Kirk here with some news about Kumamoto's relationship with Montana.
2022-09-12 09:56 JST 2022 Kirk here with some news about Kumamoto's relationship with Montana. Kumamoto friends mark 40th anniversary of sister-state bondJapan is an important partner in trade, educational exchanges and critical ally in national security in the region. https://www.montanarightnow.com/news/state/kumamoto-friends- … ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 6 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 2 ← 2022-09-11 00:09 JST 2022-09-12 12:58 JST → Around this time … 2022-09-13 19:03 JSTKirk here with a note about my continuing research on Kumamoto's Moonie connections. This has to do with Kumamoto's "family education" law (くまもと家庭教育支援条例) which was established in 2013 and can be read here on the prefecture's website (in Japanese):https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/site/kyouiku/8775.htmlAs I have written previously, I have learned through media reports that pushing (or encouraging) local governments to establish such laws has been a long-standing objective of the Moonies:https://www.facebook.com/groups/167033417187237/posts/1164986174058618/https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0thvZHyWDuS7JqyHZNdWkuBjkBGUTgES6kdVVdvXYuXYpm5JTKUGuGHRjTPCnKLvdlToday, I came across an article in the Akahata, published by the Communist Party of Japan, that is related to this issue. The focus of the Akahata article is the municiple government of Tokyo. It points to several connections that municipal politicians have had with the Moonies, one of which is the attendance of NOGAMI Junko (Komeito member of the Tokyo Municipal Assembly) at events sponsored by the World Women's Association for Peace (世界平和女性連合; English is my translation), a front group for the Moonies. The article says that Ms. NOGAMI wrote in a 2020 report about how she learned at a one such meeting "that Tokyo should pass a law like Kumamoto's family education support law."This doesn't prove anything about how the Kumamoto law came to be written and passed. But, at the very least, it indicates that the Moonies in Tokyo were paying attention and considered the Kumamoto law to be a model.For me, the actual content of such laws is of secondary interest. What interests me most is the possibility that Moonies and conservative politicians were cooperating on a project of this nature. It could be that the conservative family values embedded in these laws were supported even more strongly by the politicians themselves than by the Moonies. However, whatever the answer to the "who-was-leading-whom" question, the likelihood of strong cooperation between Moonies and conservative politicians deserves some serious investigative reporting in my view.I'll continue to wait for the local media in Kumamoto to start publishing a series of articles on this topic. In the meantime, I'll try to ask movers and shakers I know here why nothing seems to be happening.--- start quote ---公明党の野上純子都議（当時、葛飾区選出）は１７年１０月と２０年１１月の２回、統一協会のダミー団体「世界平和女性連合」主催の講演会に出席し、計３０００円を政活費から支出。２０年１１月には講演内容として、家庭教育について「都政の中で、くまもとの家庭教育支援条例のような責任ある子育てができるように親を支援する条例が必要」と書いた「研修結果報告」を添付していました。--- end quote ---https://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/aik22/2022-09-07/2022090704_02_0.html 2022-09-13 12:39 JSTKirk here posting again about an exhibition at the Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art. Here's a machine translation of the original Japanese-language information about the exhibition:Miyabi: The history and the beauty of the Hosokawa collectionhttps://www.pref.kumamoto.jp.e.qp.hp.transer.com/site/museum/129243.htmlAnd here's the original Japanese:https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/site/museum/129243.htmlMy previous post focused on a very famous sword that is being displayed as part of the exhibition:https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02UE5iYdf2u3aKNcavnmzZiJkzpKqibZRQqWJKMTGeTa3wwYGykeqmkHtjhP7RUQrqlThis sword can only be seen in Part I of the exhibition which ends on September 25th.Note regarding how I found the machine translation of this page: The prefecture doesn't provide direct links between the original Japanese pages and their machine translations on their website. Unless you know a little trick, you have to go to the very entry point on the site and try to navigate the labyrinth to page (good luck!). I've learned, however, that inserting .e.qp.hp.transer.com before the first slash on a Japanese page will produce an English machine translation. Conversely, if you want to get to the original Japanese from a translation on this site, just remove that text string from the URL. This removal and addition of text to a URL is super easy for programers to do. So why didn't they make it standard? It seems that there are large numbers of people in Japan (not just Kumamoto) who simply can't imagine why English speakers who live in Japan would have any use for Japanese. :( I think that there are two assumptions involved: (1) Japanese is too damn hard for us and (2) we live in foreign bubbles and have no need to communicate with Japanese people about information we come across in English.But, on a more positive note, I got the city to fix their website:https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0GrfwCuptziqNext target: The prefecture! 