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I used to pay to run marathons but eventually realized, "I'm paying a hundred bucks for a T-shirt and orange slices," so I started doing them on my own. Two good courses: follow the winding path of Shirakawa (don't take route 57! It's less pleasurable and cheats on the distance!) over the Kitabypass bridge, then follow the rail line (called 杉並道り) until you get to Milk Road 入り口, where, conveniently, there's a 7-11. Get your beverage of choice (don't forget to bring money, especially in the case that you get injured and have to take a taxi home) and return on the same route. That's exactly 42 kilometers from my house in Oe. A second is a bit more challenging but more beautiful: the farm road up to the peak of Mt. Kimpo. Don't take the main road - too many cars. You'd seldom see a single car on this route. It's all paved and lined with delightful springs where you can hydrate (and, as always, there are household hoses). Be aware that the slope is deceptionally gradual at the start, but that changes quickly. I don't know the distance, but the slope is enough. Late autumn is a good time for these types of adventures. And don’t forget to bring money just in case. - William

On the subject of the increase of Covid-19 infections nationwide and in Kumamoto I was wondering if there has been any reference made in the media about "breakthrough infections" among those already fully vaccinated?
Big news in the USA, however I've not come across reference to the problem here..yet. And I'm not a regular reader of the Japanese press except in English. --CM

Fiona Wall Minami is too modest to do this, so this is Joe Tomei. Fiona is a finalist for an ELTon Innovation award. If you don't know about them, this is a big thing. From the webpage:
"Now in their nineteenth year, The British Council ELTons Awards for innovation in English language teaching and learning celebrate the newest and most original courses, books, publications, apps, platforms, projects, and more, which find new ways to meet the real-life needs of English language learners and teachers around the world."
Fiona's book "Escape the Classroom", published by Perceptia Press, is up for the award, which will be announced on 4 October.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/eltons-innovation-awards-2021-finalists
http://www.perceptiapress.com/books/escape_the_classroom/escape_the_classroom.html
Perceptia Press: Escape the Classroom

Vick here,
I just wanted to screencap the dates, ages, and locations from my Kumamoto vaccination procedure packet.
The official website for logging in your info (please see your individual packets) is:
https://vaccines.sciseed.jp/kumamotocovid19

Studying scuba diving, I learned the concept of "atmosphere," which is defined as 4.6 pounds per square inch at sea level. This is important as it regulates the volume of air one can contain in one's lungs, which is why exhaling is very important while surfacing: not doing so will cause your lungs to explode. Atmospheric pressure increases greatly during a Japanese summer, which means your lungs contain a higher concentration of very moist air. Convenience stores are your friends when out and about.. - William

Studying scuba diving, I learned the concept of "atmosphere," which is defined as 4.6 pounds per square inch at sea level. (That's about one meter of water, for comparison.) This is important as it regulates the volume of air one can contain in one's lungs, which is why exhaling is very important while surfacing: not doing so will cause your lungs to explode. Atmospheric pressure increases greatly during a Japanese summer, which means your lungs contain a higher concentration of very moist air. Convenience stores are your friends when out and about.. - William Baerg

Lafcadio Hearn was a pretty typical guy: of Greek-Irish descent, he became one of the first foreigners nationalized in Japan. An early educator of what they called it 洋学－ yougaku - then, meaning "western learning," as opposed to that Confucius stuff, he was much like George Washington, as in "Lafcadio Hearn lived here!" His periplectic habits mean you could probably lob a rock randomly and hit a house where he'd lived. One particularly delightful example is in the park directly behind Tsuruya. It is worth a visit for those interested in how Westerners encroached upon Kumamoto. - William
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn

Joe Tomei here, we recently had a post that had a photo of Mugishima Masaru ( 麦島勝 ), who has an exhibition in Yatsushiro. Unfortunately, the photo (of a 1950's deliveryman's load) that accompanied the post was under copyright, and it's not possible to delete only the photo (way to go Facebook!)
The photos are available in a digital database, so you are encouraged to check them out, it is here
http://www.city.yatsushiro.kumamoto.jp/museum/search/kyword303.jsp?fbclid=IwAR3dyHEDcxnjkGDVzF7uXACMRnSmMiQWFmMoBY7V3sZ4dA06f05W0j07bng
八代市立博物館 未来の森ミュージアム-収蔵品検索-

Joe Tomei here, just want to pass this on, please contact below.
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Kyushu Gakuin Lutheran Junior High and High School is looking for a part time ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) for the 2022 school year. The job is for a one year period from April 2022. The applicants must be a native English speaker. You do not need to be a university graduate or have a teaching degree. You do not have to have a high Japanese speaking level. Kyushu Gakuin is hoping for someone that is able to work along with the Japanese English teachers and assist in English classes. *While this is a one year job, there is potential to stay longer. If you are interested please contact Kyushu Gakuin at (096) 364-6134.
For those interested, this is the original job posting on the school website.
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[note from Joe: It obviously requires some basic Japanese to get thru to the school and they will probably get someone who speaks English so please factor that into this. I'm also not sure what their definition of native speaker is.]

