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As I recall, there were 100 new COVID-19 cases in Kumamoto yesterday. As this article reports, there were 111 today -- an all-time high. The rise in Kumamoto mirrors the national trend. I'm not sure about the national percentage right now but I found a Japanese article that says that 12 of the cases identified yesterday were of one or more of the newer, more contagious strains. My sense is that this is nothing to be trifled with. It's Mother's Day tomorrow but it will probably be wise to celebrate in a way that doesn't involve a lot of interaction what non-family members in tight quarters. -- Kirk
P.S. The majority of cases were in Kumamoto City yesterday. I suspect that was the case today too.
(Update) Japan's Daily Coronavirus Cases Top 7,000 - JIJI PRESS

Kirk here sharing a post about making a vaccination reservation so that more people will see it.
URL: https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/5335451439861578

Kirk here with a bit of news about COVID-19 in Kumamoto and a question about whether or not people who read this page would also like to be able to access the original Japanese for such messages and announcements. First, here's the text of an e-mail I received from the Kumamoto International Foundation:
"Due to the increase of the COVID-19 patients, hospital bed occupancy rate reached over 50 %. Therefore, Kumamoto City declared “Medical State of Emergency.”
Followings are the requests to citizens to stem the further spread of the infection:
　・ Please stick to the basic infection prevention measures such as washing hands thoroughly, wearing masks, gargling and disinfecting hands and fingers
　・short time shopping with small number of people
・eating out with small number of people who you usually meet "
(This arrived recently but the information is dated April 25, 2021.)
I wrote back and suggested that the original Japanese might be added at the end of such messages. My thought is that people in Kumamoto who receive messages in English might be able to use the Japanese in a number of ways. For example, in the case of this message, some people might want to look at the Japanese to learn how to talk about the declaration of a "Medical State of Emergency" in a way that their Japanese friends will understand (the key term, by the way is "iryo hijojitai sengen; 医療非常事態宣言). Or, if there happens to be something in the English that isn't clear or is hard to understand, one might show the Japanese to a friend or family member and ask for clarification.
I think that excluding the original language (Japanese) from messages in a foreign language tends to be the norm rather than the exception in Japan. Over the past few years, I have been saying "Don't assume that foreigners have no use for the Japanese" at every opportunity. To be honest, though, sometimes I feel like I'm shouting in the wind. That's not to say that no one has paid any attention. As I wrote earlier, Kumamoto City now has links that connect their machine translations with the original Japanese:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/5200336923373031
But, nonetheless, the pervasiveness of the "What use might foreigners have for Japanese?" attitude seems to have very, very deep roots.
So, here's my question. I sometimes image myself to be advocating for foreigners living in Japan when I say "let us have access to the original Japanese too." But, I wonder. Perhaps my view is in the minority even among foreigners living in Japan. Is it? I'll be interested in any responses the good readers of this page might favor me with. Thanks!
P.S. Since I'm using an example from the International Foundation I'd like to point out that Mr. Yagi (its secretary general) has been very understanding and very supportive of my perspective. I think, though, that as an organization, with many different people involved, including volunteers from the public, old habits die hard and implementing a new approach takes time.

My wife's family hails from Yabe, so she speaks Yabe dialect, a radical form of Kumamoto dialect. I've become a tad proficient at it. Waiting at a train station, talking with an old man, I slipped into it. He was quite surprised - but comfortable with it. The link is to some common phrases in the Kumamoto dialect. Memorize a few to surprise your conversation partner. - William
　元々「熊本の自然･文化」の1ページ「熊本の方言」として、特徴的な単語を紹介する簡単なものでしたが、閲覧者の皆さまのおかげで次第に充実。そこで「熊本の方言」の「熊本弁単語一覧」としてここに独立。これか.....

I taught my wife's second-year JHS student today. She had to write some example sentences on a tablet. The tablet didn't function well, it took her forever to type, and it deprived her of a chance to practice penmanship - clearly, I don't like them. Fortunately, at least for her, her school provides them to students free of charge. JT points out that others are not so lucky, as in this Kyoto school district. - William
Kyoto families angered by new policy forcing high school students to buy tablets at own expense
Beginning with the 2022 academic year, the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education will require students entering public prefecturally administered high schools to purchase electronic tablets, expected to cost somewhere in the range of 60,000-70,000 yen, and pay for them out of pocket. Because high sch...

Japan Today had a short write-up on the torch relay featuring costumes from the Yamaga Lantern Dance Festival – Yamaga Toro Matsuri, 山鹿灯籠祭 - which, sadly, I've never had the chance to attend (my family hails from Yabe), so I looked it up. Apparently, when the Keiko Emperor (景行天皇, reigned 71-130 CE) approached Yamaga by boat, the weather was foggy, so the locals lit torches to guide his way. These eventually evolved into the lantern hats that women wear while dancing in the festival. It must be a true story because that's what Wikipedia says. - William
Relay welcome
Women wave to a motorcade for the Tokyo Olympic torch relay at a municipally operated hot spring house in the Kumamoto Prefecture city of Yamaga on Thursday.

Actually, I felt this yesterday but was too busy to follow up and then forgot about it.
I wonder how reports like this are generated. It could be that a human being sat at a computer and put it together. Or, I understand that articles on sporting events, where the framework is fairly predictable, are sometimes generated with computer algorithms. Perhaps that was the case here too. If you look at the website on which this was posted, you can find many, many reports with similar phrasing but different details. Amazing what computers can do these days! ;) -- Kirk
Moderate magnitude 4.3 earthquake 12 km south of Kumamoto, Japan
Earthquake news: reports and updates on earthquake activity world-wide

An NHK video report in English.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210507_03/
-- Kirk
Olympic torch passes through quake-hit Kumamoto | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
The torch relay for this summer's Tokyo Olympics has passed through the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto. The region suffered a series of powerful earthquakes five years ago.

