Joha here: The 熊本県外国人サポートセンターKumamoto Support Center for Foreign Residents will offer a consultation service in Uki on September 6 for people affected by the recent earthquake. See flyer for details.
Archive of the Kumamoto International Facebook group, 2011–present.
Some 90% of Japanese igusa, the reed used to make tatami, comes from areas recently damaged by the quakes. Effects on tatami production are feared. -William
Kirk here. This was on the national broadcast of NHK's morning news program, Ohayo Nippon, today. The pace at which malicious rumors about foreigners are spreading on the internet far exceeds anything we saw in 2016. Fortunately, NHK and other media has been publishing stories to set the record straight.
--- start ChatGPT translation ---
Unfounded Claims Spread That “Muslims Complained About Emergency Food Distribution” After Kumamoto Earthquake
August 25, 2026, 8:05 a.m.
Following the July Kumamoto earthquake, unfounded claims spread on social media alleging that Muslim evacuees, who cannot eat pork for religious reasons, had complained about meals at evacuation shelters and caused trouble. However, interviews with Kumamoto Prefecture and local municipalities found no evidence of any such incidents, and officials said there had been no confusion. A Muslim organization said, “It saddens us to see things that are not true being spread.”
After the earthquake that registered a maximum seismic intensity of 7 in Kumamoto Prefecture, unfounded claims spread on social media platforms including X and Threads, such as that “Muslims complained about the tonjiru [pork miso soup] served at an emergency meal distribution.”
The claims spread through X and online aggregation sites and were viewed more than 16 million times in total. However, the post that became the source of the claims had actually been posted on X before the earthquake occurred.
NHK also contacted Kumamoto Prefecture and all 38 municipalities in the prefecture that had opened evacuation shelters. None reported any trouble involving foreign nationals or complaints about food distributed to evacuees.
In reality, an organization made up of Muslims living in the prefecture, along with international NGOs and other groups, had delivered relief supplies intended for Muslims. An official with Kumamoto Prefecture’s International Affairs Division said, “We have not heard a single report from the affected areas of anyone saying, for example, that they were having difficulty because they could not eat the tonjiru. There was no major confusion.”
Marlo Siswahyu, an Indonesian-born representative of the Kumamoto Islamic Center, said, “It is sad that this is being spread because there are people who will believe it, but there is nothing we can do, so we have no choice but to ignore it. I have lived in Japan for 25 years, and recently I feel that discrimination has been increasing. If there is something we are doing wrong, I would like people to tell us. And if there is anything they want to know about Islam, I hope they will feel free to ask us at any time.”
False information about foreign nationals tends to spread easily during disasters. It is important not to casually share information from uncertain sources and to respond calmly.
--- end translation ---
熊本地震“炊き出しでイスラム教徒苦情”根拠ない情報拡散 | NHKニュース
【NHK】7月の熊本地震のあと、避難所の食事に関して、SNSで、宗教上の理由で豚肉を食べることができないイスラム教徒の避難者が苦情を言ってトラブルを起こしたなどとする根拠のない情報が拡散しました。熊本県や自治.....
I suspect that the person who wrote this article didn't ask many foreigners where they get their information. I was amazed recently to discover how large and active Vietnamese-language Facebook groups about Kumamoto are. I think Vietnamese people are getting most of their information from each other, not directly from the government.
And, of course, this page, Kuma Visit, and other volunteer efforts might be mentioned in an article of this kind. :(
--- start quote ---
The Kumamoto city government started an emergency email service for foreigners based on lessons learned from the major quakes that struck the prefecture 10 years ago, when many foreigners were unable to receive the support they needed.
--- end quote ---
I get an email newsletter from the International Center and occasionally share the contents on this page. To be honest, though, I've been somewhat underwhelmed by both the quantity and the quality of the information. Does anybody know about an email newsletter that comes directly from the city government?
I'm aware of LINE being translated into English but this too has many problems. One is that information shared on LINE cannot be shared easily outside of LINE; it's a walled-off garden.
I agree with the basic premise of the article: There's lots of room for improvement. I would say, however, that improvement should start with better analysis than this article provides of the current situation and its deficiencies.
-- Kirk
Many foreigners have hard time obtaining disaster info in Kumamoto quake - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO, Japan (Kyodo) -- Many foreigners in Kumamoto Prefecture may have had difficulty in obtaining information in the aftermath of last month's ma
Kirk here. After over 25 years of providing, or attempting to provide information in English for the benefit of folks in Kumamoto who may not be fluent in Japanese, I've come, ironically, to be concerned about how the usefulness of Japanese to foreigners is often discounted. A recent example was my August 13 post about Kumamoto City presenting translations without links to the original (more detailed and informative) Japanese and without internal glossing of the original Japanese terms that they translate (without such glossing we foreigners are forced to struggle to "back translate" when trying to communicate with actual Japanese people about the content we read).
Here's that post:
https://www.facebook.com/1379708514190936/posts/1484195123742274
To their credit, the City responded to my email and added a link to the original Japanese (but the pdfs are still unglossed; you have to go to the original Japanese documents to find the key terms).
