Kirk here with a recent English-language news article on the murder of the young woman in Kumamoto:
2023-06-09 08:21 JST 2023 Kirk here with a recent English-language news article on the murder of the young woman in Kumamoto: Japan elevator worker found dead after woman's body discovered in building - The MainichiKUMAMOTO -- A male elevator maintenance worker who oversaw a building here where the body of a woman was discovered on May 29 was found dead soon afte https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230607/p2a/00m/0na/00 … ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 3 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 0 ← 2023-06-07 22:06 JST 2023-06-11 21:01 JST → Around this time … 2023-06-14 20:36 JSTKirk here. I posted about this a while back but now tickets are on sale. The report I saw on RKK today indicated that there are still quite a few tickets left but that parking spots are going fast. I'll try to post information about where to buy tickets, etc. in a comment to this post.https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02GWjLorUQsQ4Z7iqbfcTp3MyJDjoD8769kG3KgFncGds9QRepF3s4BPVUEPmXoXwWlAll Blacks XV to play two matches in Japan 2023-06-14 10:53 JSTKirk here. While surely not as common as in the U.S., it seems that there are medical malpractice lawsuits in Japan too. This case is about something that occurred at Kumamoto City Hospital (Kumamoto Shimin Byouin). This hospital was severely damaged in the 2016 earthquakes and has since been rebuilt in a new location (see picture). However, it has also been in the news over noise associated with the demolition of the old hospital. The impact of the noise on local residents has been so bad that demolition has been put on hold and not yet resumed (at least, not as far as I know). Another issue with this hospital has been failure to collect a huge amount in unpaid medical bills.City in Japan to pay $1 mil. to family of baby born with disabilities after malpractice - The Mainichi 2023-06-13 16:33 JSTKirk here with some information about a language learning (memorization) tool I've been working on for several years now. The app is not specific to Kumamoto but it came up in discussion about a post I made yesterday. Here's a link to that post, which was about Japanese classes in Kumamoto:https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02tLzri9oN4WFqCfUSak5rTKDU7Dfo9vGkt2qhDmjewtjfG2yhyDfz5MvLZzmpzuB3lIn a comment, I posted about a flashcard app I've been building over the past seven years or so. Though I'm not completely ready to go public with it, I'm pretty close. "Kankaku V13" is a beta version of the app I'm hoping to try to promote in earnest next year. Note: Even though I'm using the word "promote," this project of mine is essentially the same as Kumamoto International -- completely free, no financial gain for me; I'll just be happy if other people find my app to be useful.I'm not quite ready to go completely public with the app but, on the other hand, since it's still being developed, I'll be more than happy to respond to individual Kumamoto International readers who try it out but encounter difficulties or have questions.Here are some links you'll need to get started:1. Introduction to AppSheetI built my app on the AppSheet platform, which is now part of Google. AppSheet is a so-called "no-code" platform, which made it relatively easy to put it together ("relatively" is the operative term -- it wasn't easy ;) ). My use of AppSheet also makes it possible for me to publish the app, which I call "Kankaku" as a free template. You will probably want to watch the first couple of sections of the following video in order to learn how the platform works:https://kmasden.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-i-use-appsheet-in-my-classes.html2. Link to a page where you can copy the Kankaku templatehttps://www.appsheet.com/templates?appGuidString=6d5506ec-ae1e-48d4-aecf-2873b346b67a3. Link to a page explaining how to start using templates like Kankaku on a mobile phonehttps://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/.../How.../m-p/4614224. Link to a video explaining how to set up Kankaku to study Japanese effectivelyhttps://www2.kumagaku.ac.jp/teacher/~masden/2023/Introduction_to_Kankaku.mp4In the video, I point out some ways in which Kankaku differs from Anki. Anki is a very well-know flashcard app that, like Kankaku, is based on a spaced-repetition scheduling algorithm. Fun fact: The creator of Anki used to live in and started to develop his app right here in Kumamoto. Many years ago he used the Kumamoto International mailing list (the predecessor to this Facebook page) to promote it. You can read about Anki's connection to Kumamoto here:--- start quote ---Damien Elmes developed one popular program, Anki, after becoming frustrated with forgetting material while studying Japanese.The Australian computer science graduate, who teaches English in Kumamoto, Japan, says a friend introduced him to the concepts behind the open-source program.