymologists aren't quite sure where the word comes from, but apparently its origins may have had nothing to do with oranges (whose origin is similarly lost in the fog of linguistic history but is believed to have derived from Sankrit, which is why nothing rhymes with it). From etymonline: "from the Modern Latin genus name, from Latin citrus "citron tree," the name of an African tree with aromatic wood and lemon-like fruit, the first citrus fruit to become available in the West. The name, like the tree, is probably of Asiatic origin [OED] or from a lost non-IE Mediterranean language. But others trace it to Greek kedros "cedar," perhaps via Etruscan." Next time one of your friends disparages Etruscans at a drinking party, throw this in their face. - William

I always forget the word for "citrus" in Japanese: 柑橘類 (kankitsurui). Not like it's a really difficult word, but try putting them on a table and distinguish them in a test. All citrus is native to Asia, and Kumamoto in particular is famous for it, so much so that Sawako, my wife, frequently brings citrus home that I can't identify. "What is that?" I ask, and she answers, "Some kind of citrus." (She doesn't know either.) Here's a guide. - William

For those thinking today may not be particularly special….
It is the birthday of my younger brother.
And if that isn’t enough please note that tonight at precisely
9:21:21pm
it will be the 21st second
of the 21st minute
of the 21st hour
of the 21st day
of the 21st week
of the 21st year
of the 21st century.
Let the good times roll. —CM

Kumanichi reports on what disrupted my Yatsushiro class yesterday: a road paralleling a river washed out, taking two cars with it in Kawadake (川嶽). Car occupants were hospitalized out of caution and are apparently okay. But the article contained this awesome kanji: 嶽 - so I had to look it up. Apparently, it simply means "cliff" and is related to the more commonly used 岳. If you plan to take a road containing that kanji, you might consider a different route. - William https://kumanichi.com/articles/237082

A crucial factor for parents of schoolchildren is the 連絡網 (renrakumo - phone tree), a contact information list handed out at the beginning of the school year with a tree so that one person contacted can contact the subsequent person and word can get out without some poor, beleaguered school official charged with contacting everyone alone. If there is a break in the chain, one continues to the subsequent contact. Starting teaching at a high school, I found a list of the 連絡網 for teachers on my desk and was relieved to find myself as the final link: the buck stops with me. 😎 - William

Kirk here with a news item about local vaccinations.
Kumamoto OKs local officials to get vaccine shots if canceled : The Asahi Shimbun
KUMAMOTO--To justify getting COVID-19 shots ahead of the elderly or medical personnel, Kumamoto offi