2023-07-28 22:54 JST 2023 ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 10 · Comments: 3 · Shares: 3 ← 2023-07-28 21:18 JST 2023-07-29 13:26 JST → Around this time … 2023-07-30 12:45 JSTAtsuko here.Share it with Kumamoto's future engineers. The Kumamoto Boys and Girls Inventors' Club 熊本市少年少女発明クラブheld a science workshop today.This time it was an open participation workshop during the summer holidays, but we sometimes have international kids come to the club, which is held once a month throughout the year at Sojo University, and we hope to have more of them in the future. The club is taught in Japanese, but I also volunteer every time, so I hope that many international kids will come to the club.I had a transfer student from China when I was at Junior high school. I learnt Chinese when we played together in the badminton club.The Chinese words I learnt were Sai Cheng (再見, Bye, see you later), and Jyayou(加油 Ganbare),and Xiexie (謝謝 Thank you). I hope to learn Taiwan also.Invention Club International kids are welcome.(๑˃ᴗ˂)و♡For more information.熊本市少年少女発明クラブhttps://www.facebook.com/hatsumeikids.kumamoto 2023-07-30 10:18 JSTKirk here with a share from the Kumanichi Shimbun. The headline says that 600 TSMC employees will arrive in August and begin working in a newly constructed office building.https://www.facebook.com/KUMANICHIs/posts/pfbid02spE9jadAKLY2VoieoB9GFnzBAzfuHvL4mMTEsWCyyqj7kTCUNeJfHhDLvqSiiZQil 2023-07-29 16:52 JSTAtsuko here.Information about Kumamoto's treasure, the Natural Special Pool.Kashima Town Spring Park Natural Pool 嘉島町湧水公園 天然プールI had heard about this natural pool for a long time, but today I visited it for the first time.Anyway, the water is clean and very cold. The water temperature is always around 18 degrees Celsius. It was a very hot day, but the pool was so cold that it was chilly. I brought my own lunch, but there were also potato and takoyaki stalls. There is a parking fee of 500 yen, but the pool is free.This is a natural swimming pool in the middle of rice paddies and residential areas, so please use it with good manners and respect for nature. Use is from 10:00 to 18:00.Hoping you also enjoy it ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و https://g.co/kgs/cqn48z 2023-07-29 14:09 JSTKirk here, following up on William's post about about Lafcadio Hearn's ghost stories. Kuma Visit has just posted about another opportunity to hear ghost stories in Japanese:https://www.facebook.com/kumavisit/posts/pfbid034SHGhbSjQk4om5i3ksUz491AFuVycYqXrJxpMvH17VHp2EcgEFM13r7iJmPkvMM1lSince the ghost stories will be in Japanese, Kuma Visit has not translated the reading times into English (unless I missed it somehow) but the information is there for you in Japanese. And, details about when the castle will be lit up and who can visit for free are presented in both languages. 2023-07-29 13:26 JSTLafcadio Hearn, the Irish-Greek-Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the West, has a connection to Kumamoto: in 1891, he obtained a teaching position at the Fifth High Middle School, the predecessor of Kumamoto University. Apparently, he was not fond of Kumamoto, finding it provincial and charmless. This Wikipedia article mentions fellow Scots-Higokko Sean Michael Wilson, who has turned several of Hearn's works into illustrated novels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_HearnHearn was well-known for his work in the surreal. A very, very scary piece, "A Passional Karma," can be read here for free (being out of copywrite): https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll8/id/1262/rec/1Kumanichi notes that the annual summer vacation "Children's Fun Haunted House" has returned to the Art Loft of the Contemporary Art Museum for the first time in four years, by reservation only, from 27th to August 6th. Read the short story, visit the haunted house, read the story again, and you'll be scared sufficiently pantless. https://kumanichi.com/articles/1123703怖さの度合いも自由自在 熊本市現代美術館、夏の恒例「おばけ屋敷」４年ぶり復活 今年は「おしいれのひみつ」｜熊本日日新聞社 2023-07-28 22:54 JSTPost (this post) 2023-07-28 21:18 JSTSean here -I saw this fashionable pooch sporting some dandy paw pads today and it reminded me of another post I saw recently."Many owners like taking their dogs on walks to enjoy the warm summer weather with them, but many of them forget about one important detail: hot pavement can and will burn a dog's paws."“If the temperature is 29 degrees or over without the chance for the pavement to cool down, the ground may be too hot for safely walking a dog,” 2023-07-28 14:54 JSTWilliam The word "citizen" derives from the 12c. Anglo-French "citezein," meaning "city-dweller." It was not until modern times with the rise of travel, mass immigration, and democracy that its modern, legalistic term came about."With citizenship comes responsibility" likely thought the Kumamoto government when considering bestowing the moniker on long-term foreign residents of our city (word has it, mostly to make garbage separation obligatory on heretofore unruly barbarians), but others saw this as a step towards allowing foreigners the right to vote (it didn't), and a brouhaha broke out. At least it brought us fleeting notice in the national news and some very stern looking faces:Japan city drops plan to recognize foreigners as local citizens after opposition - The Mainichi 2023-07-28 12:28 JSTKirk here. This issue came up in the spring but recently a final decision has been made. I agree with my colleague at Kumamoto Gakuen University:--- start quote ---But Shin Myoung-jik, a professor of South Korean literature at Kumamoto Gakuen University who is knowledgeable about culturally diverse societies, said the deletion sends a negative message because it came about due to exclusionist opinions. “Policies should be implemented that aggressively include (foreigners) as members of society to resolve discrimination and prejudice,” Shin said.--- end quote ---https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14966266Here's one more article that provides more details:https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230726/p2a/00m/0na/004000c--- start quote --- The city's decision is "very unfortunate, because it deferred to opposition stemming from a misunderstanding," said Yasuko Iwashita, associate professor of multicultural coexistence at Hiroshima Bunkyo University. "Foreign residents will have a negative impression (of Kumamoto), seeing it as exclusionary. The city should have explained the point of the amendment in a responsible and detailed way."--- end quote ---The article also points out that there are smaller communities that have officially declared foreign residents to be shimin (lit. "people of the city") but that Kumamoto would have been the largest city to do so.Kumamoto omits ‘foreign national’ from proposal defining citizens | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis 2023-07-27 20:49 JSTKirk here with news about an opportunity to see a small Banksy exhibit in the main Tsutaya in downtown Kumamoto. Here's a link to a page Tsutaya has put out about the exhibit:https://www.sannenzaka.jp/event-calendar/10041The exhibit will end on Tuesday, August 1.newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/rkk/627485?display=1P.S. It looks like it will be very, very hot tomorrow (38 C). Take care!謎に包まれたアーティスト『バンクシー』の版画展 「イギリスの工房で複製された作品45点」を展示・販売 熊本 | 熊本のニュース｜RKK熊本放送 2023-07-26 21:14 JSTKirk here. In my post on Mr. Hagiuda's visit, I focused on Kumamoto University. This article focuses on Kumamoto Kosen:https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/science-nature/technology/20230725-125234/If you're interested, you can check out the English side f the Kumamoto Kosen website here:https://kumamoto-nct.ac.jp/english-home.htmlRuling Party Official Visits Japan’s Silicon Island to Urge Development of Semiconductor Workforce