Kumamoto International Archive

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

Wow! A T-rex type creature in Amakusa! If true, the Wikipedia page on gorgosaurus will have to be rewritten, as no Asian finds are mentioned.
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201707060047.html
-- KIrk
Dinosaur tooth from Kumamoto dig may be of a gorgosaurus：The Asahi Shimbun
KATSUYAMA, Fukui Prefecture--In the home of dinosaur fossils here in Japan, scientists have a new di

It's sunny out but new warnings have been issued. What you see is a Google Chrome translation of a web page that records e-mail warnings that are sent out in Japanese:
http://www.anshin.pref.kumamoto.jp/rireki/saigai/430000.html
This information seems to match up reasonably well with the information on the JMA site:
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/warn/349_table.html
By the way, this page is indexed here:
http://www.anshin.pref.kumamoto.jp/now.html
What follows is a bit of tangent but I'd like to write a little note about a similar kind of announcement that was sent out to to smartphones yesterday but was surprisingly unhelpful. Yesterday at a little after 1 PM, many of my students got a sudden warning message (I think it's called a 緊急速報, "emergency alert") on their phones that said to check the prefecture's website, but did not give a URL. We looked at the top page of the website but could find anything that might explain the sudden warning. I'm not sure who is responsible for such messages. I looked on the web to try figure the system out or to find an archive of the messages that have been sent out but didn't have much luck. At any rate, whoever is responsible, it was disappointing to see that people were being made to search for a needle in a haystack when one bureaucrat somewhere (again, I'm not sure who is responsible) could save everyone that trouble by simply adding a link! I didn't get the notice on my phone but all of my students told me that they couldn't find a link in the notice they got.
-- Kirk
P.S. I can't find it on the internet but I once saw a cartoon of a guy standing in front of a sign that says "IN CASE OF FIRE" (or was it "emergency"?) and reading an extremely long page of fine-print text as the flames of a fire are clearly approaching. The way officials put out emergency information on the internet here often reminds me of that cartoon.

I happened to come across this promotion video for Minami Oguni today. I'm linking to the full version but there's also a shorter version at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2r8dh1Ing
Scenes of an outdoor bath in Yamamizuki, a fantastic onsen ryokan in Kurokawa, are included in both versions. There's no text to indicate the name of the facility, but I recognize the distinctive location of the outdoor bath -- right next to an outdoor stream. I thought it was interesting that the video noted that the "scene has been taken in the men's open-air bath only for the commercial use" (0:59 in the short version). Actually, I don't think it's technically correct to say that this is the "men's bath." When I was there, modestly towel-clad women were able to enter the area, so it was actually a "kon'yoku" (open gender) bathing area. In reality, though, in modern Japan "kon'yoku" usually means "almost all men," with an occasional visit from an intrepid woman.
Speaking of "kon'yoku," the full-length version also shows some scenes of an outdoor bathing area in Manganji (skip to 3:10 if you're in a hurry). You don't see anyone bathing here but, actually, this is a "kon'yoku" bathing area as well. If you're a woman (or even if you're a man), you need to be considerably bolder to bath here than to merely enter the male area in Yamamizuki under towel cover. At this Manganji bathing site, the only place provided to undress and prepare for bathing is in full view of passersby. Many years ago, my wife and I took the plunge here after the sun went down (we didn't have the courage to attempt it in broad daylight). My wife was surprised to spoken to while bathing by an elderly man just a few feet away. It was an interesting experience but she hasn't requested another visit to that spot since. :)
If you're interested in kon'yoku see
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/12/25/dont-forget-your-wrap-towel-our-female-reporter-experiences-japanese-mixed-public-bathing-for-the-first-time/
"Don’t Forget Your ‘Wrap Towel’! Our Female Reporter Experiences Japanese Mixed Public Bathing for the First Time"
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2016/12/10/lifestyle/last-splash-immodest-japanese-tradition-mixed-bathing-may-verge-extinction/
Last splash: Immodest Japanese tradition of mixed bathing may be on the verge of extinction
http://metropolisjapan.com/the-konyoku-experience/
THE KONYOKU EXPERIENCE: Dipping into the diminishing culture of mixed-gender bathing
(illustration obviously done by someone who has never experienced the real thing)
Though I'm sure the topic of mixed bathing has been looked at by and discussed in English by academics, I don't have a good knowledge of that literature. All I could find is a book called "Japan: A View from the Bath"
https://www.amazon.com/Japan-View-Bath-Scott-Clark/dp/0824816579
but don't know how well or extensively it deals with the kon'yoku tradition.
In Japanese there's
混浴と日本史
https://www.amazon.co.jp/混浴と日本史-下川耿史/dp/4480858040/
which I haven't read yet but looks very interesting had has received good reviews.
-- Kirk
P.S. Here's the address for the full version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf-pHjO3sa8
（Full ver）Minamioguni tourismpromotion video（南小国町観光プロモーションビデオフルバージョン）
Minamioguni It is a tourism promotion video of the town.I think that if you could touch the traditional life of Japan through the hot springs and experience....

