Kumamoto International Archive

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

Joe Tomei with the slightly late Friday Funky place.
Today's place, Araki, might not meet all the definitions of funky, but it is certainly worth a trip out to Jonan machi as it is a very well stocked liquor shop with a cafe in the back. I stopped there on the way to Yatsushiro and was astonished to see some single barrel Scotch Whiskeys. I believe they were from the Scotch Whiskey society, which purchases individual barrels of single malt scotch (most whiskeys are blended to produce a relatively uniform taste). Their website is here
http://www.araki-vino.co.jp/
A friend told me that the owner organizes events and organized several events after the earthquake featuring chefs with food and alcohol pairings.
You can find it on the FFP map at
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qUH94Bac7Hr939b7_8gtvebaJZffGRsX&usp=sharing

Heads up!
-- Kirk
SDF chopper part likely to have fallen in Kumamoto
KUMAMOTO (Jiji Press) — A part is believed to have fallen from a Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter in Kumamoto Prefecture, a local JGSDF division has said.

Regular readers of this page may remember other posts we've made about Kumamoto's own Kimiko Nishimoto, the elderly, but very young-at-heart photographer:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1703987643007994
Well, today I saw a very entertaining TV commercial that promotes a magazine issue. After a little searching, I found the video on the web. Enjoy!
-- Kirk
自撮りのキミちゃん【通販生活公式】 30秒 CM | CM Fun
カタログハウス(通販生活)が広告主のCM動画です。出演者:西本喜美子概要原文: 自撮りのキミちゃんご存知ですか。キミちゃん傑作展、『通販生活・夏号』で開催中。

Here's a news item from nearly a month ago that I seem to have forgotten to share.
-- Kirk
Kumamoto Castle restoration plan decided- News - NHK WORLD - English
Kumamoto Prefecture and the central government have officially decided on a 20-year plan to restore an iconic castle in southwestern Japan. It was severely damaged by a series of strong earthquakes in 2016.

For those who love flowers.
These flowers are blooming now.
Tulips and Nemophila (ネモフィラ)
(Two parks near Kumamoto grow them. One is Kuju Hana Koen in Aso, and another one is Uminonakamichi in Fukuoka)
http://www.hanakoen.com
https://uminaka-park.jp
Azaleas (つつじ)
(One Park is in Mifune, and another one is in Ozu)
http://www.mifuneyamarakuen.jp/spring/
http://www.town.ozu.kumamoto.jp/kankou/kiji0036604/index.html
-Olivia-
大津町おすすめスポット

Here's an article from Monday's anniversary that I wasn't aware of at the time:
"The Kumamoto prefectural government carried out a disaster drill on Monday. All its about 3,800 employees were required to go to work on the presumption that an earthquake measuring a lower six on the Japanese seismic intensity scale occurred at 6 a.m."
-- Kirk
Kumamoto quake victims remembered in Minamiaso
KUMAMOTO — Bereaved friends and others commemorated the dead on Monday, the second anniversary of the main tremor of the Kumamoto Earthquake.

Joe Tomei here. While second hand/recycle shops are, by definition, funky, Japan has a way of de-funkifying things. Hard-off, 2ndstreet are recycle shops, but they fail to get the true atmosphere of funky place vibe I used to seek out when I was a college student and and visited these places out in the boonies of Hattiesburg, MS. Fear not, FFPites, this is a recycle store just like those, with funkiness to spare. I hesitate to list what they have cause one never knows. It's a couple of kms before the Uki Youme Town in Matsubase Takezaki and marked on the Friday Funky Place map at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qUH94Bac7Hr939b7_8gtvebaJZffGRsX&usp=sharing

"For those with more time on their hands, traveling west to the onsen village of Kurokawa in Kumamoto is a must: the moss-covered haven, near Mount Aso, has not one single high-rise or street sign in sight."
This article has already been shared on other Kumamoto-related pages (e.g. Kuma Visit and Explore Kumamoto). I'm sharing it here too for anyone who has not seen it yet. If you've never been to Kurokawa, I highly recommend it.
-- Kirk
5 Japanese Hot Spring Baths to Put on Your Bucket List
A guide to the best Japanese hot springs, a centuries-old wellness practice with antiaging and detoxifying benefits, also known as onsen.

