Kumamoto International Archive

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

I found this article about moving production of the Honda Super Cub back to Kumamoto to be very interesting. There's been a trend in Japan, as in other developed countries, to move production abroad, where labor costs are lower. This move in the opposite direction is good news for Kumamoto.
If you're interested in this topic you may also want to take a look at the following article:
"How the Super Cub shaped Honda's identity"
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/How-the-Super-Cub-shaped-Honda-s-identity
The bike has sold 100 million, making it more popular than any other single model of car or automobile.
-- Kirk
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Honda-repatriating-popular-motorbike-production-from-China?page=1
Honda repatriating popular motorbike production from China- Nikkei Asian Review
TOKYO -- Honda Motor is set to shift production of its mainstay Super Cub motorcycle back to Japan from China after five years, as the cost advantage

I took a little trip to Kurokawa Onsen today and was very glad I went. The colors are brightening up and I found a nice bath that only costs 100 yen! It's called Anayu Communal Bath (穴湯共同浴場):
http://www.food-travel.jp/kumamoto/anayu.html
When we were there, it was empty so I could take a picture of the inside. It's a kon'yoku (men and women together) facility, but privacy is not insured (while you're bathing, others may open the door to have a look). I didn't have time to bathe there but a friend told me that he had it all to himself and enjoyed it.
-- Kirk

Best wishes for a truly kowai Halloween (or 「諸聖人の祝日の前夜」, as no one ever calls it) to all our Kumamoto International friends, and a treat: The Great Pumpkin, Japan-style. - William

Here's a message that was sent to the page by Shenee Douglas (posted with Shenee's permission):
"Hello Kumamoto International,
A lovely Japanese lady is looking for a Japanese speaking foreigner to share info about their country to a group of people over the age of sixty.
The class is held once a month on 2nd Wednesdays from 1:30 - 2:30 at Akitsu Kouminkan. The pay is 6000¥ for two hours. She speaks good English, so she may be able to help with translation if the person is not able to present it all in Japanese.
Her name is Noriko . # is 080-1715-3594.
People who are interested should mention my name when they call."
-- Posted by Kirk

Here's an inquiry about finding a running coach. Personally, I have no idea. If you can help, please write a comment for contact Jackie. -- Kirk
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1633451360061623

It looks like the winds will be picking up in the next 12 hours. I hope it's a relatively mild storm for Kumamoto. One bit of good news in the no news is good news category is that the Yahoo page listing calls for evacuation in Kumamoto is empty:
https://crisis.yahoo.co.jp/evacuation/43/
-- Kirk
P.S. Here's the URL of the site I took the image from:
http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com

Another storm is heading in our direction. I hope it won't be too bad. More later.
-- Kirk

By the way, if you're interested in Kumamoto local basketball team, the Volters, you can find statistics about them here:
http://basketball.asia-basket.com/team/Japan/Kumamoto-Vorters/18427
-- Kirk
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2017/10/17/basketball/b-league/b-league-stage-2018-star-game-kumamoto/
B. League to stage 2018 All-Star Game in Kumamoto | The Japan Times
The B. League on Tuesday announced that the 2018 All-Star Game will be held in Kumamoto. The event will take place on Jan. 14. It will be televised by NHK

Kumamoto's voting rate in Sunday's election was under 60% but even that was above the national average of 53.68% (the second worst in Japan's modern history) and a notable jump from mere 50% of 2012. A new aspect of this election is that 18 and 19 year olds could vote but their national voting rate was a mere 41.5%:
http://www.sankei.com/politics/news/171024/plt1710240100-n1.html
-- Kirk
http://go2senkyo.com/articles/2017/10/24/33256.html

