Kumamoto International Archive

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

Kirk here with some news that is not directly related to Kumamoto but, as this is an international community, I think I should report that Halloween festivities in nearby Seoul ended in tragedy last night. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by this. :(
Itaewon crowd crush: Horror as nearly 150 die in Seoul district
Halloween revellers pour into a narrow street in South Korea's capital, causing a deadly crush.

Liz here answering queries about local events : here is one happening tonight and tomorrow night in Shirakawa Park downtown. It is a traveling "gekidan" performance. I attended last year and it was great. When you enter the tent you are handed some origami paper which you use to wrap your change and/or bills in. This is their version of passing the hat for donations (no fixed entrance fee)and everyone tosses their donations on to the stage whenever you are moved to do so. It is entirely in Japanese, but don't let that stop you from going, it is visually satisfying even if you don't really get what they are saying/singing. They travel all over Japan , setting up in parks and performing no matter what the weather (last year I watched them performing on their homemade stage in the pouring rain) Show up around 6:30, grab a seat and enjoy. Starts at 7:00. Wear a sweater!

Kirk here. Oops! Just posted this as myself -- not the page. I'm too lazy to repost it so I'm just sharing it. It's about getting a booster shot for COVID-19.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/8087772744629420

(Fiona) Is it just me? I always hear about interesting events happening in Kumamoto....after they've happened. This season in particular seems to have a lot of stuff going on - farmer's markets, culture festivals, bazaars, sports events and concerts. If you know of something taking place in November, please post about it in this thread so that more people can find out about cool events in advance.

William If you've no plans for Sunday, you could do worse than to visit the Kumamoto Products Fair (Kumamoto Busan Fair, くまもと物産フェア), which will be held in the square fronting Kumamoto Station. 113 entrants will be selling and giving out free samples of food and other Kumamoto specialties totaling 520 items. ("うまかもん" is Kumamoto dialect for "delicious" and "よか品" that for "good stuff.)
This is the 27th time this fair has been held but the first time in three years due to, well, you know.
うまかもん、よか品…一堂に　くまもと物産フェア開幕　熊本駅前など2会場で30日まで｜熊本日日新聞社
　熊本県内の特産品を集めた「くまもと物産フェア」が29日、熊本市西区のJR熊本駅前広場と中央区の花畑広場の2会場で始まった。113事業所が加工食品やスイーツ、雑貨など計520品目を出品し、多くの来場客でにぎわってい....

William If any of our readers are aware of or plan on holding an event, please PM us so that we may clue in the wider community .
It's cosmos (the flower, not the TV show) season. A wonderful place to appreciate them is the Kumamoto Zoological and Botanical Garden ("the zoo").
While there, note the abundance of springs. A main reason why the zoo was built where it is is precisely this: free water for the hippos. And ride the Ferris wheel. And go in the House of Glass (separately and try to find one another). If you're lucky and an elephant wanders over, you can pat him.
https://www.ezooko.jp/imgkiji/pub/Default.aspx?c_id=31

Kirk here with a reminder:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02DbsaQd1YdPhqbEtm7iBZ99Yvsj6eHd1LBMrYmH2LZzVpaHngqoPTdJdwzy4wSS5el

William The BOJ has raised its inflation expectation from 2.3 to 2.9 percent, partly due to the weak yen. One way to avoid this is to buy locally produced foods, and one way to do that is to shop at smaller markets, which tend to source locally. We often shop at Iwanaga, a delightful lil' spot in Oe on Meigobashi Street. If you have a favorite small market, please share.
Tasaki market is Kumamoto's main wholesale market. If you haven't visited, you should. Arriving very early (before 5:00) allows viewing of the fish market, with massive maguro being pared down to size (pay attention to the knives). There is also a basashi shop with windows from which one can watch huge hunks of horse carved into saleable size. Though primarily wholesale, most food is also available for purchase at wholesale prices. Not only a unique experience, it is a way to stretch your yen. Their most excellent website: https://kumamoto-tasaki-ichiba.co.jp/
The market is a rather long walk from the tram's Tasaki station, but there is plenty of free parking.

