Kumamoto International Archive

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

Kirk here. This is fairly rare but it may be something for people in the Tamana area or other agricultural areas to be aware of.
--- quote from article ---
In response to this case, an advisory has been issued for the entire Kumamoto Prefecture, urging residents to take precautionary measures. These include wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repellent to prevent mosquito bites, and eliminating areas with stagnant water that serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time Japan has seen cases of Japanese encephalitis. In 2022, a total of five cases, including one fatality, were reported in Kumamoto Prefecture alone.
--- end of quote ---
https://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/news2/japan-reports-1st-japanese-encephalitis-case-of-2023-in-kumamoto-prefecture/95171/
Here's a YouTube video in English about Japanese encephalitis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaNNP7231Gw
And another article:
Japan reports 1st Japanese encephalitis case of 2023 in Kumamoto Prefecture
https://outbreaknewstoday.com/japan-reports-1st-japanese-encephalitis-case-of-2023-in-kumamoto-prefecture-75779/
P.S. I'm not sure why the woman pictured seems to be so pleased with this news about an encephalitis report.
First Case of Japanese Encephalitis Reported in Japan this Year

Kirk here with some Kuma shochu news.
Kumamoto Pref. Liqueur Features Local Shochu, Citrus Fruit
Local businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture have successfully produced a new liqueur using Kuma Shochu, a local specialty from the Hitoyoshi Kuma region of the prefecture, and a citrus fruit produced in Kumamoto City. It is the second product of a collaboration project between a local sake brewery and a...

Kirk here with a share from Untapped Kumamoto about cycling in Aso: "You can rent a bicycle at JR Aso station and they are available on a first come, first served basis."
https://www.facebook.com/untappedkumamoto/posts/pfbid0wN1bjtMjSvLQ96d2w2FAC7CrQoveToWrts89E4ivXX7kEK2KxnabUbtfiu8YPP8Ql

Kirk here with a story about an inspirational lady. (I think this is the second time for me to post about her work at the Shimotori McDonald's.)
At 90, oldest female McDonald's Japan staffer shares longevity secrets - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- As Japan's workforce ages, one 90-year-old worker at a McDonald's outlet in this southwest city in Kyushu continues to energetically greet

JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) has establish an office in Kumamoto to help foreign businesses. This is related to the arrival of TSMC and other related businesses in Kumamoto. -- Kirk
熊本県内に進出を希望する外国企業への支援デスクをJETROが設置　TSMC進出で外国企業からの問い合わせ相次ぐ | 熊本のニュース｜RKK熊本放送
TSMCの菊陽町進出をうけ、日本貿易振興機構=JETRO（ジェトロ）熊本が県内に進出を希望する外国企業への支援をスタートしました。JETRO熊本はこれまで、外国企業の日本への投資や国内企業の海外進出をサポートして…

Kirk here with old news about the Hassaku festival in Yamato-machi. Cute, huh?!
Kumamoto: Giant Float of Kumamon Paraded at Festival
YAMATO, Kumamoto — Ten huge floats made of tree bark, pine cones and other natural materials were the main attraction of a parade that took place earlier this month in Yamato, Kumamoto Prefecture. The Otsukurimono floats, which can reach up to 5 meters tall, were paraded at the Hassaku Festival, w...

Kirk here with an event schedule for the weekend of the 29th (Friday) to the 1st (Sunday). Taiwanese food!!
Kumamoto Taiwan Festival 2023 - Events in Kumamoto
The Kumamoto Taiwan Festival is a three-day event which brings a variety of flavorsome dishes to the city's Hanabatake Hiroba (Flower Garden Square) for attendees to try.

Kirk here. Various events that are part of the Kumamoto Oshiro Matsuri are coming up. This one the 29th and 30th of this month and will involve moon viewing, tea, and music. For details, I have to ask you to look at the Japanese:
https://kumamoto-guide.jp/oshiromatsuri/events/detail/35
As far as I can see you have to be able to read Japanese in order to find out about specific events during the castle festival. Foreigners just get static explanations about the castle and other aspects of Kumamoto. I realize that posting information on specific events can be time-consuming but, now that Kumamoto City employees are being encouraged to use ChatGPT, maybe they'll be able to start doing using AI to give foreign tourists better information.
Here's ChatGPT's translation of the information about the event:
Location:
1-1-1 Ninomaru, Chuo Ward, Kumamoto, 860-0008, Japan (Josaien Open Space & Riverside Area)
Organizer: Kumamoto City (Castle Festival Management Committee)
Contact Information:
Phone Number: 096-352-5900
FAX Number: 096-356-5655
Email Address: [email protected]
Admission: Free
Parking: Josaien Parking Lot
Business Hours:
8:00 AM to 9:30 PM (Closed at 10:30 PM)
Fees:
Regular cars: ¥200 for the first 2 hours (¥100 per additional hour thereafter)
Access Information:
5 minutes' walk from Sakura-machi Bus Terminal
5 minutes' walk from Hanabata-cho Tram Stop

