Kumamoto International Archive

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

Long ago, there was a Buddhist festival known as "Houjyoue"「放生会、ほうじょうえ」, in which captive animals were released into the wild (and usually eventually wandered home, as domestic animals do). Fujisaki Hachiman Shrine 「藤崎八旛宮秋季例大祭、ふじさきはちまんぐう」 was the main site for this in Kumamoto. Riding on this existing festival, Kato Kyomasa in around 1598 brought a number of his samurai to the shrine to celebrate their safe return from the invasion of Korea, and thus, "boshita" was born. The term means "destroy," with the chant "Boshta! Boshta! Horoboshita!"「滅ぼした」- the final term meaning "completely devastate," with the object understood to be Korea.
This was clearly not an image that Kumamoto wanted to continue, so the chant was changed to the Kumamoto dialect phrase "dokai," which means "What's up?" or "How's it going?" and the name emphasized to be”Fujisaki Shrine Autumn Festival「藤崎八旛宮秋季例大祭、ふじさきはちまんぐうしゅうきれいたいさい」 . However, many older people (like me) still call it "Boshita Matsuri." It is famous for its horses called "decorated horses," or "kazariuma" 「飾り馬、かざりうま」. If you want a good view, I suggest visiting the shrine from 05:00 on the 16th to watch the preparations; this is the most photo-friendly part of the festival. Then you can go back home to sleep.
This year, for the first time, I had an opportunity to visit the Pre-Festival Ceremony at the Prefectural Theater, known as "Zenyasai" 「前夜祭」. It was frankly more entertaining than the festival itself. I'll remind you about it next year, and if you are in Kumamoto, you can attend. Attractive was a lobby display of the items used in the festival. In particular, the happi coats worn by each group are decorative and quite beautiful. Our friend Oka Miho has kindly provided some photographs. - William
(Note: I used the slideshow function for the first time and chose the default one-second timeframe, figuring I could edit it later, but I can't. If you want a better view of the photos, click on the show to pause it.)

Long ago, people didn't have to walk more than a few steps from their house before work presented itself. Then the industrial revolution invented commuting. This, those in charge decided, required public transportation, and thus, in 1916, the Kumamoto tram system was created. Over the years, it has expanded and contracted - recently mostly the latter, as cars and buses have taken over most of its clientele - but it is still hanging in there with its main line from Kengun dividing into the Kitakumamoto and Tatsuki stations at Karashima (I hope they finally get around to extending the line to the market itself, and a spur to the zoo).
Kumanichi reports that ridership is healthy, rebounding from the earthquake and a fare increase to an all-time high. Kumamoto without the tram would be difficult to imagine. Below is a link to the Kumanichi stats and some historical photos of tram lines long disappeared. - William
https://this.kiji.is/413107107589080161?c=92619697908483575

A note from the Kumamoto International Desk of Terrifying Insects (merged with Reasons You Didn't Want to Live in the Permian Era Desk due to budget cuts): Dragonflies - tonbo (蜻蛉, トンボ) - are an ancient order of insects dating back to the early Permian era, when the larger guys had a wingspan of 750 mm. They are true carnivores from when they are nymphs: yes, their babies catch and eat fish (image below). As adults, they are capable of flying up to 50 KPH. Males establish a territory and patrol it jealously; any number of females may say, "Hey, nice territory!" and commence continuity of the species. And they eat a lot of insects voraciously (see below).
Temperature control is an issue. On cool mornings, you'll find them warming themselves on sunlit areas; on hot afternoons, you'll find them cooling in the shade. If you're patient, you can get one to perch on your finger - pretty amazing when you consider the species predates mammals. They are a symbol of autumn in Japan, and the abundance of water in Kumamoto makes them quite numerous here. Enjoy them, respect them, and be glad you're not an insect now. - William

They're here! - The Kumamon traffic plates! More precisely, applications will be available from October 1. And it'll cost you ￥8,400. If you want one, call ０９６（３６９）３１８８. - William
https://this.kiji.is/411340449719469153?c=92619697908483575

Hmm. We seem to be experiencing noticeable seismic activity again which began yesterday with a M2.6 and today has continued with a 2.5 and a more pronounced M3.7 minutes later. JMA indicates the quakes' epicenter at the base of the Uto Peninsula. It appears the Futagawa fault runs along the northern end of the peninsula, a section which has not yet ruptured. Please compare the JMA map below with the fault geography. You might want to keep your bathtub filled for toilet water just in case. - William
Update with third figure. I don't want to alarm anyone, just to keep you aware: geologists suggest that the Uto branch of the fault may be more connected with inner-city seismic activity than the Mashiki branch. If anyone has any questions, please let us know. I'm extra-cautious after downplaying the foreshock that led to the previous quake.