(Douglas here) The following link is to an article on BBC News. Although it is not Kumamoto specific, it is an interesting description of something that affects us all in Japan - Kumamoto included.
Sliding yen: What is happening to the Japanese currency?
The country's central bank is expected to keep interest rates below zero even as the currency slides.

Kirk here with another Kumamoto-related news item. This is very positive development, I think:
Tokyo to get 1st ‘baby hatch’ for unwanted newborns in ’24 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
Drawing on the success of the “baby hatch” system pioneered by Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto for unwanted newborns, plans are in the works to open the first one in Tokyo.

Kirk with some news about some really horrible behavior on the part of an "educator" that seems to have led to the suicide of a boy in Kumamoto three years ago:
--- start quote ---
The report noted that his sixth-grade elementary school teacher berated students in a loud voice, beat them about the head and verbally abused them, calling them “stupid” and "idiot” on a daily basis.
--- end quote ---
Later in the article we learn that the "teacher continues to work at another school." Amazing!
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14751634
If you are interesting in this issue, please be sure to check out an image that I will add to a comment to this post.
Panel: Boy’s suicide linked to abuse by former 6th-grade teacher | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
KUMAMOTO--An investigatory panel has concluded that the suicide of a junior high school boy here is partly attributable to the abuse he was subjected to by his teacher when he was in elementary school.

Kirk here. I posted about this the other day but that article I referenced was in Japanese. This article is in English so I'm posting again.
Post based on Japanese-language article:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0C46ruYbfRKkMGPRt2rTLXvbfHwVyHBV98eFxSzW5iZdct2XtgqSBiPcbUcrA5adRl
English-language article
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20221026-66982/

William My liberal arts college forced me to take a laboratory science class, so I took the easiest: Geology. Turns out I'm glad I did. Sometimes one encounters a rock (or many) which shouldn't be there. In Maine, they were mostly moraines, which are piles of rocks, the tail ends of long vanished glaciers. In Kumamoto, they tend to be astonishingly large boulders of granite, intrusive igneous rock which Aso burped up over unimaginable distances in ancient eruptions. (Keep your eyes open: they are scattered throughout the city.) Ancient people not versed in geology attributed their existence to the divine - hence, the Shinto stuff.
One such is in Aso Ōmikami Ashiato Megami Ishi Park, Minamiaso Village (阿蘇大御神足跡女神石 - which literally means "Goddess Stone in the Footsteps of the Great Deity Aso Omikami).
Kumanichi reports on a bit of lichen growing in a circle on the rock which resembles, if one is colorblind, the Japanese flag, or Hinomaru. Take care in distinguishing between moss (苔, koke), which is a plant - it lives by photosynthesis; and lichen (地衣, chi'i - a beautiful word which literally means "earth's clothing"), which is a symbiotic relationship between a fungus (tough but cannot photosynthesize) and an alga (weak but can photosynthesize and by whose byproducts - algae farts - the fungus lives).
Anyway, on this immense megalith, a lichen in the shape of the Hinomaru may be found. Have yourself a field day.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/835161

Kirk here with a link to an article about the retirement of the SL Hitoyoshi. The steam engine that is currently pulling the train is 100 years old now. If you'd like to take one last ride (or your first ride) you have until March.
Personally, I can appreciate that affection that many people feel for old coal-burning steam engines. Part of me shares that sentiment. Still, another part of me is somewhat uncomfortable with environmental impact of even one coal-burning engine and the message that sends to the kids who ride it. So, while I'm sorry to see it go I think that perhaps it's time to move away from this particular engine type.
JR九州「SL人吉」再来年3月ごろめどに運行終了へ老朽化などで | NHK
【NHK】長年にわたって多くの人から親しまれてきたJR九州の観光列車「SL人吉」が、機関車の老朽化などを理由に再来年3月ごろをめど…

Kirk here reporting that the Kumanichi kindly printed my request that they refrain from calling us "YOU" and just use a straight-forward "外国人" (gaikokujin) if it's necessary to refer to our identity as foreigners. Thanks Kumanichi!
Here's a link to the original post from Atsuko:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02FMYc4N7KaZvK38zHX9jPMSR32sxm4PadjAQ7SJyb1qikH2RiiZ1FgW1g4VXp2cwjl
P.S. They featured my little letter prominently at the top of the page and didn't cut anything! :)