--- end quote ---https://archive.vn/dFaIm#selection-819.1-821.159 2023-06-12 17:52 JSTKirk here with information about opportunities to take Japanese language classes. The information came to me through "Safety and Security disaster prevention and lifestyle information newsletter" put out by the Kumamoto International Foundation. Here's the English and Japanese text in the newsletter about studying Japanese:【The study of Japanese】The intensive beginner's Japanese language course "Hajimete no Nihongo" will be held from 3rd July (Mon) for those who have just arrived in Kumamoto and know little or no Japanese.If you would like to participate, please apply to the Kumamoto International Foundation.For more information, please visit the website below.https://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/kiji0031715/index.html[Note from Kirk: Much of the page is in Japanese but it lists a phone number and an e-mail address, either of which you can use to inquire in English. However, the flier lists a different e-mail address -- [email protected] -- as the e-mail contact and so I think that may be most appropriate.]【日本語学習について】熊本に来たばっかりで、ほとんど日本語がわからない人、日本語を勉強したことがない人を対象に初級日本語集中講座「はじめてのにほんご」を７月3日（月）から開催します。参加したい人は熊本市国際交流振興事業団へお申し込みください。詳しい内容は下記のホームページでhttps://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/list00066.htmlP.S. If you have other good leads about study opportunities (classes, groups, exchanges, etc.) please post about them in a comment. 2023-06-11 21:01 JSTKirk here. This news from a few weeks ago is about a junior high school teacher (former teacher, that is) who exhibiting some jaw-droppingly terrible behavior. The school is near the interchange between Highway 57 (Higashi Bypass) and the Kyushu Expressway.Japan junior high teacher fired for sending 100s of texts to female student - The Mainichi 2023-06-09 08:21 JSTKirk here with a recent English-language news article on the …Japan elevator worker found dead after woman's body discovered in building - The Mainichi (this post) 2023-06-07 22:06 JSTAtsuko here.My friend Sakamoto-san, one of Kumamoto International's readers, has created an easy-to-understand website to help improve littering etiquette for foreigners, which I would like to share with you.Hope it helps.(๑˃ᴗ˂)و♡3 Principles for taking out garbage 2023-06-07 11:13 JSTKirk here with important news for the local economy. You may think that the TSMC plant is old news but this would mean TWO major TSMC facilities in Kumamoto. As Sid in Toy Story put it, "Alright, double prizes!" Check out the NHK page for a video.TSMC considering Kumamoto as site of a second chip plant in Japan | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News 2023-06-06 18:17 JSTKirk here. This is still pretty speculative but it seems that a man who worked for an elevator inspection company with access to the building in which a young woman was found murdered last week is now dead, perhaps a suicide. "Elevator inspection" may be relevant because the body of the woman was found on the 7th floor of the building but the general public did not have access to that floor via the elevator or an internal staircase; the 7th floor was closed (karaoke business not operating) and elevator access was turned off, but an inspector may have been able to override that setting and take the elevator to the 7th floor.Here's a link to my initial post on this case:https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid02NqLxXriq1W6Dq9E1o6GBuMxZ2fpeVdGFu8JJfP6igibGdJ78jm2EaPCGW9K5MPBxl雑居ビルで布にまかれた女性遺体 エレベーター点検の男性従業員死亡【熊本】（TKUテレビ熊本） - Yahoo!ニュース 2023-06-06 13:16 JSTKirk here with a share from "Fired up Kumamoto, Japan." The little Facebook post contains a link to the following article, which is quite detailed and worth looking at if you're interested in the topic:https://firedup-kumamoto.com/column11/?fbclid=IwAR3edzyWZO0ba8480KH0QdazVM3P2LmRXzO88WhYwZDxLDSZWgRgYsNeSmkThere's also a really good video on YouTube that you might want to check out:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp0aU5qoZNMI'm a little puzzled as to why the post on Fired up! didn't include a link to this Fired up! YouTube video. By the way, the Fired up! Facebook page has about 19K likes, so it has almost 4 times the readership of this page. I think the articles, like this one, are good (but could be better with more links to related resources). But, if you look at the comments you can see that the page is not monitored at all; readers seem to be able to type in unrelated information without any response from the page.https://www.facebook.com/firedup.kumamoto/posts/pfbid025uKxMU9P7MarJ7yEicFTUu9Fwoiv8PfQZsdxNY7F6D3XGToPTjBrnT9Rtjva3pEtl 2023-06-05 09:33 JSTSean here-Some positive signs for cyclists and sustainable development goals.Recently I started to notice some sharrows popping up starting in Uto, and on Rt. 111 from Aso station to Aso’s Nakatake. A sharrow, a combination of Share and Arrow is different from a bike lane in that cyclists share the road with automobile traffic rather than a bike lane in which cyclists have a dedicated lane.One of the best designs that I have seen. I must believe cyclists were part of the design process. A cut-out in the design to guide cyclists, with plenty of room on the right for maneuvering, with plenty of room on the decal to the left to help guide drivers around you. Well done to whoever is responsible. Hopefully, the pictures better describe this better. Also, these pics are not the best examples. It would be nice if the city planners managing our fair city would get on board and nudge Kumamoto City a bit closer to safer streets for all users and put more than lip service to SDGs.
