Kirk here with an update on the helicopter from Kumamoto that crashed in Okinawa.
2023-05-09 21:18 JST 2023 Kirk here with an update on the helicopter from Kumamoto that crashed in Okinawa. Wreckage of GSDF helicopter returned to base | NHK WORLD-JAPAN NewsThe wreckage of a crashed Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter has been transported to the base in Kumamoto Prefecture where it belonged. The GSDF plans to closely examine the wreckage to determine the cause of the accident. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230508_10/ ↗ 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: 1 ← 2023-05-09 12:09 JST 2023-05-10 12:46 JST → Around this time … 2023-05-16 14:40 JSTKirk here. Over the time that I (with lots of help from others) have been trying to feed relevant and (hopefully) useful information to this page, I have come to notice that English information is often presented on the web with no links to the Japanese information it is based on. Discussion of that issue here eventually led me to write a letter to Mayor Onishi that, to the mayor's credit, resulted in a significant improvement in machine translation on the Kumamoto City website: users can now toggle directly between foreign-language translations and the original Japanese. The mayor fixed the issue on the Kumamoto City site (see URL at the end of this post), but the vast majority of municipal / governmental websites in Japan continue to present poor-quality machine translations with no clear way of accessing the original Japanese text. That led me to write an academic paper (in Japanese) that came out in December of last year:https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1520013485571215616The motivation for the article and a significant portion of the discussion relates directly to this Facebook page so I would like to share a pdf here but staff at my university tell me that the pdf won't be published on the web until June. I'll post about that when the time comes.At any rate, the main idea of the article is "Why the %*@# do so many people in Japan assume that foreigners ONLY need information in foreign languages?" In other words, why is it assumed that foreign residents have no need for information in Japanese, even when the quality of the translation is clearly poor? I gave a paper copy of the article to Mr. Yagi of the International Center and he was kind enough to arrange an opportunity for me for me to present the contents of my paper to the staff at the International Center. Mr. Yagi has asked me to address some issues that go slightly beyond what I wrote in the paper I so I decided to make up a short little Google form questionnaire to get some feedback from readers of this page. Here are the URLs of the form and of the post I made about it yesterday.https://forms.gle/qbrEMjKfV6A6mDH29https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0Q7vYqgZ9AvV5P9kYVRPnoC1Wr8GfpcxoPbjb8kL5nmThRo7MWgfVMmTGQwVhiQfGlI've already gotten 13 responses. Thanks!!! I hope more of you will share your perspectives so that I can share them with the folks at the International Center and then with readers of this page. Yoroshiku!!https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02LZBsiowcLPQWYTBiZCzxNxb2zSLceUdkrizXDDkVUdoP6dCY6Dmsc2oqyuy3HEfvl 2023-05-15 19:21 JSTI will be speaking with staff at Kumamoto's International Center soon about how best to respond to the linguistic needs of foreign residents of Kumamoto. I don't feel qualified to speak on behalf of the diverse community so I'd like to ask that you take a few minutes to respond to the questions in a Google form that I put on the web:https://forms.gle/Rng33mFfCa2KM4XW8The form only collects your answers (not your e-mail address or another identifying information).The form has a few questions about length of residence in Japan, native language, level of Japanese and then the following four questions:1. How often do you feel frustrated or uncomfortable because Japanese people expect you to function at a higher level in Japanese than you are able to?2. How often do you feel frustrated or uncomfortable because Japanese people want to speak Japanese with you (when you would really prefer to speak English or another language you know)?3. How often do you feel frustrated or uncomfortable because Japanese people assume that your Japanese level is lower than it actually is?4. How often do you feel frustrated or uncomfortable because Japanese people want to speak English (or another language other than Japanese) with you (when you would really prefer to speak Japanese with them)?That's all. It should only take a couple of minutes to fill out. I'll report the results here (on this Facebook page) in addition to sharing them with staff at the International Center.Thanks in advance!!Expectations/Assumptions about Communication in Japanese and Other Languages 2023-05-13 23:05 JSTKirk here sharing a post from Kumamoto Japan Tourism. I think this series is a great idea. I love to see high school students using their hard-won English skills so