Kumamoto International Archive

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

The Taiga Drama called Idaten (いだてん) has begun on NHK:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170404/p2a/00m/0na/005000c
"The first half of the drama will tell the story of marathon runner Shiso Kanakuri, who became one of the first Japanese nationals to participate in the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912. The second half will feature Masaji Tabata, the coach who laid the foundations of Japanese swimming and helped bring the games to Tokyo for the first time in 1964."
The first episode, which introduced some of the characters and ended with Kanakuri, who was from Kumamoto, running a fast marathon in Japan, was broadcast yesterday but next week (Sunday 8PM, Jan 13th, NHK Sogo) the story of Kanakuri's life begins in earnest. You'll have lots of Kumamoto-ben to listen to. ;)
William has favored us with many posts about Kanakuri:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1395643790509049
In this post, William tells us about Kanakuri's very, very long race in Stockholm and how the KK in Kumamoto's "KK Stadium" is in honor of Kanakuri.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1805840712822686
More about that very, very long race (54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds) and other fun facts.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1856555721084518
Filming in Kuamoto and the meaning of Idaten.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/2185660178174069
Kanakuri's birth place: Tamana.
Enjoy!
-- Summarized by Kirk
1964 Tokyo Olympics the theme of new NHK drama in 2019 - The Mainichi
1964 Tokyo Olympics the theme of new NHK drama in 2019 April 4, 2017 (Mainichi Japan) Japanese version From left, Sadao Abe, Nakamura Kankuro and Kankuro Kudo are seen at the press conference announcing the 2019 NHK historical drama at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, on April 3,...

Idaten (いだてん、韋駄天) was apparently a really fast deity in the Indian pantheon, comparable perhaps to Mercury/Nike. It was the nickname given to Kanakuri Shisou (金栗四三), known as the father of the Japanese marathon.
Idaten is also the name of the current Taiga Drama (NHK, Sunday, 20:00 - 21:00), which took up his story beginning yesterday. Coincidentally, he is from Nagomi, Kumamoto, which suffered from an earthquake a few days previous. You'll also recognize him as the logo of Glico products (see below, and his famous sign at Dotonbori in Osaka) and the origin of "KK" from "KK Wing." His story is fascinating. You can read it here to anticipate the series. - William https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shizo_Kanakuri

The other day, I wrote a bit about how a tsunami that hit Kumamoto after an eruption of the Mount Unzen in 1792 was discussed in the Japanese media as a previous example of the kind of tsunami that occurred in Indonesia:
https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/The-Big-Wave/9781453263570
Well, today I happened across some information about how a novel by Pearl Buck was based on that story. According to the following Japanese website, Ms. Buck heard about what happened in Shimabara and Kumamoto on a visit to Nagasaki and that led to write her book "The Big Wave" (Japanese text quote below).
https://rnavi.ndl.go.jp/kaleido/entry/82.php
By the way, I wondered if this book by Pearl Buck might have been responsible for the introduction of the word tsunami into English but a little Googling revealed that that honor is sometimes given to another person with connections to Kumamoto: Lafcadio Hearn (though there was another person who used "tsunami" in English a year earlier):
"The etymology sources I checked listed the earliest English usage of tsunami as being in 1897 when Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, a writer best known for his books about Japan, used it in Gleanings from Buddha Fields. "
https://grammarpartyblog.com/2011/03/22/tsunami-an-etymological-perspective/
Alas, the Kumamoto connections seem to end with Hearn's previous residence in Kumamoto -- he was not in Kumamoto when the book was published and the tsunami he wrote about occurred in northern Japan.
By the way, you can download the text of Gleanings from Buddha Fields for free on the internet -- it's in the public domain.
-- Kirk
「パール・バックはノーベル文学賞を受賞したアメリカの文学者です。昭和2年の夏に南京事件のほとぼりが冷めるまで中国を離れ、長崎県の雲仙に数カ月間滞在しました。その時に島原大変肥後迷惑の話を聞いて、The Big Wave（1947年）という子供向けの物語を書いたのではないかと言われています。」
The Big Wave

Yesterday I posted about an international manga festival that is held in Kumamoto:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/2338104969596255?tn=-R
Actually, it was this newspaper article that led me, indirectly, to that information. If you're interested in this newspaper article you should also take a look at yesterday's post, if you haven't already.
-- Kirk
Base for fostering manga artists set up in Kumamoto
KUMAMOTO — Nobuhiko Horie, 63, who was formerly the editor-in-chief of Shukan Shonen Jump, a weekly manga magazine for boys, has recently established a base to foster new manga artists in Kumamoto, the city from which he hails.