At any rate, since this "foreigners only need translations; have no need to use Japanese" stereotype is a pet peeve of mine, I've been particularly pleased to observe the rise of the yasashii (easy) Japanese movement, including the fine work described in this article.
'Easy Japanese' Helps Foreign Residents Access Vital Information | JAPAN Forward
From evacuation notices to relief supply centers, simplified Japanese with fewer kanji is making information easier to understand for non-native speakers.
--- quote from article ---
A refuge for foreigners
Many Filipinos and Vietnamese came to the damaged church one after another, seeking practical help and trying to reconnect with their community after the earthquake.
Hebie May Reyes, 27, a tomato farmer who has lived in Yatsushiro for four years, said she went to the church's distribution site to get rice, water, tissues and wipes.
It was a big help to us, she told UCA News.
Reyes regularly attends Mass on Sundays with other Filipino Catholics.
--- end quote ---
Kirk
Quake-damaged church becomes focus of disaster response in Japan’s Kumamoto - UCA News
The closed Yatsushiro church draws Filipino and Vietnamese parishioners seeking practical help and to reconnect with community
This is certainly very bad news for the tourist industry. On the more positive side, an article about new flights between Jeju and Kumamoto was also in my feed today. If you are interested, check out both. -- Kirk
https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/om6xgcbbzmxn/
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260821/p2g/00m/0na/002000c
Southwestern Japan hotels see 174,000 cancellations after Kumamoto quake - The Mainichi
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Around 174,000 hotel and ryokan bookings were canceled in six southwestern Japan prefectures, excluding Kumamoto, following the earth
Kirk here with another positive story about foreigners pitching in to help.
--- start Chat GPT translation ---
[Ogori, Fukuoka] Foreign Technical Intern Trainees at Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin Take the Lead in Delivering Relief Supplies to Areas Affected by the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake
August 20, 2026, 7:30 p.m. — Straight Press
Photo taken at one of the facilities receiving assistance
Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin (九州国際学院), operated by RPJ Co., Ltd. (株式会社RPJ) in Fukuoka, carried out a relief-supply effort for areas of Kumamoto Prefecture affected by the earthquake, led primarily by foreign technical intern trainees currently undergoing training at the school.
Relief effort motivated by a desire to support disaster victims and senior trainees
Photo taken at a company receiving assistance
For this relief effort, arrangements were made in advance with companies employing graduates of Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin and facilities serving as distribution points for relief supplies. Supplies were delivered to three locations. A total of 18 people participated that day, representing the students of Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin, including technical intern trainees from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Nepal.
Photo taken at a nursery school receiving assistance
Trainees form a line to carry relief supplies
Wanting to help disaster victims and others living in the affected areas, they delivered water, daily necessities, and other items needed locally. The participating trainees actively helped bring in and transport the supplies, carefully carrying the relief goods one item at a time.
Trainees form a line to carry relief supplies
Trainees load supplies onto a cart
Some of the participating technical intern trainees experienced the earthquake almost immediately after entering Japan. They said that, just as they were beginning life in an unfamiliar country, they felt the powerful shaking and were frightened and anxious. Even so, they asked themselves, “Is there anything we can do for the people affected by the disaster?” That desire led them to take part in this relief effort.
Photo with graduates of Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin currently working as trainees in Kumamoto (from left: trainee, Mr. Noguchi, trainee, Mr. Egashira)
Kumamoto Prefecture is also home to more senior trainees who came to Japan from the same countries—Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Nepal—and who have already been working hard to build their lives in Japan. The desire to “help, even in some small way, if senior trainees from our own countries who are working hard in Japan are in trouble” was another motivation behind the relief effort.
Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin plans to continue doing what it can while monitoring conditions in the affected areas and determining what kinds of support are needed.
A relief effort conceived and carried out by the technical intern trainees themselves
Vietnamese trainee Nguyen Duc Thanh commented in an interview after the relief effort:
“There was an earthquake soon after I came to Japan, and I was very frightened. I still wasn’t used to life in Japan, but I wondered whether there was anything I could do for people who were having difficulties, so I decided to take part in this relief effort.”
Indonesian trainee Abdul Rohman said:
“There are senior trainees from my country in Kumamoto who came to Japan before us and have been working hard here. I wanted to help those senior trainees and people in the local community who are having difficulties, even if only a little. I’m glad I was able to participate in delivering the supplies.”
Mizuki Noguchi, a director of RPJ, commented:
“This relief-supply effort was not something that we at RPJ Co., Ltd. initiated. The technical intern trainees themselves thought, ‘Is there anything we can do for the people affected by the disaster?’ and took action on their own. At present, crimes involving foreign nationals sometimes receive a great deal of attention. But we hope that more people will also become aware that there are foreign nationals in Japan who study and work very hard and who want to take action to help people and communities in need.”
Kei Egashira, also a director of RPJ, added:
“For this effort, we provided support with things the trainees could not handle entirely on their own, such as preparing and transporting supplies and coordinating with the organizations involved. We are extremely pleased and encouraged that the trainees thought for themselves and acted to help others across national boundaries. We intend to continue respecting their wishes and supporting the activities that are needed.”
Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin places importance not only on teaching Japanese and the knowledge students need for work, but also on fostering ties with the local community and encouraging a spirit of compassion that leads people to take action for those in need. Its future efforts to remain attentive to the circumstances of disaster victims and affected communities will also be worth watching.
Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin official website:
https://kyushukokusai.com
(ASANO)
Note: I have rendered 九州国際学院 as “Kyushu Kokusai Gakuin” rather than presenting “Kyushu International Academy” or another naturalized translation as an official English name.
--- end translation ---
https://getnews.jp/archives/3738226
【福岡県小郡市】九州国際学院、外国人技能実習生が主体となり令和8年熊本地震の被災地へ物資支援実施|ガジェット通信 GetNews
【福岡県小郡市】九州国際学院、外国人技能実習生が主体となり令和8年熊本地震の被災地へ物資支援実施 2026/08/20 19:30 ストレートプレス 支援先の施設での写真撮影 福岡市の「RPJ」が運営する「九州国際学院」は、現在講習...
Los Angeles City Hall. And yet they are replacing Kumamoto City Hall.
Kirk here with an example of your tax yen at work producing extremely odd English (and placing it prominently on the website of the Prime Minister, for the world to see). The original Japanese title of the announcement you see is 熊本県知事等による要望書手交 (https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/105/actions/202608/18shukou.html). Here are some (but not all) of ChatGPT's criticisms of this translation.
--- quote from ChatGPT, slightly modified ---
1. “Caption” clearly does not belong in the title.
There is nothing corresponding to “Caption” in the Japanese title. Moreover, immediately below the photograph on the English page is an actual photo caption: “Prime Minister Takaichi receiving a written request (1).” This strongly suggests that “Caption” is a stray field label or other artifact of the English publishing workflow that somehow became attached to the title.
2. “Handing Over of Requests” is extremely unnatural English.
手交 (shuko) is formal bureaucratic Japanese meaning the physical presentation or delivery of a document. 要望書 (yobosho) is a written request or request document. Translating the combination mechanically as “Handing Over of Requests” produces something that an English-language government office would be very unlikely to use as a headline. Something like “Prime Minister Takaichi Receives Written Request from Kumamoto Governor and Others” would be much more natural.
3. “Requests” is misleading.
要望書 is a single document — literally a “written request.” The document may contain several individual requests, but the Japanese headline refers to the presentation of the 要望書 itself. “Handing Over of Requests” makes it sound as though a number of separate requests are being transferred. The event itself was very simple: Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura and others met Prime Minister Takaichi and presented her with a written request. Ironically, the English photo caption — “Prime Minister Takaichi receiving a written request” — communicates the event much more clearly than the English headline does.
--- end quote ---
Now to the question of how this happened. I asked ChatGPT if this is most likely to have been the work of AI (or some form of machine translation) or humans working for the government.
--- start ChatGPT's analysis ---
The evidence points more toward a longstanding human/institutional translation process than toward a modern AI simply being asked to translate this Japanese title from scratch.
The strongest clue is that the awkward phrase “Handing Over of Requests from the Governor of ... Prefecture and Others” has appeared on English Kantei pages for years. In other words, this does not look like a new translation generated specifically for this article. It looks more like an established government translation, perhaps preserved in a style guide, translation memory, database, or previous-page template and repeatedly reused.
That kind of consistency is very characteristic of institutional translation. Once an English equivalent has been adopted for a bureaucratic Japanese expression such as 要望書手交, later translators may continue using it even if the English sounds unnatural.
The stray word “Caption” appears to be a different kind of mistake. There is nothing in the Japanese title that could reasonably have been translated as “Caption,” and the page actually does contain a photo caption immediately below the image. That makes “Caption” look much more like a publishing, template, or content-management-system error in which a field label somehow became attached to the headline.
AI or machine translation could conceivably be involved somewhere in the government's current workflow, so this cannot be proved from the finished page alone. But the historical reuse of the awkward translation, combined with what looks like a separate publishing error involving “Caption,” makes a longstanding human/institutional process the more likely explanation than a modern AI independently producing the whole thing.
--- end ChatGPT's analysis ---
I think this is a good example of why humans working in languages they don't understand well (or, at least, are not native speakers of) should use AI to check their work. I don't mean that they should just throw Japanese text at an AI bot and go with whatever it produces. That would be irresponsible. But, in an age where high-quality AI is available, not getting a "second opinion" from AI and blithely following bureaucratic precedent when producing translations strikes me as equally irresponsible.
The URL of the English article is https://japan.kantei.go.jp/105/actions/202608/18shukou.html.
I think this short video, from the New York Times, about the situation in Kumamoto is well done but one part is misleading. It shows the collapse of the Oaso Bridge in 2016 and then implies that lessons learned from that tragedy led to improvements that helped prevent the complete collapse of the Myoken No. 1 Bridge in Yatsushiro. However, the Yatsushiro bridge was built long before 2016. I'm planning to write about that in another post. -- Kirk
Video: How Japan Averted a Major Earthquake Disaster
Japan avoided a major disaster after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit last month. Our reporter River Akira Davis visited Kumamoto, a prefecture near the epicenter, to see how it built quake-proof buildings and infrastructure.
