Here's an article about the Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster Museum KIOKU in Minamiaso Village. -- Kirk
2023-12-02 09:52 JST 2023 Here's an article about the Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster Museum KIOKU in Minamiaso Village. -- Kirk Building back betterTayayuki Kubo was living far from home in 2016 when a series of catastrophic earthquakes battered Kumamoto in southwestern Japan. https://www.fijitimes.com/building-back-better-4/ ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 5 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 0 ← 2023-12-02 07:42 JST 2023-12-02 17:35 JST → Around this time … 2023-12-04 13:40 JSTWilliam A bit of private stuff but maybe of general interest 2023-12-04 10:59 JSTWilliam I used to run along Shirakawa, passing a group of homeless living under a bridge. They seemed to be doing quite well - they had pallets for flooring and even furniture that they'd scavenged. They always offered me sake, which I declined.And then, one day, their settlement had vanished. I hope that they had been moved into more suitable quarters, but I don't know - they could have been just shunted off.There was an elderly man, a jieitai vet, who slept rough in our local park. My wife and I would feed him with bentos and allowing him in our house for food and sleep when it was particularly rough outside. He was found dead in the park from exposure.Maybe you notice someone like that. Extend a hand. 2023-12-03 17:00 JSTKirk here with something about what is called "kanten" in Japanese (寒天) and "agar" in English. Here's a quote from the article, which explains why it came up in a Google alert about new articles about "Kumamoto":"Ai Hosokawa, who grew up in Tokyo, has lived in Kumamoto for 14 years and is fascinated by its rich natural environment and clear water. Her house and atelier stand in the historical remains of Taishoji temple that used to be the family temple of the Hosokawa Clan, which once ruled the Kumamoto Domain."The article is interesting but it's a good example of a pitfall in translation: using an English word that many native speakers are not likely to know: agar. Of course, it's a perfectly good word. I found lots of information about in on the web. But there are two problems as a see it:1. English-language speakers who live in Japanese may be even more likely to recognize the word "kanten" than "agar" -- even though "agar" is an English word. That was this case with me. So, I would have like them to identify "agar" as what is called "kanten" in Japanese at the top of the article.2. "Agar" is very similar to "kanten" but, according to information I found on the internet, they are made from different kinds of seaweed. So, "Japanese agar" is probably more accurate.Fun fact from the Wikipedia page on agar: "Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water. This results in the consumers feeling fuller."TASTE OF LIFE/ Water-based agar jelly: Fragrant citrus fruits from garden hold key to iced dessert | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis 2023-12-03 13:58 JSTFlights between Kumamoto and Hong Kong have resumed after a 7 year hiatus. I'll put citations to the English and Japanese articles in comments. -- Kirk 2023-12-02 17:35 JSTKirk here with a post about a little place I found in Ezuko. The entrance is about halfway between the Shimo Ezuko parking lot and the part of the zoo where the giraffes and the elephants are. The sign says that there's a free gallery in the back. I'll add some notes to each picture. 2023-12-02 09:52 JSTHere's an article about the Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster …Building back better (this post) 2023-12-02 07:42 JSTSean here-Update - Update - Update - Update - Update - UpdateThank you for your patience. Here is the response -“They would prefer men.They don't care about the race that much.Japanese level should be enough to communicate with the church ppl.”If this interests anyone. Just pm me.- End update -I'm writing to you today about a unique opportunity that may be of interest to some of you.An acquaintance of mine is looking for someone to act as a 偽牧師 (nise bokushi), which translates to fake priest, for officiating weddings in Yatsushiro.Why is this a thing?It turns out that having a Westerner as the officiant is considered オシャレ (fancy/exotic) in Japan. Christian-style weddings are surprisingly popular, even though only a small percentage of the population is actually Christian. This means that you don't need to be a real priest to perform weddings in Japan!What qualifications are needed?While some Japanese language skills would be helpful, fluency is not required. This is a particularly great opportunity for someone who enjoys acting. The majority of these weddings take place on weekends.Interested?If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please send me a message and I'll be happy to provide you with more details.Thanks 2023-12-01 09:46 JSTKirk here with a post about reducing environmental mercury. This has a strong connection to the Minamata disease issue but will impact people throughout Japan.By the way, I have a pet peeve about the transition to LED as a replacement to the traditional, Japanese-style "pendant" lights. The problem is, when I had to replace a 10-year-old pendant LED light (even LED will wear out eventually), I could not just replace the main lamp (LED) part -- I had to buy a new "set" (that is the core lamp and the "lamp shade" or kasa [笠]). This means more trash. In the past, I could just replace the fluorescent lamp and continue to use my old shade. Environmental improvement in one sense, more trash and a step back in another. :(Fluorescent lamp production to end by 2027 to cut mercury risk | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis 2023-11-30 22:27 JSTKirk here with some images from an RKK segment on four young women from Myanmar who are working in a facility for elderly people. It includes footage from an event in which they spent some time talking about their work and experiences with local high school students. Learning to understand the dialects spoken by the elderly residents was one of the difficulties that the women from Myanmar talked about. In the second photo, a high school students explains that suu suu suu (スー スー スー) means "it's chilly."I'll put the URL in a comment. 2023-11-30 17:10 JSTKirk here with an article about work by a local professor. If you're interested in studying Japanese, you can click on "Japanese version" to see the original.Japan prof. develops system allowing disabled people to play guitar with 1 hand, foot - The Mainichi 2023-11-29 17:06 JSTKirk again! Here's a share from Kuma Visit. I'll be interested to learn about the feedback that Kuma Visit gets. :)https://www.facebook.com/kumavisit/posts/pfbid031cs18d6BrFx9kE97J3Yo6TiM8agxEDcoi8NgX7WSeVnr34dg7AWofgyyr7SC98AXl
