Kirk here with some end-of-year thoughts:

Kirk here with some end-of-year thoughts:

Thought no. 1: Thanks!

Kumamoto was a pretty friendly venue throughout 2022. Of course, there were some differences of opinion, etc. but no major conflicts that I can recall. Thanks for being so nice, everyone! And, thanks to my partners in crime – the other editors. I’m pretty sure that I posted more than anyone else this year but when I looked at the top ten posts in terms of reach, I only had a few. Others posted less frequently but with better quality. I’ll probably continue to post pretty regularly in 2023 but I’ll also be looking forward to more cool contributions from other editors. And, if you’d like to join the team of editors, let me know. The more the merrier!

Thought no. 2: If you are really interested in what is happening in Kumamoto, don’t rely on your feed exclusively.

Posts that lots of people are interested in will probably turn up in your feed. But, information that may be useful or important for some readers may not be very popular. COVID-19 information is an example. I was struck this year by just how unpopular (in terms of “reach,” at least) COVID-19 posts were. This includes the following recent announcement of an increase in the alert level for Kumamoto Prefecture: https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0aGpSHim84YQ4q8YjNaYzNLKgq62hYgB9H6xJK4d9tR55hCT1nb3qy1sJBa4cDYo1l

If you have a keen interest in such local information, I recommend that you occasionally navigate to the page and make sure you haven’t missed anything.

Thought number 3: Happy New Year! Kotoshi mo yoroshiku!!!