Kumanichi reports on the opening of "oyster huts" in the Ashikita-Minamata region. These are not where oysters lodge while out and about but where humans grill them over charcoal (if you're an oyster reading this, pay attention). The price is 1,500 yen per kilo, and other items such as crab are on the menu.
The article notes that the region began cultivating oysters in 2013 but gives no background, so here it is. In the 1930s, fishermen from Oregon were looking for a suitable oyster to cultivate and settled on a strain from Minamata, a small, hardy, sweet strain now known in the US as the "kumamoto oyster." In the 1960s, due to over-harvesting and pollution, the strain went extinct in Japan. In 2013, oyster seeds (that's what they call 'em) were repatriated from Oregon to the Yatsushiro Sea and had reached sufficient size from last year for human munching.
Several such hut clusters exist. Drive or take the Orange Railway. - William
濃厚な味、八代海の幸　津奈木漁協などカキ小屋開設 - 熊本日日新聞｜ This Kiji
八代海に臨む「オイスターバル」でカキを焼く来場者＝津奈木町　熊本県水俣・芦北地域で冬恒例となっているカキ小屋が５日、津奈木、芦北の両町を皮切りに営業を始めた。土・日曜、祝日に４月ごろまで続く。　同地.....

This article comments on the Shinkansen ride between Kumamoto and Fukuoka. I would agree that it's a very comfortable (and, of course, speedy) way to travel. When I travel to Tokyo, I often go by Shinkansen if I can. The ride between Kumamoto and Fukuoka is particularly good.
-- Kirk
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a high-speed train - Khmer Times
Van Roeun got on a high-speed train in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture and was amazed at the precision, Japanese practicality and safety.

Sorry for the gruesome news but I thought those of you in the Yatsushiro area might want to know. The last line . . . "Police are treating the case as a suicide or the result of foul play or an accident" . . . seems to be so broad as to be meaningless. The sentence would make more sense if it read "At this point, the police have no idea whether it was a suicide, homicide, or an accident of some kind." -- Kirk
Kumamoto: Charred corpse found on vacant land | TokyoReporter
Kumamoto Prefectural Police have launched an investigation after a charred corpse was found in Yatsushiro City on Friday

A note from the Well, Ya Learn Something New Everyday Desk: turns out there are two recognized volcanic belts in Kyushu: that running through the center of the island, called the Kirishima Belt, and that running along the west coast, called the Hakuzan Belt. Aso is clearly a creation of the former, but the origin of Unzen and Kimpo is more obscure. Interaction between the belts is possible. Addendum: there was a M3.1 in Nagomi again at around 18:30 tonight. - William

Manga lovers!
This may have been mentioned on this page before but I was either unaware or had forgotten that Kumamoto is the home of an international manga festival. Here's the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/kkmangasai/
And here's the page for the 2018 winners:
https://www.manga-audition.com/smaex3-2018award/
If you would like to submit an entry for the 2019 award, here's the site:
https://www.manga-audition.com/sma11-silent-manga-audition-round-eleven-2019-march/
-- Kirk
http://smacmag.net/v/smaex3/to-the-sky-by-zevania-and-nattorin/?lang=en
To The Sky | SMA-EX3 Kumamoto Winners

The southern tippy-toe of Kyushu had an M4.2 earthquake at around 15:30 today. Two interesting points: it was very deep, 110KM, compared with the more common shallow quakes of 10KM we usually get; and it was on the volcanic belt that arcs southwest - northeast, bisecting our island. No idea if there's any relation to the recent Nagomi quake, but stay on your tippy-toes for a bit just in case. - William

Question for readers: A friend has both foreign and international drivers licenses but wants some practice before venturing out on Japanese roads (good idea!). Does any of our readers have recommendations of where and how this can be done? - William