Kirk here with an iguana update. This happened in Asagiri, in the Hitoyoshi area. (Note to headline editor: I think "captured" or "found" would have been better than "on the loose captured.")
2-meter-long iguana on the loose captured in southwest Japan - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- Local police on Sept. 22 captured a roughly 2-meter-long green iguana that had escaped from a house in the Kumamoto Prefecture town of Asa

William Our friend Patrick Ijima-Washburn has provided this wonderful photo of Mt Unzen, on the Shimabara peninsula across from Kumamoto, taken from Aso. Unzen is a dormant (for the moment) volcano, part of the arc which stretches from Okinawa up through Hokkaido and then around the Aleutian Islands down through the Americas - what is known as "the ring of fire."
Unzen is famous for an eruption in 1991 which generated a pyroclastic flow that killed 43 people.
Shimabara is easily accessible from Kumamoto via ferry (and the ferry is cheap and fun - bring bread for the seagulls). The town itself is very walkable. It is particularly famous for its "武家屋敷" (samurai house district). Multiple historic residences are on a street lined with canals filled with koi. Note the residences' entrances, which were designed to prevent unwanted intrusion from ninja.
Panoramic photo courtesy of Patrick. Koi photo ripped from the Web.

Kirk here with some Yamaga school lunch news.
Cockroach, Slug Found in School Lunches in Kumamoto Pref.
KUMAMOTO — A cockroach and slug were found in school lunches served this month at an elementary school in Yamaga, Kumamoto Prefecture, the city’s board of education said Friday. The pests were found at the city-run Kamoto Elementary School, according to the board’s announcement. A 1-centimter-...

Atsuko here.
Yesterday was the autumnal equinox and the weather was crisp and autumnal.
This is the autumn share of the countryside in Kumamoto, my home town of Nagomi machi.
I love the white higanbana. Kumamoto is now in the season of delicious persimmons and chestnuts. I also made o-hagi (rice cakes).
How to make Ohagi
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4290988224307910&id=123734781033296

Sean here - Teen Powered could use one maybe two more teens leaders who are energetic, intelligent and not afraid of thinking differently.
Would really prefer a girl/women as we have enough boys/men at this time. This is an A list group of teens who are planning the 3rd annual Ezuko 2023 Trick or Trash Halloween Party
A great opportunity for the right young adult. Massage me, or Yuri, our volunteer [email protected]@gmail.com
Art by Haru

Kirk here. This post is not specific to Kumamoto. It's about the difficulty of unsubscribing from mailing lists in Japan vs. the U.S.
Here's what I've noticed: Unsubscribing from mailing lists (that is, promotional e-mails you don't want) is harder in Japan than in the U.S. The reason is that, in Japan, you have to be able to log in to your account with that company just to say "don't send me any more stuff." I first noticed this with Yahoo!Japan (which, by the way, is a particularly egregious spammer) but have since noticed that quite a few other companies follow this "spam-will-continue-until-you-are-able-to-log-in" policy too.
Today I noticed it with AU (cell phone company). I no longer have an account and don't remember my log in information so the only way to stop the e-mails seems to be to call the company. This will be my second time to make such a phone call just to get e-mails to stop coming.
In the States, by contrast, I haven't had difficulty canceling similar promotional e-mail services. Basically, they seem to be set up so that they automatically know that the link you clicked on to cancel is actually from your e-mail address and that's enough proof for them. A world of difference!
Of course, in slightly different ways, American companies also employ a sort of "make-staring-easy-but-quitting-hard" technique to increase profits. Amazon is one such example:
Amazon Prime is too damn hard to cancel, says FTC lawsuit
https://www.fastcompany.com/90913194/amazon-prime-lawsuit-too-hard-cancel-easy-signup-ftc
Generally, I would agree the commonly-voiced opinion that service in Japan tends to be very good. Clerks are usually friendly and helpful. I would have to say that I prefer typical Japanese retail service to that of my own country, the U.S. But, Japan's vaunted service has it's limits. One example is the kind of thing we see with this smiling tanuki from AU. It looks friendly and nice and everything but the effect is to make customers suffer though a tedious cancelation process unnecessarily. If AU and similar companies were truly interested in providing good service, they'd make it easier to quit!