It looks like Prime Minister Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (Jiminto) has won a major victory. Tomorrow's newspapers will present a national overview of the election but since this is a Kumamoto page, I'd like to focus in on the projected winner of Kumamoto City's first ward, Minoru Kihara.
I think it's fair to locate Mr. Kihara on the far right of Japan's political spectrum. He was one of a group of ideologues who signed a paid advertisement published in the Washington Post that former University of Chicago Professor Norma Field described as a "a compendium of rightwing revisionist talking points on the 'comfort women.'" Field indicates that backlash to this extreme political ad was one factor that led to the passage in the United States House of Representatives to "House Resolution 121 that called on the Japanese Government to 'acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as "comfort women" ….'"
https://www.globalresearch.ca/japans-world-war-ii-comfort-women-revisionism-comes-to-the-u-s/5453023
"The Facts" ad, listing Mr. Kihara's name, can be found here:
https://img.atwikiimg.com/www22.atwiki.jp/doc_exam2007/attach/1/23/thefact_070614.jpg
Mr. Kihara is also a member of Nippon Kaigi, described as follows in a New York Times article:
"A U.S. Congressional report on Japan-U.S. relations from early this year mentioned Nippon Kaigi as one of several organizations to which Mr. Abe has ties that believe that 'Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers, that the 1946-1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate, and that the killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 "Nanjing massacre" were exaggerated or fabricated.'"
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/opinion/tea-party-politics-in-japan.html
Despite the low numbers of foreigners in Kumamoto, he still manages to be very upset by proposals to improve the conditions of foreigners residing in Japan. One example of his xenophobia that I found particularly interesting was the "video letter" to be found on the following page:
http://kiharaminoru.jp/modules/channel0/2013/02/
In it, Mr. Kihara rails against the following change in the law governing foreign residents:
"On July 9, 2012, the alien registration system was abolished and foreigners are now able to apply as part of the Basic Resident Registration System. Foreigners who reside in Japan for more than three months need to register for national health insurance."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Insurance_(Japan)
The law is intended to insure that all foreign residents of Japan have health insurance. Mr. Kihara and his accomplice on the ultraconservative "Sakura Channel" opine that this will allow foreigners to abuse the system and steal tax revenues paid in by law-abiding Japanese. In retrospect, this claim seems similar to the "The Facts" ad placed in the Washington Post in that it is so far to the right that even the Abe administration has not embraced it. As far as I know, with the exception of ideologues like Mr. Kihara and his friends in Sakura Channel and Nippon Kaigi, the extension of health care to foreigners with three-month or longer visas has been entirely uncontroversial.
-- This screed has been brought to you by Kirk

Thankfully, this powerfully cyclone is not predicted to make a direct hit on Kumamoto; the eye of the storm is projected to pass to the east of Kyushu. Still, it is very powerful and likely to bring us a lot of rain and some strong winds. The storm is a category 2 now but TropicalStormRisk.com predicts that it will reach its peak strength of category 4 by tomorrow evening.
http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com
As you can see from the satellite image, it's a very big system with a clear eye, even though it is not yet at peak strength.
It is predicted to be closest to Kumamoto on Sunday. I heard on the news that parts of Amakusa will hold their elections tomorrow (Saturday), a day early, to insure that the storm does not prevent them from delivering ballots on time.
-- Kirk
http://www.jma.go.jp/jp/gms/index.html?area=0&element=0&time=201710202030

Notwithstanding World War Two, war-wise, Kumamoto is most noted as the point where Saigo Takamori's Satsuma army was turned back by government forces between February and April, 1877 during the Seinan Senso (aka Satsuma Rebellion). Saigo's hope to easily seize Kumamoto Castle had deteriorated into a winter siege when, in March, government forces attacked and routed Satsuma forces guarding the northern approach to the castle at Tabaruzuka near present-day Ueki. It was all downhill for Saigo from there (figuratively - the Satsuma forces fled back south via Hitoyoshi to avoid government troops which had landed to their rear in Yatsushiro, implying plenty of uphill climbing), and Saigo eventually committed seppuku in August near today's Kagoshima City.
Tabaruzaka has a museum displaying artifacts from the war and with a preserved battlefield very much worth visiting, but distance is a problem (say us modern, lazy folk, conveniently ignoring that Satsuma troops hiked there from Kagoshima in the depths of winter). To mark the 140th anniversary of the battle, the museum has organized an exhibition at Kumamoto Shintoshin (that big building near the station) centered on contemporary clothing: government uniforms were modeled on those used by France, and the Satsuma forces wore a mixture of western and Japanese items. The exhibition is free and will run through October 27. The museum director noted the purpose to draw attention to Tabaruzaka as the "Genkan of Kumamoto" and attract more visitors to the museum. (The below painting from 1877 shows the Battle of Tabaruzaka with government troops on the left and Satsuma troops on the right.) - William
https://this.kiji.is/293700784796402785?c=92619697908483575

The East Asia Citizen Coexistence Film Festival begins tomorrow evening (Friday) at Kumamoto Gakuen University. I've already posted about the following three films which are either entirely or mostly in English (with Japanese subtitles):
"The True Cost"
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1627388270667932
"Children's Tears: Searching for Japanese Fathers"
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1628577617215664
"Hello?! Orchestra"
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1629082163831876
Friday evening's content will be in Korean and Japanese. If you're interested, please check out the official website.
-- Kirk

The low-cost carrier Hong Kong Express ー http://www.hkexpress.com/en-hk ー will recommence flights between Kumamoto and Hong Kong, a route canceled since the quakes, from November 16 with two flights per week, Thursday and Sunday. Making a faux reservation on their site gave a quote of 13,380 to HK and 17,380 for the return leg (probably more expensive as it's uphill) for a r/t of 30,760, inclusive of all taxes-n-stuff. This will be the third international flight from Kumamoto in addition to those to Kaohsiung, Taiwan and Seoul, Korea. (Note that the image below is not an accurate representation of flight paths.) - William
https://this.kiji.is/293551049529033825?c=92619697908483575
熊本－香港線、来月から再開　ＬＣＣ定期チャーター便 - 熊本日日新聞
　熊本県は１８日、香港の格安航空会社（ＬＣＣ）、香港エクスプレスが１１月１６日から、熊本空港と香港国際空港を結ぶ定期チャーター便の運航を始めると発表した。香港線の再開は１年７カ月ぶりとなり、昨年４月の熊本地震の影響で途絶えていた熊本空港の国...