William Every Japanese city worth its salt has a festival. In Kumamoto, it is the Fujisaki Hachimangu Shuki Reitaisai (Autumn Festival https://fujisakigu.or.jp/reisai/index.html), or as we call it, the "horsey festival." The final day of the three-day festival is when the mikoshi (神輿, portable shrines) are trundled through the streets, allowing the gods enshrined within to bestow benevolence. The mikoshi are preceded by zuibyo (随兵, warrior entourage) and riderless horses intended to seat the gods; they are followed by some 60 groups of raucous celebrants chanting "Dokai, dokai" which, in Kumamoto dialect (higoben, 肥後弁), means "'Sup?" while manhandling decorated horses called kazariuma (飾り馬).
The festival, according to the shrine, originated to celebrate the safe return of Kato Kiyomasa from the Kansai region; Kato is said to have headed the zuibyo himself. However, an alternative (and more likely) theory is that it celebrates Kato's return from the Hamgyong campaign, his invasion of the northeastern Korean province of Hamgyeong during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamgyong_campaign This would explain why the festival was once known as "Boshita Matsuri" and the participants chanted, "Boshita! Boshita! Hora boshita!" ([We] destroyed! Destroyed! Completely destroyed!") Obviously, this was not an image an increasingly international Kumamoto wanted to convey, so in 1989, the cry "Boshita!" was replaced with "Dokai!" Despite this, many older people (like myself) still refer to the festival as "Boshita." Concerns have also been raised regarding animal cruelty. A rather exhaustive description is here: https://tinyurl.com/2fthehy6
Our friend Liz Suenaga, a very talented photographer, long-term resident, and Kumamoto-I editor, has provided these wonderful photographs. Liz and her son run an excellent photography studio near Fujisaki Shrine. If you ever desire a portrait or baby photo, this is the place to go (Liz is bilingual): https://www.p-suenaga.jp/

William A reminder to Americans living in Kumamoto: TODAY, 10/24, is the last day to register to vote. If you haven't registered, you can do so here: https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/voting/
Also, Americans should register with the Embassy - doing so brings occasional news alerts which at times are of some importance.
Voting in U.S. Elections
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Fiona here sharing an informative post about Kumamoto city's many attractions and recommended spots for visitors.
Top 10 Spots to Visit in Kumamoto City - kumamoto.guru
Check out our top 10 spots in Kumamoto City that showcase the city's long history, great food culture, and impressive landscapes!

Kirk here reporting that the Fujisakigu Reitaisai Festival was held today -- first time in three years. I had mentioned that it had been scheduled for today (the 23rd) but that was several weeks ago and I forgot to post a reminder. Sorry. I check local TV news (RKK) everyday and I don't think they mentioned it there. Maybe they didn't want the crowds to get to be too big so they kept it quiet. At any rate, the three-year hiatus has ended. :)
3年ぶり「馬追い」街熱く　熊本市・藤崎宮例大祭　台風で1カ月延期｜熊本日日新聞社
　熊本市の中心市街地一帯で23日、藤崎八旛宮（同市中央区）例大祭のハイライト「神幸行列」があった。新型コロナウイルスの影響で3年ぶりの開催となり、飾り馬の奉納団体は前回2019年の3割以下の16団体。台風14号接近で...

William A bit of news for us train geeks. JR Kyushu is holding a "Kumamoto Railway Festival," where all railway operators with routes in Kumamoto Prefecture gather to sell goods and railway equipment, this weekend at Amu Hiroba in front of JR Kumamoto Station. It will end Sunday, so be like JR and don't delay.
Also, from the 22nd (today), Kumamoto Electric Railway will start operating a "Halloween train" with Halloween decorations (see photo). This is the first of several projects to encourage ridership, which had declined due to the corona virus. Which car it is was not specified; perhaps you'll just have to wait at a tram stop until it comes by. The theme car will run until November 6.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/831506
https://kumanichi.com/articles/831544