Attn: Cyclists, wannabe cyclists, or anyone who can ride a bike: Mr. Itoh at the Kumamoto International Foundation asked me to share this. I think it sounds like a lot of fun. Personally, I'm tempted but I suspect that I'll wind up sitting this one out.
-- Kirk
P.S. The leader of the tour only speaks Japanese. So, it'll be better if you can speak a little Japanese or if you can go with a partner who understands the language.

A note from the Tangentially Related to Kumamoto Desk: US Senator Tammy Duckworth has introduced a bill which would allow Senate members with children up to the age of one permission to accompany their child to session. The article notes her bill has received unusual wide bipartisan support. A tendency exists for American mores to trickle down to Japan. We'll soon see how the Kumamoto government reacts. - William
Tammy Duckworth Offers Resolution To Allow Newborns On Senate Floor
She recently became the first senator to give birth while in office.

The other day I saw an NHK program about increasing reliance in Japan on foreign workers. The show mentioned a web site so I checked it out:
https://www.nhk.or.jp/d-navi/izon/prologue.html
I was particularly interested, naturally, in the statistics about Kumamoto. The first map of Japan show that Kumamoto is one of a few prefectures in which the rise in foreign works has been over 30% since 2013. The brown graph provides the details, indicating that Kumamoto is ranked 6th with a 30.93 percent increase. The pink graph show that Kumamoto is also ranked 6th in terms of the percentage of the agricultural workforce that is made up of foreigners (11.99%).
The NHK website doesn't explain properly that most of these people are "trainees" (gino jisshusei; 技能実習生). The "trainee" system is controversial because Japan is essentially using it as a work around for its prohibition on manual labor. People come from Asian countries to do low-pay work, but that's OK, supposedly, because they are "trainees" not laborers. The gap between this fiction and the reality of the lives led by the trainees is quite problematic.
In 2009, a "trainee" murdered his "employers" in Kumamoto:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/11/10/national/murder-suicide-in-three-deaths/
In 2010, "trainees" won a lawsuit against their employers / abusers:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/01/30/news/foreigners-win-17-million-for-trainee-abuses/
Just today, an article was published about how the laws are being changed so that these foreign trainees/workers can train/work in Japan for a total of 10 years:
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201804180052.html
-- Kirk

From the Department of Being on Different Time Zone so Temporally Disconnected Desk (Merged with the Adjunct Professor Desk for obvious reasons): Kumanichi reports that an American helicopter has just made an emergency landing at Kumamoto airport. That is likely your news for today. - William, reporting from south San Jose

"Local government officials designated the deaths of 211 people as disaster-related. That's more than 4 times the 50 fatalities caused by the direct effects of the tremors, such as being trapped under collapsed buildings."
These NHK web videos don't last long, so if you're interested and have a moment, you should probably watch it now.
-- Kirk
Poor conditions led to more Kumamoto quake deaths- News - NHK WORLD - English
An NHK survey suggests that poor living conditions may have caused the deaths of nearly 100 people who survived devastating earthquakes in southwestern Japan 2 years ago.

For all you rugby fans or even novices gearing up for Kumamoto's spot in the World Cup, our friend Ruth Maruki Kai has provided this event announcement:
Interested in an early rugby taster this coming weekend?!
Well, head to Kitakyushu for the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. Tournament Location: Mikuni World Stadium behind Kokura Station
Date(s): April 21-22 🎽🚩
Teams are split into three pools:
A (Australia, Spain, Ireland, China)
B (New Zealand, France, USA, Japan)
C (Canada, Russia, England, Fiji)
Schedule (Japanese only): https://www.rugby-japan.jp/…/02/21/kitakyushu7s_2018_sched…/
Ticket information and the seating map: https://www.rugby-japan.jp/…/wrwss2017-2018_kitakyushu_tic…/
Unreserved GA tickets are 2000 yen per day, or 2500 if purchased the day of the event, or you can buy a 2-day pass for 3500 yen, which can be bought by Friday, April 20th. P-Codes (7-11, FamilyMart, and Circle K/Sunkus) and L-Codes (LAWSON) are on of this link so you can purchase them through at your local conbini.