Y'know when you're on the lamb due to burglaries in Kumamoto and choose to seek sanctuary in Thailand? Turns out that's not such a permanent solution. I say put the man in a room with Kumamon for a half hour. - William
Thai police arrest Japanese man wanted over burglaries in Japan
Thai police have arrested of a 40-year-old Japanese man wanted by police in Japan in connection with burglaries. Hiroyuki Goto was arrested on Aug 27 for alleged immigration violations while trying to extend his visa in the eastern Thai province of Chonburi, the police said. Goto has allegedly admit...

A composite photo illustrates the magnitude of the landslides caused by the Hokkaido quake. There may be questions in future regarding land use management, particularly planting large sugi plantations on steep slopes, but now, we can offer but sympathy. - William

100 bottles of beer on the wall... Joe Tomei with Friday Funky places, and today, a map I picked up of Craft Beer places in Kumamoto. Some of them have been on FFP, but others not.
Even though I've not been to all of them, I've added them to the FFP map at
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qUH94Bac7Hr939b7_8gtvebaJZffGRsX&usp=sharing

Bad news for Hokkaido. :( -- Kirk
Earthquake buries homes under landslides in Hokkaido, Japan
A magnitude-6.7 quake struck the northern island of Hokkaido early Thursday, causing landslides which buried a "large" number of homes at the foot of a ridge, according to public broadcaster NHK.

There was a M6.7 quake in Hokkaido this morning which has caused a large landslide, widespread destruction, and some death. Geologists are saying that it was caused by the Ishikari Fault - an area called the Ishikari Lowland (石狩低地; see image - the epicenter, Ishikari City, is shown by a star), which is where the eastern side of Hokkaido is sliding under the western side. The geology is apparently similar to that in Mashiki.
Our thoughts go out to our Hokkaido friends. We hope that this is not a foreshock. Off of the east coast of Hokkaido is the Chishima Trench, which has potential for an earthquake the size of that which struck Tohoku. This link provides an English-language article regarding that. - William
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201712190028.html

The governor is scheduled to speak at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, on the 7th.
Japanese governor, alumnus to speak at UNL’s Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance
LINCOLN, Neb. – Ikuo Kabashima, University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumnus and governor of Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture, will speak Sept. 7 at a forum of the university’s Clayton Yeutter Institute of

The name origin of Shiranui (不知火), a town located on the southern side of the Uto Peninsula facing Yatsushiro Sea (and prone to disastrous tidal surges), has long piqued my interest (image below with Yatsushiro in the background). Seriously: it literally means "Don't Know Fire." But I finally looked it up, and the story is more interesting than I'd thought - it would be better translated as "Mysterious Fire." The cause involves fishing methods and meteorology.
A sea fishing fire (or, in modern times, a really bright lightbulb), used to attract fish during night fishing, is called an "isaribi" (漁火, shown below). The temperature difference between Yatsushiro Sea's wide, warm tidelands and a cool night atmosphere creates a difference in density which acts like a lens, causing the light to diffract in a way that makes the number of lights appear more numerous than the actual, so those observing from shore are, like, "Hey?! What's that light!" - and, hence, 不知火.
I mention this because Kumanich reports that Family Mart's 1,565 Taiwan franchises will begin selling a Kumamon-branded soft ice cream dubbed "不知火." Next time you're in Taiwan, give it a try. - William
https://this.kiji.is/409594576460383329?c=92619697908483575

A lighter view of the castle's current appearance. -- Kirk
Who knew that Kumamoto Castle was a Transformer hiding in plain sight all this time?
Kumamoto Castle may be more than meets the eye.