Some Kumamoto Castle news (including a video) from late last year:
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201812280032.html
-- Kirk
Kumamoto Castle’s fortified curved stone walls rise again：The Asahi Shimbun
KUMAMOTO--Curved stone walls at Kumamoto Castle that once thwarted enemy attackers but fell victim t

Looks like disasters make the birth of a boy less likely than that of a girl, including in Kumamoto:
"A study published in August this year by Misao Fukuda at M&K Health Institute in Kariya, Hyogo, looked at births in areas hit by events that caused extreme stress. They included Hyogo Prefecture, after the Kobe earthquake of 1995; Tohoku, after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daichii power plant; and Kumamoto Prefecture, after the 2016 earthquakes. It turns out that nine months after such disasters, the proportion of male babies born in those prefectures dropped by 6 to 14 percent.
What’s going on here? Perhaps sperm carrying the Y chromosome are more vulnerable to stress, or the male embryos themselves are more vulnerable. No one knows the answer. We also don’t know why, by the way, that even under normal conditions there is an inequality in the number of babies born of each sex: on average 105 boys are born for every 100 girls."
-- Kirk
2018 in science in Japan: Climate change, space exploration and water bears | The Japan Times
In casting an eye back over memorable science and environment stories from Japan in 2018, it is impossible to ignore the extreme weather that hit the count

We got a big scare with the quake last night. Fortunately, however, its direct impact was not as severe as the "level 6 lower" shindo level seemed to indicate. Nonetheless, NHK spend a lot of air time (way over an hour) providing continuous coverage (which I think was mostly national). In this case, it turned out to be overkill, but I support the "when in doubt, err on the side of caution" approach.
Ultimately, it seems like the people who suffered the most as a result of the quake this time were those who depended on the Shinkansen to travel between Fukuoka and Kumamoto.
Of course, this quake could wind up being a prequel to a more serious one -- as happened in 2016. So, it's better not to assume that we have heard the last from Mother Nature in regard to this matter. I'm relieved, though, that last night, at least, it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
-- Kirk
No deaths, no houses toppled from big quake in Kumamoto：The Asahi Shimbun
KUMAMOTO--No fatalities, one injury and only minor damage to buildings were reported in a strong ear

Joe Tomei here, this is a translation of an announcement I received concerning the recent earthquake, just in case anyone is wondering
——-
Regarding the earthquake occurred on 1/3 at kumamoto pref.
There are no damage report from hotels and other tourism facilities.
Kyushi express way and other transportation ( bus train air) are operating normally.

This for anyone in the Nagomi area.

Has anyone signed up for the Kumamoto International Foundation's (or the International Center's) "Disaster and emergency e-mail information" service? Actually, I attended planning sessions about this so I should know about it but I neglected to sign up in advance. Now, when I go to the foundation's web page, I can't figure out how to sign up:
http://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/default_e.asp
If any of you signed up earlier and are receiving information about the most recent quake, could you please share it here? Thanks!
-- Kirk

Here's an English-language newspaper report. I'll post links to other articles as comments to this post.
-- Kirk
Powerful earthquake jolts Kumamoto in southwestern Japan - The Mainichi
TOKYO -- A strong earthquake jolted Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan on Jan. 3, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Kumamoto International participate Atsuko Furue shared the following information for people near the epicenter of the quake:
"和水町防災連絡
自主防災避難所を中央公民館(旧菊水町)と三加和公民館(旧三加和町)を解放されました。
For victims who wants to escape from earthquake in Nagomi town.
Now 2 Evacuation centers are opened
One is at Tyuou Kouminkan at Kikusui area,
One is at Mikawa Kouminkan at Mikawa area."
Thanks Atsuko! You're ahead of the Nagomi Town website. I suspect that they are sending information out via e-mail but I think updating the website is also important at times like this because not everyone has signed up for e-mail notifications in advance.
-- Kirk
http://www.town.nagomi.lg.jp/kinkyu/pub/Default.aspx?c_id=13

From the Kumamoto International Desk of Rattling (moved a few centimeters to the south due to recent events): an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale and six on the Japanese scale occurred with its epicenter at Nagomi-machi, in northern Kumamoto. That's a rather strange place for a quake and makes me worry about tectonic activity moving under the Ariake Sea north.
Emergency services are calling for care as this may be a preshock. In particular, secure items which may cause fire or which may fall on your head. - William