A note from the Kumamoto International Deluge Diversion Desk (merged with the Alliteration Desk due to budget cuts):
There is a small town called Tsunagi which is sandwiched between Ashikita and Minamata on the Yatsushiro Sea. There is also an artist named Nishino Tatsu (西野達) from Tokyo, who is apparently world-renowned but not world-renowned enough for me to Google him because I do not do art. According to the article, though, he is famous for his temporary structures.
The two have collided in a collaboration to create a one-room hotel on stilts over the sea, which was enough to catch my attention. The purpose is to attract attention to the now-defunct Akasaki Elementary School, once known as the only "maritime elementary school" nationwide, and its surrounding scenery. And it deserves attention. Here are the specs:
- On friggin' stilts over the sea
- There is a nearby uninhabited island called Hadakashima (裸島, はだかじま); hence, it will be called "Hotel Hadakashima
- One room with toilet and shower
- The windows of the structure will be repurposed from Ahikita's Akasaki Elementary School
- Other materials such as shoji from the school will also be repurposed for the building
"We aim to make it a room of memories of the children of Akasaki Elementary" Nishino-san said. At the groundbreaking (seabreaking?) ceremony held yesterday, Nishino-san said, "Unlike a faceless business hotel, this will be a very personal room. The fascination is to be reunited with your childhood past." Construction starts in the middle of this month and is scheduled to be completed in early September. The hotel, being single-room, accepts only one group per day. Reservations will be taken from August for stays running from October through December (thus avoiding the typhoon season - but if you go, bring a jacket). No word yet on rates, maximum occupancy, how to make reservations - or even how to get to the hotel (boat?), but your faithful correspondent will keep you up to date.
The article has a photo from the groundbreaking ceremony and a sketch of the hotel by Nishino-san. - William
https://this.kiji.is/255859948855592438?c=92619697908483575
旧赤崎小の“思い出”移築　海上ホテル地鎮祭　津奈木町 - 熊本日日新聞
西野達さん（左端）らが出席してあった「ホテル裸島」の地鎮祭＝津奈木町西野達さんが描いた「ホテル裸島」のアイデアドローイング（イメージ図）　津奈木町が世界的現代アーティスト西野達さん（５７）＝東京＝の作品として、旧赤崎小付近の八代海（不知火海...

I'll be taking a group of university students to Minamata for an overnight trip next weekend (July 15th to 16th). It's a mixed group of Japanese students and exchange students from various countries. I'm posting about it here because I would like to invite interested university students (any university in the area and, of course, students of any nationality) to join us. We already have about 20 people but it would be nice to have a few more.
On Saturday, the 15th, after lunch at Fukuda Noen (located on a mountain by the sea; see second picture for a sample of the view) we'll visit Hot House, a facility in which people with congenital Minamata disease work (first picture). I've gone there almost every year for quite some time now and it's always very interesting and enlightening to actually meet people whose lives have been deeply affected by mercury poisoning, not just hear a lecture about them. We'll also tour various points related to the history of Minamata disease.
Saturday night we'll stay in an onsen ryokan (hot spring inn) in the Yunotsuru area, a picturesque village in the mountains near Minamata that is famous for its hot springs and terraced rice paddies. Sunday we'll have fun visiting a "roller luge" facility in Ashikita and going to the beach in Otachimisaki (third picture). If you are interested, please fill out the following form:
https://goo.gl/MuF6Zk
Costs including transportation, meals, entrance fess, etc. will be slightly over 10,000 yen (relatively cheap as such overnight trips go). If more people want to go than we have room for, people will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.
If you have any questions, please go ahead and fill out the form, check the "not sure" option, and type in your question. I'll get back to you by e-mail.
-- Kirk