Earlier today I shared a video about an exhibition of Japanese swords in Kikuchi. Here's what I wrote:
"The Kikuchi clan was a powerful daimyo family based in the part of Kumamoto that is still known as Kikuchi. This video is about a exhibition of swords and other artifacts belonging to the family that is currently being held at Kikuchi Shrine. The exhibition will last until the 5th of May."
Here's the URL of the original post (with video):
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1866411983432225
I know that Japanese swords and other artifacts relating the Japan's samurai culture are not everyone's cup of tea, so to speak, but I also have found that quite a few non-Japanese are interested in topic. So, I was amazed that the Facebook algorithm chose not to show this to most Kumamoto International readers -- after 7 hours, just 25 people are reported to have seen it. Normally, almost any post would have several hundred views after seven hours. (For comparison, the attached image shows, in chronological order, how many people have viewed other recent posts.)
I don't know what happened but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with a Facebook algorithm, perhaps something intended to cut down on fake news or some other abuse. Smart algorithms can be cool, except when they're not. :(
-- Kirk
P.S. It will be interesting to see how many views this post gets. Granted, the content is slightly different but, nonetheless, I suspect that superficial differences in how I'm posting, not what I'm posting, will lead Facebook's algorithm to treat this post quite differently.

Here's one of the poems quoted in the article:
"Intensity-7 quake/ Sleepless night in my car/ Sounds of helicopters in the dark/ The ground continues to heave."
-- Kirk
VOX POPULI: Poems inspired by Kumamoto earthquakes will long live on：The Asahi Shimbun
"Shinsai Manyoshu," a collection of poetry published in January, contains 3,226 poems by 945 survivors of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, which consisted of two violent jolts striking the region in quick succession.

Pictures convey the emotional impact of a major disaster but numbers like these help us understand the scale.
-- Kirk
P.S. You may not be able to see all of the relevant numbers in the graphic without going to the original article.
2 years after quake, Kumamoto looks to future
KUMAMOTO — Saturday marked the second anniversary of the Kumamoto Earthquake foreshock, which was followed by the main shock two days later.

I saw a related news report on TV yesterday. The point of that segment was that even people with money to rebuild are having to wait because local contractors are still overwhelmed.
-- Kirk
Nearly 40,000 evacuees still living in temporary housing two years after Kumamoto quakes | The Japan Times
Nearly 40,000 people still live in temporary housing in Kumamoto Prefecture, two years after a series of strong earthquakes struck the prefecture and neigh

This is one of two articles on this topic that I know of. Here's the second, also by TokyoReporter.com:
https://www.tokyoreporter.com/2018/04/13/kumamoto-boy-19-arrested-for-stabbing-prostitute-at-hotel/
According the second article, the victim is a sex worker.
-- Kirk
https://www.tokyoreporter.com/2018/04/12/kumamoto-boy-apprehended-after-woman-28-found-stabbed-at-hotel/
Kumamoto: Boy apprehended after woman, 28, found stabbed at hotel | The Tokyo Reporter
Victim suffered a wound to the abdomen that is not considered life-threatening

Tomorrow (April 14) marks the second anniversary of the start of the Kumamoto earthquakes of 2016. Until I read the following comment, it had not even occurred to me that the recent landslide in Oita might have something to do with the 2016 quakes:
"'I am worried because all the residents are my acquaintances,' said a 76-year-old man living some 2 kilometers from the landslide site, adding he felt that the ground in the area had loosened after major earthquakes struck Kumamoto and Oita prefectures in 2016."
The main explanation that I've seen in TV coverage is that groundwater may have caused the landslide, which occurred with an obvious trigger, such as heavy rain or an earthquake. Perhaps the 76-year-old man's association of this disaster with the Kumamoto earthquake is a better indication of the psychological mark that the quake left on people than of the physical cause of the recent landslide.
-- Kirk
At least 6 unaccounted for after landslide in southwestern Japan - The Mainichi
OITA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Six to seven people are unaccounted for following a landslide in Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Wednesday, police said