My favorite site for tracking tropic storms (including typhoons) is http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com
This image shows that Jebi (curiously cute name for a monstrous storm system!) is expected to miss Kumamoto by quite a bit. Even so, folks on the eastern side of the prefecture (Aso, etc.) have almost at 50/50 chance of experiencing tropical storm winds (63-118 kilometers per hour or 39-73 miles per hour).
Until recently, Jebi was the strongest storm on earth -- a super typhoon (category 5) with winds as high as 170 mph (273 kmh):
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1011932/Typhoon-Jebi-path-update-Will-STRONGEST-STORM-of-2018-strike-Japan-with-DIRECT-HIT
Even if it doesn't cause us too much trouble here, it may do nasty things in prefectures to our east. As always, take care!
-- Kirk

Progress!
-- Kirk
Kumamoto Castle on course for full recovery, reopening 2021：The Asahi Shimbun
KUMAMOTO—The removal of scaffolding allowed Kumamoto Castle’s impressive appearance to re-emerge and

An Irish father and Greek mother would probably leave anyone with a bit of a lyrical legacy, but Lafacadio Hearn took it to 11. He was particularly well-known for translating Japanese traditional horror stories and also spent many years living in Kumamoto - sort of a Japan-residing Irish-Greek Edgar Allan Poe, if that is imanginable. I am reminded of this as my wife attended a seminar on his work this evening. Much of his writing is available for free on Gutenberg.org - William
http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=lafcadio+hearn
Books: lafcadio hearn (sorted by popularity)
Project Gutenberg offers 57,758 free ebooks for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Android, and iPhone.

There is a very cool organization in Tokyo called "Playground of Hope":
https://poh.ngo/en/
"Playground of Hope is a Tokyo-registered non-profit organization that works towards providing children in at-risk communities such as children’s homes and disaster zones with access to essential outdoor play equipment."
They recently came to Mashiki and made a lot of children very happy with a brand new set of playground equipment.
I don't think there's been any coverage of this in English but you can see the segment broadcast on NHK (which prompted me to post this) at the following address:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/kumamoto/20180828/5000003342.html
Another cool thing about the ground is that key members are obviously expats, just like many readers of this page.
Here's a link to their Facebook page, where you'll find many posts in English:
https://www.facebook.com/playgroundofhope/
-- Kirk
益城町の保育園に大型遊具を寄贈｜NHK 熊本県のニュース
熊本地震の直後に開園し、これまで遊具がなかった益城町の保育園に２８日、ＮＰＯ法人などから、すべり台やブランコなどの遊具が贈られました。 …

A note from the Kumamoto International Dodge a Bullet Desk: Typhoon Jebi (which is a variation of the name Jeb in English and Hebrew, the latter of which is really good at describing cataclysms) is expected to pound the area between Kyoto and Tokyo from September 3. It's the strongest storm the Earth has generated yet in 2018. Its unusual trajectory will bring it north of the Japanese archipelago, and as Axios notes, "it could impart enough energy to the North Pacific jet stream to alter the weather pattern across thousands of miles, all the way to the United States." A good reminder of how close Japan and the US are. - William
Super Typhoon Jebi is the strongest storm so far this year
The storm packed 175-mile-per-hour sustained winds.

Joe Tomei here, strap in, cause we've got a quadruple threat Friday Funky Place for you. It's a coffee shop! It's an organic lunch place! It's a guest house! It's got a cute little spaniel to talk to!
The place is Minami Aso Coffee, located behind the Kumamoto Kotsu Bureau, get off at Kumamoto Kyotsu Mae tram stop and look for the very tall building and the shop is in an older apartment building (which also holds 3 guest houses, so if you have friends coming and want to stay in town for a little longer, speak to the owner) The name of the spaniel is Purin. The last photo is advertising a showing of photos of Ho Chi Minh city.
The FFP map can be found at
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qUH94Bac7Hr939b7_8gtvebaJZffGRsX&usp=sharing

Kirk here. I'm posting on behalf of another member of the Kumamoto International community who contacted me privately. For obvious reasons, she prefers not to broadcast her interest in finding a good marriage counselor to the world via Facebook, so I offered to post for her.
If you can post information here, as a comment to this post, that you think is relevant, then she will be sure to read it. If you too prefer not to post publicly, please send me any tips you can offer at [email protected]. If you can put something like "Regarding marriage counselor" etc. in the subject line, that will help me find your message right away. If you would like to communicate directly with the poster, please mention your willingness to do so in the message. I'll forward the e-mail to her so that she can respond directly. Thanks in advance for any tips you can provide.
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I am looking for some help in regards to a marriage counselor who speaks English in the Kumamoto/Fukuoka area for myself and my husband. My husband is a Japanese national who speaks excellent English. We have been married a long time and I was hoping for a marriage counselor of some sort to help us out in this difficult time. Please if anyone has some helpful advice to offer to us I would be most grateful at this time. Thank You.
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