The marathon is coming up this weekend. -- Kirk
2024-02-14 07:43 JST 2024 The marathon is coming up this weekend. -- Kirk Marathon Overview | Kumamoto Castle Marathon 2024Marathon Overview, Kumamoto Castle Marathon 2024 official web site 「新たな歴史に、挑め。」2月18日（日） 9:00 スタート https://kumamotojyo-marathon.jp/outline_en.php 📅 Event details Event:MarathonDate:2024-02-17 ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 7 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 0 ← 2024-02-13 18:02 JST 2024-02-14 09:45 JST → Around this time … 2024-02-16 09:13 JSTKirk here with a call to foreigners to improve their manners. The illustration you see was added by the Kumanichi to a letter to the editor from a woman who wrote to complain. One problem brought up in the letter was a group of people gathering with bicycles on the sidewalk in a way that made it hard for other pedestrians to get by. Granted, that's not very considerate behavior. The other complaint (and what you see in the illustration) was about foreigners talking loudly on a bus and taking selfies. OK, having lived here a long time, I recognize that most Japanese people like for their bus rides to be quiet. However, I was very interested to hear from a Chinese student who gave a little presentation in a class of mine on "bus riding culture" that she found buses in Japan to be a bit too quiet. She said she actually preferred to hear people enjoying conversation and found the typical silence on Japanese busses to be a bit stifling.I recognize that it's a good idea for foreigners to respect the fact that many Japanese people like their busses to be quiet. At the same time, I'd like Japanese people to recognize that other approaches aren't necessarily "wrong" or "bad." Loosen up! ;)https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a006c0f4cd609f6478a7ccf9dd0b102f3961a8d0P.S. The letter writer thought that local governments should teach us proper manners. Hmmmm, that doesn't seem very likely to happen; I can't recall receiving such lessons since arriving here.外国人に交通ルール周知を【ハイ！こちら編集局】（熊本日日新聞） - Yahoo!ニュース 2024-02-15 13:38 JSTKirk here. Morris Chang is a huge figure in the history of microchips. He is originally from mainland China then emigrated to the U.S., where he eventually became a vice president of Texas Instruments. Chang's perception that racism would prevent him from moving any higher in the U.S. company is one consideration that led to his move to Taiwan in 1983. In Taiwan, his decision to separate semiconductor manufacture from chip design (TSMC focuses on manufacture) was an important factor in TSMC's success.https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202402050014If you, like me, enjoy listening to audio, check this out:https://www.npr.org/2021/12/21/1066548023/the-semiconductor-founding-fatherMorris Chang likely to attend Kumamoto fab opening on Feb. 24: Source - Focus Taiwan 2024-02-15 10:00 JSTKirk here. This article says that the Ministry of Education is pushing public high schools to create special entrance exams etc. for foreign students to make it easier for them to continue their education. Kumamoto is one of the prefectures in that is in compliance. The prefectures in light green have not made a special entrance exam system to help foreigners but conduct interviews with individual students wishing to study at a high school (presumably, in lieu of an exam). The prefectures in grey are not taking either type of action to accommodate foreign students.外国人生徒の定員枠２割 公立高入試、対応に地域差（共同通信）｜熊本日日新聞社 2024-02-14 21:32 JSTHappy Valentine's Day from Kumamoto.Near Shaka-in Temple with 3333 stone steps.⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝Atsukohttps://www.facebook.com/share/kqbXj2Mw2h2Vh6TE/ 2024-02-14 09:45 JSTHi! Kirk here with a repost and addendum to a post I made a while ago about "Hi no kuni" ("land of fire" vs. "land of fat"). I'm afraid I had forgotten since posting about how learning a bit about these old "countries" (kuni) in Kyushu (Higo vs. Kumamoto, etc.) also helps one understand how Kyushu (literally "nine states"; 九州) got its name. If you count the number of prefectures that make up Kyushu today it's not nine but seven. That's because two "countries" to our south (Satsuma and Okuma) were combined to make what is now Kagoshima, "Hizen" was divided into Nagasaki and Saga, and the three "countries" of Chikuzen, Chikugo and Buzen (its western half) to our north were combined to make Fukuoka, thus resulting in a total of seven prefectures. Only Higo (Kumamoto) and Hyuga (Miyazaki) survived the transition from "countries" (kuni or han) to "prefectures" (ken) with little or no change in boundaries.Here's a review of the names for those who are interested:Higo and Hizen are shown on the map in red.Chikuzen and Chikugo are in yellow.Buzen and Bungo are in blue.Hyuga, Satsuma, and Okuma are in green.When pairs of country names end in either "zen" or "go" (lit. "before" and "after"), the one ending in "zen" is considered to be closer to Edo (Tokyo).https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0uZMsAgPCLUWdyRZnhP7cUgkaR6p2PcGjmpv4GS67aUkFPzooQZMrxbuPZ1AHtNHRl 2024-02-14 07:43 JSTThe marathon is coming up this weekend. -- KirkMarathon Overview | Kumamoto Castle Marathon 2024 (this post) 2024-02-13 18:02 JSTAccording to the article, in the Kumamoto quakes, 52 of the 186 who died held disability certificates. Disasters, both natural and man-made, hit people who are already already vulnerable the hardest. -- KirkDisabled account for over 20% of 2010s Japan disaster-linked deaths 2024-02-13 14:29 JSTKumamoto Driving School (KDS) is going to host the "International Traffic Safety Workshop" for foreign residents in Kumamoto, Japan! Join them on March 3rd, Sunday, from 10 AM to 12 PM at Kumamoto Driving School. Parents and children are welcome! Check out the details below: -Date & Time-March 3rd (Sunday) | 10 AM - 12 PM -Location-Kumamoto Driving School -Target Audience-Foreign residents in Kumamoto, parents, and children Registration: https://ws.formzu.net/sfgen/S261160935/Posted by: Hari Devkota 2024-02-13 12:15 JSTWilliam Teaching English at JHS or HS level in Japan oft requires instilling motivation as students do not understand the utility of the subject. This could be a good motivator: Kyushu Gakuin High School graduate Yoshihiro Sonoda (46) has been appointed exclusive interpreter for MLB Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. (Disclaimer: the alma mater of my two children) Prior to this, Sonoda had been working as a lighting engineer at a film company in New York. "Maybe you, too, could someday be an interpreter - or work in the film industry," you can tell your students.Kumanichi has the full story:ドジャース山本投手の通訳に園田さん（熊本・九学高出身） 日本のエース支える｜熊本日日新聞社 2024-02-12 20:45 JSTKirk here. This came to me in a feed for "Kumamoto" because it includes a picture from Kumamoto but the issue is national. The article includes the following sentence."Asked whether they want a higher percentage of foreigners in their community, 54.5 percent said they do not, with many citing concerns about increased friction or deterioration of the social order."Of course, friction can occur, particularly when it is assumed that it's somehow "natural" to treat foreigns as second-class entities, but I'm afraid that many of the nay-sayers are basing their opinions on stereotypes that have little to do with reality. :(Many Japanese outside major urban areas do not engage with foreigners - The Mainichi 2024-02-09 22:50 JSTKurokawa Onsen.Atsuko⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝https://www.facebook.com/share/vD4yaDhrA3zLm5Mo/
