The latest edition of The YOKA is out. Have a look! -- Kirk
2024-05-21 16:45 JST 2024 The latest edition of The YOKA is out. Have a look! -- Kirk The YOKAThis issue of the YOKA features... JET Spotlight - Daryl Rose A New Lifestyle Abroad - Kate Abbate Goshoura Dino Museum - Ryan Moraga Snacks Native to Kyushu - Lily Feast "So, What Next?" -... https://kumamotojets.weebly.com/the-yoka.html ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 1 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 1 ← 2024-05-19 13:15 JST 2024-05-21 22:56 JST → Around this time … 2024-05-25 16:41 JSTFiona here, back from a long Kumamoto-i hiatus to share a recommendation for S'ping, a newly opened book cafe in Kengun. Situated on Densha-dori, it's easy to reach by public transport and is a lovely spot to do some quiet reading or writing. The shelves are lined with books, all in Japanese as far as I could tell, and the menu offers pasta, hot sandwiches, drinks and desserts. I have a feeling this will be a popular place during the rainy season.https://maps.app.goo.gl/2XGyrxFjmAmJVGRk8 2024-05-25 13:15 JSTTamana made the NHK world service so I thought I’d share it with you all. The home of Kumamoto Ramen! Please come and enjoy a bowl while taking in the irises at the festival this weekend!KUMAMOTO - RAMEN JAPAN | NHK WORLD-JAPAN 2024-05-24 10:00 JSTJoe Tomei here, and FFF goes downtown to check out some South Indian food! Because of demographics, when we think of Indian cuisine, we think of Northern India. A lot more wheat so naan bread, and the curries are heavier and creamier and almost all of the Indian restaurants in Kumamoto are based on that style. So I was really happy to find Toddy's, (https://www.instagram.com/toddy_shop_kumamoto/)which does a veg and non-veg thali (set with small bowls of different curries). Toddy's is a bit of a pop-up shop, only open on Saturdays and Sundays for lunch in a 4th floor space that is a bar/snack (aramatsu bar) the rest of the week. Located behind the shiyakusho, the sign has Malayalam script and is only open from 12 to 2. He sometimes takes the day off, so check the instagram. A pick of the store front and last weekend's non-veg thali. Location is on the FFF map, which you can find herehttps://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1qUH94Bac7Hr939b7_8gtvebaJZffGRsX&usp=sharing 2024-05-22 10:44 JSTWilliam Kumamoto deserved a mention in Japan Today as the Japanese city least expensive to bear a child (Tokyo was highest, 605,000 yen and 361,000 yen respectively - so we've basically got two for one here!) https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan-weighs-incentivizing-childbirth-by-fully-covering-expensesI'd like to give a shoutout to Fukuda Byoin https://www.fukuda-hp.or.jp/ , the birthplace of my two children, as a comprehensive and compassionate maternity hospital. (It's also located next to a fascinatingly old section of the castle.) Most doctors there speak English quite well, prenatal care is extensive, and post-natal care is thoughtful, with a congratulatory in-suite dinner. (Also, it's on the tram line.)熊本 産婦人科 福田病院（熊本県熊本市）地域周産期母子医療センター 2024-05-21 22:56 JSTKirk here with a news article about our new governor. It doesn't really seem to have "legs" in the sense that I haven't seen much media coverage about it after it first came out. I suspect the governor simply failed to recognize the need to be careful when disposing of leftover flowers but, still, avoiding even the appearance of impropriety is import.Kumamoto Governor embroiled in flower scandal 2024-05-21 16:45 JSTThe latest edition of The YOKA is out. Have a look! -- …The YOKA (this post) 2024-05-19 13:15 JSTWilliam Following up on Kirk's wonderful photo of Ezuko is a bit of geological knowledge I picked up from students. Aso has seen several eruptions over the last 50,000 years, the foremost causing a strata of impermeable granite followed later by permeable ash. This is shaped in a wedge-like formation, allowing artesian water to flow downhill until the substrate surfaces at Ezuko as well as Suizenji. (One reason why the zoo is located there is the abundance of water.) Look around there and you'll notice much granite - some of those boulders must have been hurled from a 100 kilometers away! Be glad you were not there when that happened. 2024-05-18 19:33 JSTKirk here. I feel fortunate to live close enough to Ezuko to walk there fairly regularly. Today my wife and I saw a grey heron catch a large fish right before our eyes (only a few meters away). Then, as we were returning to the parking lot to head home, we happened upon this scene. 