Carlton. Revealing to a degree my age and time in Japan, I have to note that today is the 50th anniversary of the tragic fire that destroyed the former Taiyo Department Store on Shimotori.
I had only been in Kumamoto for about 3 months at the time of its occurrence, but I can still remember how it affected the community and the family with whom I was “homestaying” as a brand new ALT on a fellowship then from the Japan-America Society.
On that day I was in Hitoyoshi speaking to a group of Japanese English teachers about what very little I knew then about the art of TESOL. It was on the return trip to Kumamoto city in a car with some of those teachers that while listening to the radio a hush fell over us as the enormity of the tragedy was reported. Many people were affected directly and far more indirectly.
For background here is the Wikipedia account: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Taiyo_Department_Store_fire