2022-09-12 20:58 JSTKirk here reporting that the temperature in Kosa (in Kumamoto) was 36.3 C (97.3 F). That's a new record for Kumamoto in September and it was the hottest temperature in the country today.熊本県甲佐町で 36℃超えを記録し全国一の暑さに 9月なのに猛暑日 11年ぶりの記録 | 熊本のニュース｜RKK熊本放送 2022-09-12 17:16 JSTWilliam Our friend Liz is a very talented photographer and runs a studio near Fujisaki Shrine, so if you have something to commemorate over eternity, go her way. She took these marvelous photos of the moon. According to Wikipedia, "The most widely accepted origin explanation posits that the Moon formed 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth, out of the debris from a giant impact between the planet and a hypothesized Mars-sized body called Theia." Brutal. Don't name your daughter "Theia," and appreciate life. Photos by Liz Suenaga. 2022-09-12 12:58 JSTWilliam Things one might not associate with Kumamon and badminton might be one, but remember: this guy (?) somehow swims.Pictured is Akane Yamaguchi, who won the badminton world championship in Tokyo in August, visiting with Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima.Kumamon might not be "bad"minton but "good"minton!(Drops mike as wife slaps him.) Also, a reminder about how excruciating it must be to be a human inside a stuffed animal on the beach in the middle of summer. 2022-09-12 09:56 JSTKirk here with some news about Kumamoto's relationship with …Kumamoto friends mark 40th anniversary of sister-state bond (this post) 2022-09-11 00:09 JSTKirk here with some local news that has become national. IDE Nobuo, an LDP member of the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly, is shown in this video smoking in Koshien Stadium, while rooting for Kyushu Gakuen High School, his alma mater. This part of the stadium is "no smoking" but he continued to smoke despite requests from school officials to cease and desist. The video contains an older video from Mr. Ide where he says that his motto is 初志貫徹 (shoshi kantetsu), which means "once you decided to do something, you should see it through to the end." I guess the implication is that once Mr. Ide decided to start smoking in the stands, he was determined to see it through to the end, regardless of what others might say. After the first inning a cheerleader is reported to have complained that the smoke was making her feel ill.I'm not exactly sure why this news came out today and not earlier but I've seen multiple reports about it in the last few hours.禁煙の甲子園客席で母校応援の熊本県議が喫煙 学校関係者「注意しても吸ってた」 2022-09-10 19:48 JSTWilliam Our good friend Tami Day recently posted that there are over 230 varieties of potatoes in the Americas. This is particularly important for genetic health - think of the the Irish potato famine. Kumamoto does a whole lotta potatoes (yeah - their is an "e" on the end when you pluralize them). 2022-09-10 14:26 JSTWilliam This article is about a female infant who was born and abandoned in a phone booth, likely as her mother was panicked and could think of no other options. I was adopted back in mid '60s Boston, when such a practice was unusual. It is not unusual anymore. Jikei Hospital offers full medical care under complete confidentiality. PM us if in need of help.https://kumanichi.com/articles/785611https://jikei-hp.or.jp/電話ボックスに置き去り、探し求めた自分のルーツ 会えたのは… ＜ゆりかご15年＞連載 第４部①｜熊本日日新聞社 2022-09-10 13:31 JSTKirk here with more recent successes of Kumamoto's own Munetaka Murakami: "Murakami, who has a very real chance of becoming the first Triple Crown winner in Japan since Nobuhiko Matsunaka of the then Daiei Hawks in 2004, homered over the center-field wall in his first at-bat of the night in the second inning at Jingu Stadium."I didn't know what "triple crown" meant. Here's an explanation: "The term 'Triple Crown' generally refers to the batting achievement of leading a league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI) over the same season." -- WikipediaMurakami is also climbing the ladder of all-time records in Japan for home runs in a single season.Baseball: Munetaka Murakami hits 53rd homer in Swallows' win over Carp - The Mainichi 2022-09-10 10:16 JSTKirk with some economic news: "FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO, Representative Director: Teiichi Goto) has announced that it will invest approximately 2 billion yen installing a production facility capable of manufacturing cutting-edge semiconductor materials in Kumamoto supporting the growth of the electronic materials business."Fujifilm : announces a strategic investment in a new production facility in Kumamoto Japan to support the fast-growing semiconductor industry (Fujifilm) | MarketScreener
