Kirk here. Thursday “Kumamoto International” will be a quarter of a century old. It started as a mailing list on October 17, 1999. I remember the date because eGroups (later taken over by Yahoo!Groups, now defunct) used to show the “founded” date on the group’s webpage. I wish I had a screenshot of that but can’t seem to locate one.
Five years ago we had a big celebration, which was a lot of fun:
This year I think I’m a bit too busy to plan something like that but I wanted to at least mention that 25 years have passed. Thanks to everyone, especially fellow editors (posters) who have been feeding and caring for the page!
My own view is that, just as the page transitioned from a mailing list into this Facebook page, it will eventually become necessary to leave Facebook or add some other platform to the community even if we don’t completely abandon Facebook. I’ll post a bit more later about the issues I’ve noticed with Facebook (many of which I’ve already mentioned in previous posts).
Thanks again and, looking forward, yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
P.S. In the very early days of the mailing list, Mr. Yagi of the Kumamoto International Foundation was quick to recognize the value of what I was trying to do and help me get the word out. A special shout out to him!