"The quake damaged 31,951 houses, including 1,449 that were completely destroyed." See NHK's video report for more. -- Kirk
Three weeks after Kumamoto quake, thousands of evacuees remain in shelters | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
Three weeks after a powerful earthquake struck Japan's southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto, over 3,000 residents are still in evacuation shelters, while others stay in their cars or damaged houses.
Kirk here. The headline of this article is extremely misleading but there is at least a grain of truth to the story. Here's ChatGPT's account, with citations I have checked out, of what aspects of the story check out and what is overblown.
--- start quote ---
There is a verifiable basis for the story, but it is considerably narrower than the SCMP headline suggests.
First, on August 3, the town of Misato issued an official warning saying that a group of three suspicious people wearing camouflage clothing had been seen within the Uki police jurisdiction. The notice explained some ways residents could distinguish actual SDF personnel and advised people to contact the police or town office if suspicious. Importantly, however, the notice does NOT say that these people stole anything, that they had entered homes, or even that it had been established that they were pretending to be SDF personnel.
https://kumamoto-misato-town.site2.ktaiwork.jp/?p=88
On August 7, FNN reported residents' accounts of people dressed like SDF personnel looking into damaged homes and attempting to enter. One person said that when someone asked to take their photograph, the suspicious people left. This is stronger evidence for the "fake SDF" story, although it is still based on residents' reports rather than suspects who have been identified by police.
The same FNN report says that four or five theft cases involving such things as jewelry and outdoor air-conditioning units had occurred within the Uki Police Station jurisdiction. But these are presented as a separate problem. FNN does NOT say that the camouflage-clad people committed those thefts.
https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/1090712
There is no question that earthquake-related theft itself is real. For example, police arrested a 47-year-old man on August 8 for allegedly stealing an outdoor air-conditioning unit from a house in Kami-Amakusa while the resident was staying elsewhere because of the earthquake. But I have found nothing connecting that suspect with the camouflage-clad people.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/2023485
As recently as August 18, a Japanese article examining the "fake SDF" reports stated explicitly that their purpose was unknown: 「現状、目的は不明」. It said that there was concern that they MIGHT be contemplating crimes against disaster victims — not that this had been established.
https://www.ben54.jp/news/3816
That brings us to what the SCMP journalist himself actually established. He contacted the Kumamoto prefectural government, and spokeswoman Akino Sonoda confirmed that the prefecture had RECEIVED REPORTS about supposed fake SDF personnel and that the police were aware of the reports. But she also said that the prefecture did not know how many reports there were or even which towns were involved.
In other words, the SCMP's own investigation independently confirms the EXISTENCE OF REPORTS. It does not independently establish that the people reported were actually impersonating SDF personnel, still less that they were looters.
The other local person interviewed by SCMP, Kiyoko Date, was not presented as an eyewitness either. She said, "I heard the reports," and said that police were patrolling the area.
I have also found no Japanese report, as of August 19, that any of the camouflage-clad people have been identified or arrested, or that police have linked any of them to an actual theft.
That is why the SCMP headline — "Fake troops loot earthquake-hit homes in Japan's Kumamoto" — goes well beyond the evidence. Its opening sentence similarly says that the men are prowling communities "to loot abandoned homes and businesses." Neither the Japanese reports I have found nor the evidence described in SCMP's own article establishes that.
What appears to be true is more limited: suspicious people wearing camouflage and/or appearing to be SDF personnel have been reported around damaged homes; authorities have taken the reports seriously enough to warn residents; and, separately, genuine thefts have occurred in earthquake-affected areas. What has NOT been established is the crucial connection asserted by the headline — that the supposed fake SDF personnel are the people committing the thefts.
--- end quote ---
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3364410/fake-troops-loot-earthquake-hit-homes-japans-kumamoto
P.S. My hypothesis about what happened: Julian Ryall, the author based in Yokohama, wrote a reasonable, carefully sourced draft, and some editor at the South China Morning Post slapped on a sensationalist headline and opening sentence. I have no proof of this other than that the headline and first sentence seem strikingly different in tone and certainty from the rest of the article.
‘It’s really terrible’: fake troops loot homes after Japan earthquake
Impostors dressed in military fatigues are reportedly prowling abandoned properties, with residents warned to be on the lookout.
It was a close game, with both teams tied 0-0 until the bottom of the 9th. Then Kendai Takasaki scored a "sayonara" run. But, Ariake was no pushover; they did remarkably well considering that it was their first time to play in the Koshien tournament. -- Kirk
有明、サヨナラ負けで4強ならず エ―ス斉藤の129球熱投に甲子園喝采…被災地に届け続けた勇気
第108回全国高校野球選手権大会は18日、甲子園球場で準々決勝が行われ、第4試合では有明（熊本）が健大高崎（群馬）に延長10回0-1でサヨナラ負けを喫した。最後はビデオ検証も判定は変わらず惜敗したが、スタンドから惜....
