Kumamoto International Archive

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

Finally, the government has taken steps to respond more meaningfully to the Supreme Court's decision repudiating the government's long-standing position that multiple symptoms are necessary for certification as a Minamata disease patient.
By the way, I referred to this landmark decision yesterday in relation to the appointment of the new chief of the Supreme Court:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/10153868743935655
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140307/ministry-changes-guidelines-recognizing-minamata-disea
Ministry changes guidelines in recognizing Minamata disease victims
The Environment Ministry notified local governments concerned Friday that it has changed guidelines to recognize people as victims of the Minamata mercury-poisoning disease, one of Japan's worst illnesses linked to industrial pollution.

Here's something for the Kumamon fans out there.
If you click on the link to the article, you'll find a YouTube video of Kumamon learning to ride the motorcycle.
"Kumamoto is also home to one of Honda’s motorcycle factories, which led to the production of a three-part video series about Kumamon riding a Honda Monkey bike."
http://blog.motorcycle.com/2014/03/06/funnies/bear-riding-monkey-yep-bear-riding-monkey/
Bear Riding a Monkey? Yep, Bear Riding a Monkey - Motorcycle.com News
Kumamon, a popular bear mascot in Japan, learns to ride a Honda Monkey motorcycle. Why? Because Japan.

We got an inquiry about mountain biking in Kumamoto:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/606689336071169
This has been a topic of discussion on the Kumamoto-i mailing list. Here's one relevant thread:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/kumamoto-i/conversations/topics/10850
You can search the archive yourself to find more information. I know there's more posts in there about biking in general and I think there's also more information about mountain biking.
By the way, the information in the Kumamoto-i thread took me to the following page:
http://en.wikiloc.com/trails/outdoor/japan/kumamoto
It introduces some biking trails as well as hiking trails.

The readership of this page has been growing quite quickly recently. Thank you for your support. If you know someone who you think might appreciate having access to information like this in English, please introduce the page to them. The time it take to post information is the same, regardless of how many readers there are so the more people seem to be utilizing the information, the happier I am.

The article points out that the new Supreme Court chief "confirmed a deceased woman in Kumamoto Prefecture as a Minamata disease victim, rejecting an appeal by the prefectural government" as presiding justice at the top court. This decision has helped many victims seeking redress to do so more easily. As those of you who have been following the Minamata disease issue know, the Supreme Court decision has become a huge turning point in the recent history of Minamata Disease.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001095197
Govt to appoint Terada as Supreme Court chief - The Japan News
The government will appoint Supreme Court Justice Itsuro Terada as the next chief justice of the nation’s top court, government officials said Thursday.

I just posted some information about this celebration from Kumamon's site but, to be honest, this Japan Times article says it better. For details, though, it may still be a good idea to refer to the link I included in my previous post.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/03/06/events/happy-birthday-to-kumamon-japans-favorite-regional-bear/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=happy-birthday-to-kumamon-japans-favorite-regional-bear
Happy birthday to Kumamon, Japan's favorite regional bear
You don't have to be from Kumamoto Prefecture to know Kumamon — a cute red-cheeked black bear who was officially introduced as the region's yurukyara (mascot character) in 2010. Since ...

Attention Ramen Fans! Here's an article about Kumamoto's own AJisen Ramen:
http://www.fool.sg/2014/03/05/5-things-you-should-know-about-japan-foods-holding/
5 Things You Should Know About Japan Foods Holding | The Motley Fool
Do you live to eat, or eat to live? For Singapore’s residents the answer is clearly the former – after all, we love to eat. Chinese, Malay, North and South Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, European - whatever dishes you’re craving you’re likely to find it here.

Here's some information in Japanese about the burning of the character for "fire" (火) on the side of a mountain in Aso. The page includes a schedule of the events planned before and after the fire starts on the mountain at 6:30 PM. Afterwards, they will shoot off fireworks (7:20).
To see an earlier post with information in English go to
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/10153843914725655
http://kumanago.jp/event/?mode=detail&id=430000003656&isEvent=&isSpot=1
阿蘇の火まつりのオープニングイベントとして毎年開催される「阿蘇の大火文字焼き」。往生岳と本塚の2ヶ所にそれぞれ…

At this event in New York, "a virtual reality movie takes viewers inside Kumamoto Castle."
http://www.eturbonews.com/43348/japan-week-2014-comes-grand-central-terminal
Japan Week 2014 comes to Grand Central Terminal - eTurboNews.com
NEW YORK, NY - Japanese culture, cuisine and tourism come to Grand Central Terminal with Japan Week 2014, a three-day festival organized by the Japan ...

Sending money from Japan to other countries is something many foreigners in Kumamoto need to do. In a recent discussion of the issue, bitcoin was one possibility that was suggested. Soon after that, the Mt Gox news story broke. If you are like me, you may have found it hard to understand what bitcoin is. This discussion on Science Friday really helped me understand it better.
The first URL below is to our discussion about ways of sending money. The second URL is to the Science Friday program.
http://sciencefriday.com/segment/02/28/2014/making-sense-out-of-bitcoin.html
Making Sense Out of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a digital currency that was created by an anonymous developer in 2009.