I've already introduced this page, which has links to a calendar of events, a way to search for posts that have been made to Kumamoto International, and a link to the YahooGroups mailing list, but when Facebook prompted me to make a post with a picture, I mindlessly obeyed. I took the picture of Okoshiki Beach from the internet. It's beauty has not been diminished by the quakes of 2016.
-- Kirk
Kumamoto International links
Kumamoto International Calendar Search for a post on Kumamoto International Click on the following url https://www.facebook.com/search...

The Emmy Award winning documentary "Hello?! Orchestra" will be shown Saturday, beginning at 5:30 PM. This is part of the East Asian Citizen Coexistence Film Festival being held at Kumamoto Gakuen University.
As the article indicates, the documentary stars Grammy-nominated violinist Richard Yongjae 0'Neil. As you can hear in the follow YouTube trailer, much of the documentary is narrated in English by O'Neil, though there are sections where you will hear Korean, and Japanese subtitles will be shown on the screen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7yWOeNXBs
By the way, here's the website (in Japanese) of the film festival:
http://film.witheastasia.org/2017/
-- Kirk
http://enkr.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/989297/south-korean-documentary-hello-orchestra-wins-emmy
South Korean Documentary “Hello?! Orchestra” Wins Emmy | BLOUIN ARTINFO
South Korean documentary “Hello?! Orchestra” starring Grammy-nominated violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill shined at the 41st International Emmy Awards on November 25. It won the Arts Programming category along with the U.K.’s “Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender.”

This documentary will be shown Saturday afternoon at 4:10 PM. This is part of the East Asian Citizen Coexistence Film Festival being held at Kumamoto Gakuen University.
Here's a summary of the documentary from the International Movie Database:
"This film unveils a hidden history starting in the Dutch East Indies under Japanese occupation during WW2. The protagonists were born of Eurasian (some local) mothers and Japanese fathers as children of the enemy. They moved to the Netherlands with their mothers, while their fathers went back to Japan after the war. The absence of their fathers becomes a missing piece in their lives, and the ensuing search stretches across continents. One of the protagonists, Nippy Noya, is an international percussionist, recording with John McLaughlin and touring with Billy Cobham and Chaka Khan. He discovers the secret of his musical gift as the other protagonists each experience their own emotional rebirth."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4147990/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
This film is mostly in English with Japanese subtitles but there are sections (about 10% according to the organizer of the festival) that are in Japanese.
Yesterday, I posted about a documentary to be shown in the morning called "The True Cost":
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1627388270667932
That post has more information about the film festival.f
-- Kirk
http://www.childrenstears.net/index_en.html
Childrens tears

I just updated the Kumamoto International events calendar. You can find the calendar by clicking on the "Learn More" button on the page.
-- Kirk
P.S. In case you have trouble locating the "Learn More" button, here's a link that will help find the calendar:
https://kumamotoi.blogspot.jp/p/kumamoto-international-link.html

A little mailing list called "Kumamoto-i" was born 18 years ago today. Wow, 18 years! In internet years, that's about a century! :) The internet was capitalized back then!
In commemoration of this milestone, I thought I'd finally try to get around to adding a link to the "Learn More" button on this page that wil take you to a few more links that I think you may find useful. One is to a Google spreadsheet with events that have been shared here. Another is a link that allows you to search for keywords in Kumamoto International posts. (I use this pretty regularly to check on information that's been shared already but that I can't find.) The last one is to the Kumamoto-i mailing list. I've been neglecting it recently but it's where this network-building project got started.
https://kumamotoi.blogspot.jp/p/kumamoto-international-link.html
Thanks to the many, many people who have helped along the way.
-- Kirk

This documentary will be shown Saturday morning at the East Asian Citizen Coexistence Film Festival, which will be held at Kumamoto Gakuen University on Friday and Saturday. Not all of the films are in English but this one is and several others are mostly in English. I'll write more about them later.
Here's the URL of the festival website (Japanese language):
http://film.witheastasia.org/2017/
And here's the address of "The True Cost" website, which features a trailer:
https://truecostmovie.com
-- Kirk
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-true-cost-movie-review-20150529-story.html
'The True Cost' exposes hidden cost of cute, cheap fashions
Those cute, cheap fashions popular at H&M and other stores come at a big price to sweatshop workers and the environment, 'The True Cost' shows.