I think this is great. I only recognize Hari Devkota and Andrew Mitchell from Kumamoto International but all are to be congratulated and thanked for their efforts. Work like this is not only genuinely helpful to the victims of the quakes; it's also powerful evidence that belies racist propaganda about how foreigners harm Japan.
Here's a ChatGPT translation of the article. -- Kirk
--- start translation ---
“We Want to Help”: Foreign Residents Turn Their Desire to Assist into Action, Serving Meals at a Kumamoto Evacuation Shelter
Council Supports Volunteer Effort, Providing 250 Servings of Keema Curry and Naan
Foreign Employment Council (一般社団法人外国人雇用協議会)
August 17, 2026, 1:13 p.m.
The Foreign Employment Council carried out a meal-service relief effort by foreign volunteers at an evacuation shelter in Kumamoto Prefecture on Sunday, August 16, 2026.
The initiative began with foreign residents of Japan saying that they “wanted to do something for the people affected by the disaster.”
Council director Poudel Santosh responded to those wishes, and the council supported the effort by coordinating with people at the disaster site and arranging the activity. Motoki Suganuma, secretary-general of the council, also participated in the meal service on site that day.
The effort transformed the foreign volunteers’ desire to “do something to help” into concrete assistance for people in the disaster-stricken area.
All 250 Meals Served, Exceeding the Original Plan of 200
The meal service was held at the Yatsushiro Toyooka Chiken Arena, where more than 300 people were taking shelter at the time.
Keema curry, naan, and water were prepared for the evacuees.
There had initially been some concern that even 200 meals might be more than needed. However, a steady line formed as soon as service began, and all 200 prepared meals and the water were gone in about two hours.
An additional 50 meals that had been prepared just in case were then served as well, bringing the final total to 250 meals.
People at the shelter said that the food normally distributed there consisted mainly of items such as bread and was often not a hot meal.
Many evacuees were also eating naan or Nepalese food for the first time. The volunteers received many warm comments, including:
“It was really delicious.”
“This was the first time in my life I had ever eaten naan.”
“I never imagined I would get to eat authentic curry here. I was really touched.”
“I’m going to tell my relatives to visit your restaurant.”
One elderly woman came back for a second serving, saying, “It was really delicious.”
She spoke cheerfully and with a smile, but she also told the volunteers that her home had been completely destroyed. She had been on the first floor when the house collapsed around her and buried her inside, and neighbors had rescued her.
For the members taking part in the effort, hearing people in such circumstances smile and say “Thank you” and “That was delicious” made a particularly deep impression.
The heat that day was extremely severe.
Local volunteers continued working under the strong sun while also taking care to have disaster victims wait in the shade whenever possible.
Turning the Desire to “Do Something” into Action
After the activity, one of the participating foreign volunteers said:
“I had wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what I could do. Thank you very much for giving us this valuable opportunity.”
Among the foreign nationals living in Japan are people who, when disaster strikes or their communities face difficulties, ask themselves, “Is there something I can do to help?”
At the same time, even when people want to help, they may not know where to go or how to get involved, and those feelings therefore do not always lead to actual action.
In this initiative, the council listened to the voices of foreign residents and acted as a bridge between them, the local community, and the relevant organizations, turning their desire to “do something to help” into concrete disaster-relief work.
Seeing Foreign Nationals as More Than Just “Workers”
Foreign nationals are often discussed primarily as people who work for companies, people who help alleviate labor shortages, or people who receive assistance from Japanese society.
But foreign residents of Japan are also members of their local communities.
The foreign volunteers who participated in this effort wanted to “do what we can” and “do something to help” the people affected by the disaster, and they went to the site themselves to put those feelings into action.
Among the foreign nationals living in Japan are people who care about others experiencing difficulties in their communities, think about what they themselves can do, and then act.
The council believes it is important to properly communicate their actions and their feelings to society.
The Foreign Employment Council believes that foreign nationals should not be viewed simply as “workers,” but as people who live in Japan and are members of the communities they help build.
Rather than making this a one-time effort, the council hopes to continue carrying out activities that enable foreign residents who want to “do something” for their communities and society—including during disasters—to turn those feelings into concrete action.
By continuing to serve as a bridge between foreign residents and local communities, the council intends to create more opportunities for foreign nationals to participate in their communities and contribute their abilities as members of Japanese society.
---
Activity Overview
Activity
Meal-service relief effort in a disaster-affected area by foreign volunteers
Date
Sunday, August 16, 2026
Location
Yatsushiro Toyooka Chiken Arena
Food and drink provided
Keema curry, naan, and water
Number of meals
250
Activity support
Foreign Employment Council (一般社団法人外国人雇用協議会)
Funding
No membership dues were used to fund this activity. The costs were covered using revenue generated by the council’s revenue-producing activities conducted during fiscal 2026.
---
About the Foreign Employment Council
The Foreign Employment Council (一般社団法人外国人雇用協議会; JAEFN) works under the slogan “Creating a New Society of Coexistence from Japan” to build an environment in which foreign nationals can participate to the fullest extent as members of Japanese society.