Yesterday was the SL Aso Boy's last hurrah, after 18 years. -- Kirk
ＳＬあそＢＯＹ１８年ぶりに豊肥線走る　沿道には多くの鉄道ファン【熊本】 (23/09/22 18:45)
来年３月での引退が決まっているＳＬ人吉の蒸気機関車が１８年ぶりにＳＬあそＢＯＹとして豊肥線を走りました。２２日は、その雄姿を一目見ようと沿道に多くの鉄道ファンが訪れました。多くの鉄道ファンが見守る中、...

William There are few choices for international schools in Kumamoto, but as a Lutheran school (which is about as undogmatic as Christian sects go - their main dogma is "'Sup?," ) Kyushu Gakuin is about as good as it gets. It is a very old school, one of the first in Japan to be based on English. It also has a pretty good baseball team that, most years, get your hopes up by qualifying for Koshien and then quickly dashing them.
A fundamental force at the school, Isao Kotegawa (or "Kote-chan," as he's known) published a photo of a group of Kyugaku students in San Francisco back in 1979. It must have been a shock for all involved! (And another photo - this is how old the school is!) The church is still there, but the classroom building is now modern.
If you are raising an international child, Kyugaku would be a good consideration for JHS and HS.
https://www.facebook.com/isao.kotegawa.3

William Addiction - whether to alcohol, drugs, or even sex! - can happen to anyone. Kumamoto is fortunate to host Kikuyo Byoin, which focuses on treating these issues. Its spacious grounds are located in a secluded, wooded area - more like a resort than a hospital. The staff are kind and professional, and the food is very good. Days are spent with meetings on experiencing addiction and how to manage it. The hospital accepts national health insurance, which means it is probably cheaper to stay there than at home. PM me if you have any questions. https://www.kikuyouhp.jp/?fbclid=IwAR0Gscy96HzsQnKvzOH8_rkO7ThXZA32ZOdi2413-ZsnuiK49nvpgwWKs-I
私たちは患者様を病気をもった人というだけでなく、同じ社会のなかで人権をもって生きている人、生活している人という全人的視点から、患者様の立場に立った治療や援助を行います。

Red spider lilies from Kuma Visit there. These flowers have two Japanese names: manjushage (曼珠沙華) and higanbana (彼岸花). One theory about the etymology of manjushage is that it's part of a Buddhist sutra with origins in Sanskrit. According to the theory, in the sutra, the sound of the Sanskrit word for "red" was translated into Chinese characters and that was then brought into Japanese. No wonder Japanese can seem pretty darn difficult at times!
https://www.otani.ac.jp/yomu_page/b_yougo/nab3mq0000000rnh.html
The other word, "higanbana," means "the flower that blooms around the time of the Autumnal Equinox" which is September 23 this year. That's today! Right on time!
https://www.facebook.com/kumavisit/posts/693189695601412:693189695601412

Kirk here reporting that Hiromi Chida, founder of Kuma Visit, got written up in Kumanichi Spice. Congratulations Hiromi! The article mentions her Facebook page, which I hope most of you already know about:
https://www.facebook.com/kumavisit
It also mentions her multilingual radio program The Kuma Post, which is broadcast on Kumamoto City FM from 12:50 to 1:00 PM on Sundays.
https://fm791.jp/program/105
I must confess that I haven't listened to it yet but I will soon!!
P.S. Hiromi, please let us know when the program will be in English for the most part.

Kirk here. More air service between Taiwan in Kumamoto.
China Airlines launches flights between Taipei and Kumamoto
China Airlines has launched flights between Taoyuan Airport (TPE) in Taipei and Aso Kumamoto Airport (KMJ) in Kyushu. The Taiwanese airline is operating the route with two flights per week using A321neo aircraft every Monday and Friday, with two additional flights scheduled to take off on Thursdays....