Cruising through southern Kumamoto on the incredibly rapid, on-time train, I enjoy observing the countryside homes. They have heavy tile roofs which tell them, “Stay down!” (good idea for a house in typhoons but not when there’s an earthquake, during which the opposite command is appropriate). They are often decorated at the eaves with shachihoko (鯱鉾) – or simply shachi (鯱) – an animal in Japanese folklore with the head of a tiger and the body of a carp, supposed to ward off fire (I guess if I were a tiger-carp, I wouldn’t like fire unless I wanted to eat myself - biomorphology gets complicated). Did you know 90% of Japanese igusa, the reed used to make tatami, comes from Yatsushiro? Now you do. Impress your friends. - William