Through policy recommendations, support for companies in creating suitable environments for accepting foreign personnel, assistance with the daily lives and education of foreign residents, human-resource development, and the dissemination of information, the council seeks to create a society in which Japanese people and foreign nationals can contribute and thrive together.
Official website
https://jaefn.or.jp/
Contact regarding this matter
Secretariat
Foreign Employment Council
E-mail
[email protected]
Contact form
https://jaefn.or.jp/contact
-- end translation ---
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000030.000065366.html
「何か力になりたい」外国人の想いが形に 熊本の避難所で外国人ボランティアが炊き出し支援
一般社団法人外国人雇用協議会のプレスリリース（2026年8月17日 13時13分）「何か力になりたい」外国人の想いが形に 熊本の避難所で外国人ボランティアが炊き出し支援
I'm about to run to my TV. The game between Ariake and Kendai Takasaki (Gunma) has either started or will start soon. -- Kirk
Kirk here with the fourth and final post in my series summarizing some of the insights in the kenken YouTube video about how bridge design helped the Myoken No. 1 Bridge in Yatsushiro avoid total collapse.
The preceding posts can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02wX1tTtkt4Wx3UdTshdzuFKkj9CNgw9eBbG1LcqT2FWp6nkL9gS4zeDzaQEeS5wiHl
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02RSGvn57SRpR4iHJUxrQBjZnmzcVBgbUcbtLz3g5TWX9YcuEuVZdPGwL7oNfiz7Mcl
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02KzSSGin7kEFGVYyJzf9XnKBTo11ja5p6uFvZXZEAsNJKDgJhPXrpvwgcLAX9xLN9l
This final feature is extra supporting space on top of the pier that gives a displaced bridge girder room to remain supported rather than immediately falling off. The image from the kenken video illustrates the idea.
I'll let ChatGPT explain how this works and how it relates to the Myoken bridge.
--- start ChatGPT explanation ---
The Japanese term highlighted in this illustration is 桁かかり長 (keta-kakari-cho), which refers to the amount of supporting length available beneath a bridge girder where it rests on a pier or abutment.
The illustration shows the idea very clearly. The gray girder represents its normal position. The transparent blue girder shows it after a large sideways displacement. The red arrow marked 横ずれ shows that displacement. The blue arrow marked 桁かかり長 shows the supporting length available on top of the pier.
The important point is that 桁かかり長 is not a statement about how far the bridge is supposed to move. It is a safety margin. If bearings are damaged and the girder moves far from its normal position, a sufficiently large supporting area can give it somewhere to remain supported rather than immediately passing beyond the edge of the pier and falling.
This was directly relevant at the Myoken No. 1 Bridge. NEXCO West's expert committee reported that the bridge had sufficient width at the tops of its piers as one of several measures intended to make it difficult for the girders to fall even if the bearings were damaged. Together with girder connections and restraints on excessive movement, these measures were judged to have had “a certain effect” during the earthquake. [1]
NEXCO's more detailed material also identifies sufficient 桁かかり長 as one of the components of the bridge's fall-prevention system. [2]
This also helps clarify the previous post about the “lifeline” connections between girders. The badly displaced part of the Myoken bridge was not simply hanging from such a connection. NEXCO reported that a displaced girder became caught on the top of the supporting structure. The connections and restraints helped prevent complete separation, while the structure beneath the girder still provided physical support.
So the four features discussed in these posts work as layers rather than as four independent tricks. Bearings allow necessary movement. Restraints limit excessive movement. Girder connections provide another line of defense if movement becomes extreme. And sufficient supporting length on the pier can keep a badly displaced girder from falling even after the normal support system has been severely damaged.
That combination helps explain how the Myoken bridge could suffer extraordinary displacement and serious damage without the girders falling completely to the ground.
Sources:
[1] NEXCO West, results of the first expert committee meeting on restoration of the Myoken No. 1 Bridge, August 7, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260807153611-01.pdf
[2] NEXCO West, committee materials on the Myoken No. 1 Bridge, August 6, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260806163010-01.pdf
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I'm planning one more post on a related question that the kenken video does not consider in detail: to what extent the robustness of the Myoken No. 1 Bridge can be attributed to lessons learned from the catastrophic bridge failures in the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake.
Kirk here with another follow-up on how design measures helped the Myoken No. 1 Bridge in Yatsushiro avoid total collapse.
My introductory post and my post about the first two safety features can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02wX1tTtkt4Wx3UdTshdzuFKkj9CNgw9eBbG1LcqT2FWp6nkL9gS4zeDzaQEeS5wiHl
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02RSGvn57SRpR4iHJUxrQBjZnmzcVBgbUcbtLz3g5TWX9YcuEuVZdPGwL7oNfiz7Mcl
This post looks at the third safety feature: “lifeline” devices intended to keep a bridge girder from falling even after very large movement. The image from the kenken video illustrates the basic idea.
I'll let ChatGPT explain how this works and how it relates to the Myoken bridge.