Here's a message from the Kumamoto-i mailing list entitled "Part Time Teaching Positions From April"
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/kumamoto-i/conversations/messages/12797
Yahoo Groups
Open House Language School, located on the Kamitori shopping arcade in Kumamoto City, is currently accepting resumes for upcoming part time contract positions.

I think I saw something on TV more recently that indicated that they had found all but one fawn. Maybe I'm naive, but something in me makes me want to root for that fawn. Go, Fawn, go! (I hope it's big enough to make its way without its mother, though.)
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/3-deer-still-missing-after-6-escape-from-kumamoto-zoo
3 deer still missing after 6 escape from Kumamoto zoo
Eight deer belonging to the Kumamoto City Zoological and Botanical Gardens escaped from their enclosure on Monday afternoon. Police and…

The "Kumamoto PA Wiki" has some information about sexual health and AIDS testing in Kumamoto (top URL; lower URL is for recent news article).
http://kumamotopa.pbworks.com/w/page/5003114/Sexual%20Health%20in%20Kumamoto%20(STD-HIV%20Testing)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140302_25.html
HIV infection second-highest on record -NHK WORLD English-
NHK WORLD is the international broadcasting service of NHK.

Here's an image from TV showing the extent to which Tomishige's photo of the castle recorded small details (e.g. the roof tiles, etc.). The detail and clarity of these photos made them invaluable in the restoration process after Kumamoto Castle was destroyed in the Seinan War. If you'd like to see this and other photos up close, click on the following link to get the details about the exhibition being held this month at Kumamoto University.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/photos/a.129499733790134.25925.123734781033296/603395596400543/

This is from an article about preparations for Oscar celebrations:
http://cooks.ndtv.com/article/show/oscars-2014-a-sneak-peek-into-the-oscar-party-menu-489921
Here's a paragraph about the history of the Kumamoto oyster from another web page:
"The history of the Kumamoto oyster is very interesting. 50 years ago, Japanese oyster cultivators started exporting Kumamoto oysters to California, dreaming of growing their businesses. However, Americans discovered that they could cultivate kumamoto oysters in California, which led to cheaper and fresher domestic kumamoto oysters. This caused the disappearance of kumamoto oyster cultivation in Japan. Recently, Japanese people who had eaten Kumamoto oysters in the United States began creating a demand for Kumamoto oysters in Japan. So, the Kumamoto prefecture started cultivating kumamoto oysters and hopefully it will be at the market this season."
http://j-collabo.org/2010/12/27/winter-ingredient-oyster/#more-294
The most recent news I've seen about the reintroduction of Kumamoto oyster has be a little discouraging: Temperatures were too high so many of the oysters died. I hope things improve next season.

Here's a poster indicating that crime rates in Kumamoto are relatively low. (I added the English -- the original is in Japanese only.)

The other day I wrote a bit about the exhibition of photos from the Tomishige Photography Studio that is being held on the campus of Kumamoto University:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/photos/a.129499733790134.25925.123734781033296/603395596400543/
One reason that the Tomishige Photography Studio is considered to be important is that the founder, Tomishige Rihei, took the only photographs of Kumamoto Castle before it was burned down in the Seinan War. As the segment fromf "Photography in Japan" explains, these photographs made a more authentic reconstruction of the castle possible.

The Kumamoto Gakuen Green Philharmonic will have having their 20th annual concert on 9 March at the Kumamoto Gakuen University Morio Takahashi Hall (next to the Prefectural Theatre). The concert begins at 2:00 and the doors open at 1:30.
The program is
Shostokovich Festive Overture in A major, Op. 96
Hisaishi Two pieces from the soundtrack of Momonoke Hime (Princess Momonoke)
Kanno Hana ha Saku
Schumann Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120
Concert is free with a ticket, available at
http://www2.kumagaku.ac.jp/circle/greenphil/concert/ticket.html
熊本学園大学グリーンフィルハーモニックオーケストラ｜GREEN CONCERT2011入場整理券

An exhibition of historical photographs is underway at the "Memorial Museum of the Fifth High School" (Goko Kinenkan; 五校記念館) on the campus of Kumamoto University. It will continue until the end of March. Personally, I'm very eager to see these photographs from the historically important Tomishige Photography Studio (冨重写真所). Here's the address of a web page about the Tomishige Photography Studio:
http://warp.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/284929/www.pref.kumamoto.jp/education/hinokuni/tomishige/tomishige_index.html
The page has enough English to be useful even if you don't read Japanese.
The Fifth High School building is also historically important. Check out this page to learn more about it:
http://ewww.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/dept/fifth/
This is the building where people like Lafcadio Hearn and Natsume Soseki taught.

Retiring principal creates lookalike statues for graduating class - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
NANKAN, Kumamoto Prefecture--The principal of a rural high school that will soon close its doors is honoring this year’s graduating class with hand-crafted figurines made in each student’s likeness.