meaningfully. In regard to KATO Kiyomasa, I've been impressed with just how many aspects of contemporary life in Kumamoto can be traced back to him. His civil engineering projects changed the course of the Shirakawa and created irrigation channels that are still in use today. Moreover, the following foods all have connections to KATO Kiyomasa (some more direct than others): basashi, karashi renkon, Chosen ame. Then, there's Kumamon. If KATO hadn't changed the character used to write Kumamoto from 隈 to 熊 we wouldn't have a cute bear as a mascot. Since 隈 can refer to dark circles under your eyes, maybe KATO saved us from having an extremely tired looking character! ;)https://www.facebook.com/kumamoto.en/posts/pfbid0VtKkgYdkKToLoPfm9NpNwPce6Yw4UCWGShsWZbxUw1kBfo4uqa87RsddYAcSynF9l 2023-05-11 21:43 JSTKirk here. Shaken (JCI car inspection) anyone? If the deadline for your vehicle is coming up, be sure NOT to take it to the BIG MOTOR on the Hamasen Bypass:Follow-up Scoop!" Shocking Video of "Big Motor," the Leading Used Car Dealer, Punching Holes in Customers' Tires 2023-05-10 12:46 JSTKirk here reporting on a very important person whom I'm sorry to say I didn't know about until I heard of his passing. ---- start quote ----Isao Arita (1926 – 17 March 2023) was a Japanese physician, virologist and vaccination specialist who headed the World Health Organization (WHO) Smallpox Eradication Unit in 1977–85. During this period, smallpox became the first infectious disease of humans to be eradicated globally. For this work, he and his colleagues were awarded the Japan Prize in 1988.---- end quote ----https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isao_AritaHis passing has been covered a good deal in the Japanese-language media but I haven't been able to find anything in English. This is one of many examples of news that I would think should be covered in English too (you know, head of the WHO, eradication of smallpox is not exactly small potatoes) -- but that isn't. Another reason to learn Japanese -- there's quite a lot of information that's available in Japanese that never gets translated.Photo taken from:https://www.japanprize.jp/en/prize_past_1988_prize02.html 2023-05-09 21:18 JSTKirk here with an update on the helicopter from Kumamoto …Wreckage of GSDF helicopter returned to base | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News (this post) 2023-05-09 12:09 JST(Douglas)In sharing the following 360° Virtual Tour of Takahashi Inari JInja, I would like to ask for your help in providing me with some valuable feedback.The tour should work without any problems when viewed on a computer.In fact, I recommend that method if you want to get the real feeling of the 360° images.The problems can arise when viewing from a smartphone or android phone.Links may not work, videos may take ages to download, some elements may not appear at all and so on!I do not use this method of viewing myself.That's where you come in.For those of you who would like to help me with feedback and are viewing on a "phone", please take some time to try the tour and report back to me with your thoughts on any problems you encounter.When going to the link below on your phone, you may see an icon representing 3d glasses. Clicking on that icon will likely show,"Install Google VR Services?" You should do that in order to see the correct 360° images and videos.Once at the start of the tour, I suggest you watch the left-hand-side video on Navigating the 360° Tour, before pressing the start button.Short comments and feedback can be left in the comments here.However if you prefer, you can email me at [email protected].I hope you can enjoy the Tour and I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback.Takahashi Inari Jinja 2023-05-08 21:54 JSTKirk here. This Kumamon (the one in front of Sakura Machi Kumamoto) had his mask removed today, in keeping with the national downgrading of COVID-19.https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/stream/article/21346/ 2023-05-08 16:28 JSTWilliam This was behind Kumanichi's paywall, so I couldn't read the whole article, but the first sentence was sufficient: "Of the 89 civilian airports nationwide, the number of landings by U.S. military aircraft in 2022 was 56 at Kumamoto Airport (Mashiki Town), the second highest number after 60 at Fukuoka Airport (Fukuoka City)." https://kumanichi.com/articles/1039055Photo: Osprey landing at Kumamoto-Aso Airport.＜くまもと発 安保の現場＞熊本空港、22年の米軍機着陸 過去10年で最多56回 全国2番目 中国念頭、訓練活発化か｜熊本日日新聞社 2023-05-07 23:30 JSTKirk here with with a detailed article (lots of pictures and a map) about the restoration (completion cscheduled for July) of the Minami Aso Railway.Kumamoto: Fan of Quake-Hit Railway Aids Restoration Efforts 2023-05-06 09:45 JST(Fiona) The Kumamoto-i inbox has a message from a British hitchhiker currently visiting Kumamoto and looking for people to view the coronation of King Charles with. He asked if there are any watch parties going on. I'm currently out of the country and unable to help, so posting here to reach a wider audience.