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The Japanese term for the device illustrated here is 落橋防止装置 — a device intended to prevent a bridge girder from falling from its supports. The illustration describes it as a 命綱, or “lifeline.”
The cable-like connection shown between the two girders is not what normally holds the bridge up. The girders normally rest on supports above the piers. But during an extreme earthquake, those supports can be damaged and the girders can move much farther than intended.
The “lifeline” provides an additional layer of protection. If the bridge sections begin to move too far apart, the connection helps restrain that movement and reduces the danger that a girder will separate completely and fall.
This is directly relevant to the Myoken No. 1 Bridge. NEXCO West's technical records show that the bridge had seismic reinforcement that included connections between girders (桁連結), as well as protruding restraints intended to restrict excessive girder movement. After the earthquake, NEXCO's expert committee concluded that these and other fall-prevention measures had “a certain effect” in keeping the girders from falling, although further investigation is needed to determine exactly how each part of the system behaved.
The “lifeline” analogy should not be taken too literally, however. The badly displaced section of the Myoken bridge was not simply hanging from one of these connections. NEXCO reports that a displaced girder became caught on the top of the supporting structure. In other words, the connection helped keep the bridge sections from separating completely, while the structure below still provided physical support.
That leads directly to the fourth and final feature in this series: there was enough supporting space beneath the girder that, even after a very large displacement, it could still remain caught and supported rather than falling to the ground. That will be the subject of Kirk's next post.
Sources:
[1] NEXCO West, committee materials on the Myoken No. 1 Bridge, August 6, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260806163010-01.pdf
[2] NEXCO West, results of the first expert committee meeting on restoration of the Myoken No. 1 Bridge, August 7, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260807153611-01.pdf
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Kirk here with a follow-up to a post I made earlier (https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02wX1tTtkt4Wx3UdTshdzuFKkj9CNgw9eBbG1LcqT2FWp6nkL9gS4zeDzaQEeS5wiHl) about how design measures helped the Myoken No. 1 Bridge in Yatsushiro avoid total collapse. In my introductory post I wrote about four safety features in bridge design. The image you see illustrates the first two:
1. Bearings between the bridge girders (large horizontal beams that support the bridge deck) and the piers (vertical columns that hold the bridge up) that permit controlled movement.
2. Devices that limit how far the bridge girders can move from side to side — perpendicular to the direction of traffic — during a major earthquake.
I'll let ChatGPT summarize these two features and how they relate to the Myoken bridge.
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The first feature is the bridge bearing, or 支承, shown at the upper right of the illustration.
A bridge bearing is the relatively small component located between a bridge girder and the top of a pier. The word “bearing” may bring to mind the round ball bearings found in things like bicycle wheels, but bridge bearings often look nothing like that. Many are rectangular blocks or assemblies. In the illustration, the bearing is the black, layered rectangular structure between the blue girder and the concrete pier, labeled 支承.
Despite its relatively small size, it performs an important job: it supports the enormous weight of the bridge while allowing the girder to move or rotate slightly rather than being rigidly fixed to the pier.
Some movement is necessary even in ordinary conditions. Bridges expand and contract as temperatures change, and the girders flex and rotate slightly under traffic. During an earthquake, allowing appropriately controlled movement can also reduce the forces that would otherwise be transmitted directly into the girders and piers. Depending on their design, bearings can accommodate movement, deform, and in some cases help absorb earthquake energy.
The second feature is the 変位制限装置, or displacement-restraint device, shown farther down on the right side of the illustration.
There is an apparent contradiction here that actually captures an important principle of earthquake-resistant design. The bearing allows the bridge girder to move, but the displacement-restraint device keeps that movement from becoming excessive. In other words: let the bridge move, but don't let it move too far.
Such restraints act rather like structural stoppers. During a powerful earthquake, the girder may move relative to the pier, but these devices are intended to prevent that displacement from becoming large enough to threaten the stability of the bridge.
This is part of a broader principle in earthquake-resistant engineering: making a structure completely rigid is not necessarily the safest approach. Allowing selected parts to move can reduce the forces imposed on the main structure, while additional devices control how far that movement can go.
The illustration puts both ideas into a larger “damage-control” system. On the left are the major parts engineers particularly want to protect: the main girders, piers and foundations. On the right are components that can accommodate movement, absorb energy, limit displacement, or be more readily repaired or replaced.
There is an important qualification when we apply this general explanation to the Myoken No. 1 Bridge. NEXCO West found that some of the bridge's bearings were themselves damaged. The bearings therefore should not be described as a feature that has specifically been shown to have “saved” the bridge. [1]
The second feature, however, has a more direct connection to what happened at Myoken. NEXCO reports that the bridge had protruding restraints intended to impede excessive movement of the girders. These were part of the bridge's fall-prevention system, and NEXCO's expert committee concluded that measures of this kind, together with other safeguards, had “a certain effect” in preventing complete collapse. [2]
This helps explain why earthquake protection is built in layers. The bearings normally provide the interface that supports the girders while permitting necessary movement. If an earthquake becomes severe enough to damage those bearings or produce very large displacement, other devices are there to limit that movement. And if those defenses are not enough, still more safeguards are intended to keep the girders from falling completely off their supports.