Chuck Waterman posting:
#flights
Don't want to start a panic, but if you have a travel flight already booked and you have a conncting flight from somewhere else in Japan to Tokyo, check your reservation online frequently. I just checked with American Airlines online and discovered that the 7AM flight from FUK to HND had disappeared from my reservation. I'm on the phone with an agent right now tryng to book a flight for that leg the previous afternoon! Sheesh.

Three Kumamoto military bases attracted the attention of America’s B-29s in the closing days of the war: Kengun, Kitakumamoto, and the airport, which was then in Kikuchi. (Disclaimer: I've taught at all three.) When I tried to turn my elderly neighbor's yard into a garden, I found it meters deep in roof tiles. Oe must have been an inferno then. Now is the anniversary of that hellish time. A monument exists alongside Shirakawa near Denshadori to remind us. - William

We enjoy Olympics everyday.ーAtsuko.(งᐛ )ง

Way back in 1587, Kato Kiyomasa managed to transit from the Warring States period to the Azuchimomoyama era (安土桃山時代) without being killed、so the new Shogun, 織田信長 (Oda Nobunaga), sent Kato to invade Korea along with a compatriot, Konishi Yukinaga (小西 行長, pictured below, rockin' that yoroi - to say the two didn't get along would be an understatement) in the expectation that they wouldn't return, but when they did, Nobunaga gifted Kato with the far-flung province of Higo - northern Higo, to be precise, as Nobunaga had also gifted southern Kumamoto (now Uto) to Konishi. Perhaps Nobunaga was hoping the two would kill themselves off. But they didn't, and Kato outlasted Konishi and united the province. - William

Kato Shrine used to be at where Fujisaki Dai baseball stadium is now, but during the Meiji Restoration, the shrine was moved inside the castle grounds proper. This left an empty space, which was filled by the stadium. It really must be one of the most beautiful stadiums in Japan, with excellent views of Mt. Kimpo and 400-year old camphor trees (kind of a funny kanji - "kusunoki" ends up being one: 楠) behind it. I'd strongly suggest a stroll behind the stadium to admire the trees. - William

Oft times you'll spot a monolith in Kumamoto City and can imagine the thud it made when Aso spit it out - must have been quite an eruption for ejecta to travel so far. Probably the thudiest. And it's still capable of this. Makes living in Kumamoto that much more thrilling. - William
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/geosoc1893/36/433/36_433_17/_article/-char/ja/

Kirk here. I'm considering a trip to the U.S. to visit family over the summer vacation. I'm looking into resources on government web pages and am aware of the need to be tested for COVID-19 just before returning. I also understand that I won't be able to take any connecting flights after my return to Japan. So, I'm guessing that I'll need to rent a car and drive from Tokyo or from Osaka (which airport I wind up using). If I can fly through Seoul (transit) then I should be able to enter Japan in Fukuoka, but I'm not sure if that's kosher.
Do any of you have experience and/or words of wisdom regarding such a trip? If you would prefer not respond on Facebook, you can write to me directly at [email protected]. Thanks!
By the way, I will be fully vaccinated by the time I take the trip but that doesn't seem to have any direct impact on my re-entry or the period of quarantine that will follow.

Kirk here. I just learned that Sky Brown, this year's youngest (and probably cutest!!) olympian spends half of the year in neighboring Miyazaki prefecture. She's competing for the UK (which, I guess, is the country of her citizenship) but, when not in Miyazaki she seems to spend her time in the U.S. -- which probably explains her American accent. Go Sky!!
https://www.facebook.com/awsmkids/posts/372786420878192

Just FYI, this is what you can expect to be underwater in the next few decades. Global warming is a bit interesting: it's not just that precipitation increases, it's that warmer water fills greater volume. - William

Here's a bit of a secret. If you visit Tsujyunkyo in Yabe, cross it and take a long stone stairway down to where the river is delivered via waterfall called 五老ヶ滝 (Gorougataki - "waterfall of the five elderly"). No one swims there but me - and maybe you, if you can withstand anvil-type water shards battering your head (hint: swim backwards). If you reach the falls, you can climb up behind it, where there's no water at all, but the deepest of moss you'll ever feel. This is a wonderful summer adventure. - William

Researches at Kumamoto University are involved in figuring out what makes the Delta variant (L452R) so nasty.
-- Kirk
P.S. Let's all get vaccinated as soon as possible!
SARS-CoV-2 spike mutation L452R evades human immune response and enhances infectivity, researchers find
Researchers have shown that the L452R mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is common to two variants (Epsilon and Delta), is involved in cellular immunity evasion via the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) A24, and enhances viral infectivity.