According to yesterday's RKK evening news, the heavy rain has been caused by "back-building" systems that dump large amounts of rain in one area without seeming to move much. Here's an explanation from Wikipedia:
"A back-building thunderstorm, commonly referred to as a training thunderstorm, is a thunderstorm in which new development takes place on the upwind side (usually the west or southwest side in the Northern Hemisphere), such that the storm seems to remain stationary or propagate in a backward direction. Though the storm often appears stationary on radar, or even moving upwind, this is an illusion. The storm is really a multi-cell storm with new, more vigorous cells that form on the upwind side, replacing older cells that continue to drift downwind. When this happens, catastrophic flooding is possible."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderstorm#Back-building_thunderstorm
The image was taken from an academic paper on the topic:
http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/workshops/WS2006/abstracts/Session02/2_4_Schumacher.pdf
-- Kirk

One more note: The red and purple areas are at high risk for landslides. If you are in a vulnerable location, you may want to consider evasive action. If you are considering driving, I recommend that you avoid mountainous roads in red and purple areas. This information was taken from:
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/doshamesh/
-- Kirk
P.S. Even as the rain settles down, the soaked earth on slopes can be dangerous. Let's home we don't get any quakes before the water can drain out of the soil.

Tornado warnings have been issued for some parts of Kumamoto. English information about such warning can be found at
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/radnowc/
It's good that the JMA puts this information out in English as well as in Japanese, but it's easy to miss. There is a list of warnings for Kumamoto
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/warn/349_table.html
but no mention is made of tornados there. Actually, the same problem exists on the Japanese site. If they could do a better job of collating and cross referencing the Japanese information it would do a world of good. First, Japanese people wouldn't have sit and painstakingly try to find information at a time when if might be necessary to move quickly to take evasive action. Second, better organization of the Japanese information would probably lead to a similar improvements on the English side of the site, which tends to mirror the Japanese.
By the way, here's a little review of two useful sites to help you watch the weather until things calm down. First, my favorite radar site:
https://weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/zoomradar/
It gives you a pretty good sense of where the rain clouds are now and where they are headed. It is based on the same information as the JMA site but allows you to zoom in to your own neighborhood.
To check on evacuation information go to
https://crisis.yahoo.co.jp/evacuation/43/
This is in Japanese but you can translate it with the Google Chrome browser.
-- Kirk

To add to the fun, the Meteorology Agency has issued a tornado and strong wind warning for the Kumamoto, Amakusa, Ashikita, and Kuma regions. Strange as I'd just taken my dog out during a break in the deluge (thank you, JMA!), and there wasn't a breath of wind. Perhaps the calm before another storm. Hold on to your 帽子, just in case. - William

From the Kumamoto International "Whoops" Desk: A concrete two-story shop/house damaged in the quakes was condemned by the city, which contracted with a demolition company who farmed out the work to a subcontractor that got right on it until, halfway through the job, they realized the building they were demolishing was wood, not concrete, so they stopped. Figuring out the correct building was next door, they went ahead and demolished that, but the real estate company (uh-oh) which owns the partially dismantled building is not happy. Negotiations for compensation are underway.
A bit of humor (as long as you're not the ones who screwed up) to lighten a rainy day.
Story and photo at Kumanichi (partially dismantled house left, now demolished concrete house right):
https://this.kiji.is/255528254693475834?c=92619697908483575
誤って隣の建物壊す　地震の公費解体工事　熊本市中央区 - 熊本日日新聞
公費解体の対象物件と取り違えられ、一部解体された空き店舗（左）。本来、解体対象だった店舗兼住宅は解体され、更地となっている＝熊本市中央区　熊本市は５日、熊本地震で被災した建物の公費解体事業で、業者が解体対象を誤り、被災していない別の建物を一...

Due to the deluge of news regarding the, uh, deluge, stories and updates will be collected below in the comments section.

Check
https://crisis.yahoo.co.jp/evacuation/43/
for more information about evacuation notices. You'll need Google's Chrome browser if you want to translate the Japanese into English. -- Kirk

NHK's evening news warned that Kumamoto was likely to get heavy rain in the early hours tomorrow morning. As the situation changes, the following URL may help you get a sense of the level of danger in your area.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/warn/349.html
In regard to calls for evacuations, I doubt that I'll be able to post updates here very frequently. For information about how to learn about evacuation notices on the web please see
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/photos/a.129499733790134.25925.123734781033296/1510930188980408/?type=3&theater
Currently, evacuation is being recommended for parts of Oguni.
-- Kirk

Not Kumamoto but alarmingly close:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170705/p2g/00m/0dm/070000c
-- Kirk
River flooding reported in Fukuoka as heavy rain hits western Japan - The Mainichi
FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- Rivers reportedly flooded in a city in Fukuoka Prefecture on Wednesday, the prefectural government said, as torrential rain hit the northern part of the main island of Kyushu in western Japan.