Those final layers — the “lifeline” connections and the extra supporting space on top of the piers — will be the subject of Kirk's next posts.
Sources:
[1] NEXCO West, committee materials on the Myoken No. 1 Bridge, August 6, 2026. The materials document damage to bearings and describe the bridge's fall-prevention system.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260806163010-01.pdf
[2] NEXCO West, results of the first expert committee meeting on restoration of the Myoken No. 1 Bridge, August 7, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260807153611-01.pdf
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Kirk here.
This image is from a new Japanese YouTube video by KENOVA研究所 (kenken), an independent YouTube explainer channel. The video explains the design features that helped prevent total bridge failure in Yatsushiro's Myoken No. 1 Bridge, which you see in the illustration.
In subsequent posts, I'll describe the following four safety features in bridge design:
1. Bearings between the bridge girders (large horizontal beams that support the bridge deck) and the piers (vertical columns that hold the bridge up) that permit controlled movement.
2. Devices that limit how far the bridge girders can move from side to side — perpendicular to the direction of traffic — during a major earthquake.
3. “Lifeline” devices intended to keep a girder from falling even after very large movement — a key feature that helped prevent the Myoken No. 1 Bridge from collapsing completely.
4. Extra supporting space on top of the pier that gives a displaced girder room to remain supported rather than immediately falling off (another feature that was particularly important in the Myoken No. 1 Bridge).
All four help explain modern bridge earthquake engineering, and all four are relevant to understanding what happened at Myoken. But the strongest direct evidence points to #2, #3, and #4 as the features that helped prevent complete collapse at Myoken. The bearings (#1) were themselves damaged, and the other systems were specifically there to keep that damage from turning into a complete fall of the bridge girders.
By the way, the kenken explainer channel also produces material about generative AI, including how to use ChatGPT to make explanatory images. I used ChatGPT to do a little research on the reliability of the video content. Here are the key results, with citations I have verified myself:
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After checking the main claims in the video against NEXCO West and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism materials, I would describe its core engineering explanation as credible, although necessarily simplified for a general audience.
NEXCO West’s expert committee on the Myoken No. 1 Bridge reported that the bridge had been designed so that even if its bearings failed, several other features would make it difficult for the girders to fall: adequate width on top of the piers, connections between the girders, and protruding restraints intended to impede girder movement. The committee concluded that these measures appear to have had ‘a certain effect’ in preventing a complete collapse in this earthquake, while stressing that detailed investigation is still needed to determine exactly how the bridge behaved. [1]
NEXCO’s more detailed technical material also describes the fall-prevention system as a combination of sufficient girder support length, structures that prevent the girders from falling, and restraints on excessive sideways movement. The same material documents damage to the bearings themselves. This is important: the bridge did not survive because nothing failed. Some components failed or were severely damaged, while other layers of protection helped keep that damage from progressing to the complete fall of the girders. [2]
The video’s broader explanation of ‘damage-control design’ is also well grounded. An official Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism technical paper on the New Aso Bridge describes an unusually clear example. For movements exceeding the Level 2 earthquake design conditions, selected parts of the bearing system were deliberately designed to fail before damaging forces could be transmitted into the major structural components. The designers also widened the supporting area on top of the piers so that failure of the bearings would be less likely to result in the girders falling. [3]
So the central idea presented in the video — that earthquake-resistant bridge design is not simply a matter of making everything as rigid and unbreakable as possible, but can involve allowing movement, controlling where damage occurs, and providing multiple safeguards against catastrophic collapse — is supported by the engineering sources I checked.
As for the illustrations, I cannot determine from the images alone whether they were generated by AI. However, the same KENOVA研究所 | kenken channel publishes tutorials specifically about using ChatGPT to generate multiple explanatory images for YouTube videos, teaching materials, presentations and social media. That makes AI assistance quite plausible, but it does not establish how the images in this particular video were made. [4]
In short, I would treat the video as a useful and apparently well-researched popular explanation, not as an engineering source in itself. Its most important claims are consistent with the primary sources, and it is appropriately cautious about not attributing the survival of the Myoken bridge to any single device.
Sources:
[1] NEXCO West, “第1回 南九州自動車道妙見第一橋復旧に関する検討委員会の開催結果について,” August 7, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260807153611-01.pdf
[2] NEXCO West, “第1回 南九州自動車道妙見第一橋復旧に関する検討委員会の開催状況について,” committee materials, August 6, 2026.
https://www.w-nexco.co.jp/emc/emcpdfs/20260806163010-01.pdf
[3] Kyushu Regional Development Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, “推定活断層を踏まえた阿蘇大橋の橋梁設計について.”
https://www.qsr.mlit.go.jp/useful/n-shiryo/kikaku/kenkyu/h30/01/1_05%2829%29.pdf
[4] KENOVA研究所 | kenken, “【ChatGPT画像生成】1回の指示で複数枚の画像をまとめて作る方法.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYBCiWbo3eQ
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I'll follow this up with more posts.