2024-05-18 12:17 JSTFound this in my news feed this morning. -- KirkThe 10 'One Piece' statues in Kumamoto 2024-05-18 10:04 JSTFor anime fans and anime song fans.Anime song event information , 26 May, Kumamoto.Atsuko＼(*⌒0⌒)♪ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーANINOVADate and time: 26 May 2024 (Sunday)12:00 Opening.12:30 START～19:00 ENDEntrance fee: 2000 yen (all-you-can-drink soft drinks!)Chocolate fountain free!Minors and first time attendees of Anikura are also welcome!All ages are welcome!Junior high and high school students: 500 yen!Free for primary schools students and younger! (with a parent or guardian).Alcoholic beverages can be ordered at the bar counter for a fee.Food and sweets will be sold at the Marché. You can bring your own food and sweets to the venue after purchase.https://www.facebook.com/share/r/k4AmHKKdNFPTqPo8/🎉🌟Omoken Marché 20🌟🎉✨Aninova collaboration✨.The last Sunday of every month is Omoken Marche Day.The Aninova Collaboration will be held for anime song lovers. DJs from all over Kyushu will gather in Kumamoto to showcase their live skills. The Omoken Marche 20 will be held on the same day as the anime song event, where you can sing and dance to your heart's content. 24 shops will be participating in a wide variety of shops! Enjoy the delicious 😋 and fun 😃 at-home atmosphere of the Marche to the fullest!Date and time.26 May (10:00-17:00)(12:00-19:00 for Ani Nobua)■Place: Starlight Cafe Kumamoto(7-95-3 Demizu, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture)Reconstruction (Light) Department Store #Amaterasuhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/qk5n4HprTpFrQPDf8?g_st=icCheck out Aninova's ▶️ for more information!twipla.jp/events/598571'The last Sunday of every month is Omoken Marche day'Omoken Marchéhttps://facebook.com/events/s/%E3%81%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%91%E3%82%93%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B7%E3%82%A720-%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%8E%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A1%E3%82%B3%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9B/1084256056013087/ 2024-05-17 10:00 JSTJoe Tomei here with FFF as we go by the Prefectural University of Kumamoto and introduce two places.The first is nice little cafe just across from the uni, behind the AU store on the corner called Cafe Puu (https://www.instagram.com/puucafe/) The couple does sandwiches and curry lunches, along with coffee. Parking is a bit troublesome, but if you are at the uni or the Red Cross hospital, it's just across the street.The second place is Po Po Po Shokudo (https://www.instagram.com/popopo2021.1/), which is 600 meters down from from the university on Joshidai dori, across from the Higo Ginkgo parking lot which you can use and get a parking card if you eat there. I had passed it a number of times and it had a high school bunkasai feel with red and white plastic tableclothes and foldup tables and chairs, and wondered what the deal was, so gave it a try and I have to say, it is off the hook. The owner is a former pâtissier and all the food there is made with great attention to detail. For the lunches that have rice, you can get a onsen tamago (soft boiled egg) And on Sundays, he does ramen (very well, I might add). It's often full up, so you want to get their early.I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Moisson (https://www.instagram.com/moisson.kumamoto/), a bakery across from the West gate of the University. Where you go if Puu and Po po po are full.A little note about the history of the area, this was where the airport was in Kumamoto from 1960 until 1969, when construction started on the Aso-Kumamoto airport, which was completed in 1971. The field was known as Kengun field and as one might expect, the location of that airfield was intially related to military matters, with the Jieitai base formerly a Mitsubishi airplane factory. In fact, not only was the airfield the launch point for Tokutai/Kamikaze flights against Okinawa at the end of the war, it also was the jumping off spot for the raid at Yontan airfield in Okinawa, shortly after Okinawa campaign started. At the time, the area was originally known as Takamiya-so, but came to be called Kengun, expanding from the original Kengun, probably because of the military industries in the area. Looking for information, I came across this 1964 picture of a plane and a boy who is probably my age at the time and so could still be living in Kumamoto. (link below)One page (link 4) had picture of where the airfield was, which I've included. Matching up with Google maps, this is the area that begins at the new Starbucks, up the Kokutai doro until the Mister Donuts on the corner. You can still find a few of the concrete structures that were part of the airfield on the left side of the street. Also, on the photo is marked 熊本鉄工団地 [Kumamoto Ironworks Complex], which is still an ongoing concern, with the name changed to Shin Nippon Stainless [新日本ステンレス工業鉄工団地]. Because FB only allows 2 links, the historical information is here if anyone wants to follow up1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Yontan_Airfield2. https://wjon3117.medium.com/operation-gi-the-japanese-attack-on-yontan-airbase-okinawa-d1fa340b0e3d3. https://flyteam.jp/photo/30647364. http://hikokikumo.net/a8502-01-Kengun-F86F-000.htm