Torrential rain alert issued for Fukuoka after typhoon：The Asahi Shimbun
FUKUOKA--The Meteorological Agency warned of torrential rain in 16 municipalities across Fukuoka Pre

The JMA (Japan Meteorology Agency) has a very useful page for checking on flood danger. As you can see in this video, it has an animation function that can help you get a sense of how the situation is changing. Here's the URL:
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/suigaimesh/flood.html
I was prompted to look at this today because of flood warnings for Fukuoka, to our north. I'll post a bit more about that in a minute. -- Kirk

The village of Nakashima in Yamato-machi straddles the road halfway between the small town of Kosa and the smaller town of Yabe. Mostly agriculture and forest, it once served as a rest stop between the two towns with a few restaurants and stores for those weary of the poor road, but the new road is so smooth that travelers no longer even notice the village, and the shops all closed. 12 years ago, they also lost their elementary school - the few remaining youngsters are now bused to Kosa, and the building was converted to an aged care facility. On the old school grounds, though, remains the symbol and pride of their village, a huge evergreen oak, a sapling gifted from Jingu Shrine in Nara in 1940 - 24 meters tall, 4 meters in girth and covered with moss, under which all community events take place.
It toppled in yesterday's typhoon. Everyone in the village is devastated by this, but hope perseveres. One villager said, "The roots remain firm. We will somehow care for it so that it can recover."
The full story and photo are at Kumanichi: https://this.kiji.is/254948436612269562?c=92619697908483575
- William
地域のシンボル、カシの大木横倒し　山都町 - 熊本日日新聞
台風３号の強風で倒れたとみられるカシの大木＝山都町　山都町北中島の旧中島西部小にあり、住民に親しまれてきたカシの大木が４日、台風３号の強風で根元付近から折れ横倒しになった。地域のシンボルの無残な姿に、住民は「まさか倒れるなんて」と落胆してい...

"Around 68,500 households suffered brief blackouts in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures in southwestern Japan, while power outages were also reported in Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, the Kyushu Electric Power Co. said."
-- Copied and pasted by Kirk
https://japantoday.com/category/national/update1-typhoon-nanmadol-makes-landfall-in-nagasaki
Typhoon makes landfall in Nagasaki
Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall in Nagasaki Tuesday morning, the weather agency said, bringing heavy rain to Japan's southwestern regions and causing blackouts and traffic disruptions. The season's third typhoon, recording winds of up to 151 kilometers per hour, is expected to continue moving toward…

Click on the article to see two pictures of damage in Kumamoto. -- Kirk
Typhoon hits Nagasaki, torrential rain expected across Japan - The Mainichi
Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall near the city of Nagasaki at around 8 a.m. on July 4, and is expected to bring heavy rain across the country. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has warned of landslides, rising rivers, flooding, as well as tidal waves.

This is my mea culpa. I wrote that I didn't think the winds would be too strong but, well, we all know that wasn't exactly how things played out. It seems to be true that the system wasn't particularly powerful as typhoons go. The RKK evening news report cited two factors for the strength of the winds in Kumamoto City, despite the relative weakness of the system. The first was the angle at which it hit Kumamoto. In the northern hemisphere tropical systems spin counterclockwise. So, if you look at the image, the area south of the eye of the storm was blowing to the east. The second factor was that the storm was moving very quickly to the east, adding to the speed of the easterly winds that were blowing to the south of the storm center. Kumamoto City was just south of the center of the storm so we experienced high winds, as did Amakusa and Aso.
Though it wasn't mentioned in the RKK broadcast, another factor is that, if my understanding is correct, winds coming off of flat seas tend to be stronger than winds that are buffered by mountains and forests. So, it seems that, despite the relative weakness of the system, various factors conspired to maximize the damage caused by this storm in Kumamoto.
Over the years, I've occasionally been accused of being rather alarmist . . . even of "crying wolf" when putting out storm information. This time, I was a bit too sanguine. It really is hard to know just what to expect ahead of time.
Though it sounds like a hackneyed truism, I guess "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" sums up the lesson I've gotten from this storm. :(
-- Kirk