You can watch Day 2 of the Olympic torch relay through Kumamoto live via the link below, happening now! The link also contains the relay schedule and replays. Today the relay starts in Mashiki and will wind through Minami Aso, Aso City, Kikuchi, Yamaga, Nagomi, Tamana, ending in Kumamoto City:
https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/torch/route/kumamoto/
- Mark
Torch Relay Route Prefecture - kumamoto
Torch Relay Description

Kirk here with a little follow-up on the torch relay that William posted about. It was rainy yesterday in the Hitoyoshi area but the weather looks like it will be much nicer for the people running the legs that start in Mashiki and end at the castle today.
雨の中、豪雨被災地で炎つなぐ　＃この一枚
九州・沖縄を走る東京五輪の聖火リレーは5日午前、熊本県人吉市をスタートした。昨年7月の集中豪雨で氾濫した球磨川沿いをトーチを掲げたラン...九州・沖縄を走る東京五輪の聖火リレーは5日午前、熊本県人吉市をスター...

The Olympic torch is called in Japanese 聖火 (seika, or holy flame), overdoing it a bit in my opinion. It will pass through Kumamoto on the 5th and 6th. The rough route can be seen at the map below, and a list of times at the link. It will end up at Ninomaru on the 6th at roughly 8:30 PM. - William
https://kumanichi.com/news/id217278

This is a follow-up to William's post about the May 1st commemoration of the official "discovery" of Minamata disease, a report submitted to the Minamata City health office by Dr. HOSOKAWA Hajime on May 1, 1956.
Legal battles over who should be recognized as a Minamata disease patient and be therefore is entitled to assistance continue to this day. How could such legal battles go on so long? One answer is that, after trying to ignore the issue, the government has taken a series of half measures, each of which helped some but left others without assistance. Some of those left out have sued the government. Victories have led others to sue in a very long series of court battles.
One example of government inaction (hoping that the problem will just go away eventually) is its refusal to conduct a scientific survey of the people living around Minamata to measure the extent of the effects of mercury in the population:
"It is also vital to conduct health surveys of local residents as provided by the special measures law. No such surveys have yet been carried out."
-- Kirk
EDITORIAL: Many Minamata disease victims still waiting for overdue relief : The Asahi Shimbun
Many victims are still waiting to be officially recognized as patients of Minamata disease, the merc

I always feel "funky" in the spring - and not in that good way, like I want to disco down and check out the show. A new study shows that "Temporary rises in air pollution may impair memory and thinking in older men." Spring brings huge plumes of dust from China. That's likely the trigger. The article suggests that aspirin is effective. - William
Air pollution spikes may impair older men’s thinking, study finds
Even short, temporary increases in airborne particles can damage brain health, research suggests

The antique shop John Bull is a Kumamoto mainstay, dealing in a variety of goods from windows and doors to furniture, most sourced from England. The owner, Yoko Teramoto, speaks English very well and can aid you with purveying what you would like. Their warehouse-style shop is on Higashi Bypass. Even just for a (very expansive) glance, it is worth a visit. - William
英国アンティーク家具なら熊本市のジョンブルへ。ステンドグラス、ダイニングチェアー、スツール、ドアノブ等。アンティークを活用したオーダーやレストアなど承ります。

Summer is almost upon us. While the ghosting season in the West is generally autumn, in Japan, it's mid-summer, when your ancestors return to berate you for not regularly sweeping the family tomb or schmoozing at the butsudan (and probably other things as well, but that's between you and them). This is a useful image (a Chas Addams parody) to symbolize the season - feel free to copy-paste it under risk that it may further annoy your ancestors. - William

Kumanichi has a special photo serial section to mark five years since the quake. Ah, the memories. Check it out, at least so as to prepare for the next. - William
特集　熊本地震５年 | 熊本日日新聞社
花畑広場（仮称）で受け付けをした後、説明を受けるボランティアたち＝2016年４月22日午前、熊本市中央区

It was the cats in Minamata that first indicated something was amiss - they were going into convulsions after eating locally-caught fish. The toxin, a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning, eventually led up the food chain to humans. My hometown of Los Angeles is currently facing a similar issue, with barrels of dioxin being found on the seabed. The sea is used as a dump but should not be. A ceremony was held yesterday to commemorate this deathly human error. - William
https://kumanichi.com/news/id215795

Tommy Lee Jones has long done Japanese commercials for canned coffee. I don't know why - he doesn't need the money. Likely he just enjoys them. This one is particularly good; the first is based on the Battle of Sekigahara, and the second on the Chushingura. The subtitles are hilarious. - William
Spaceman Jones Sekigahara 47Ronin - Japanese AD - Tommy Lee Jones

Interesting to think about how Edo-era Japanese considered the dog. Obviously, I have no idea - I've eaten it in both Korea and China; it's said that dogs will not approach you for several days after this as they can smell. I don't doubt it. But when and how they were introduced to Japan, and for what purpose, is interesting. If anyone has any ideas, please let us know. - William

Kengun (健軍 - think about the name!) was and remains the headquarters of the Japanese 7th Army, charged with defending Kyushu, Okinawa, and all of the miscellaneous points thereabout. Kumamoto Airport doubles as an ASDF base, though no American aircraft use it - for now. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force announced on the 30th that a total of 15 fighter aircraft of the Air Self-Defense Force conducted joint training with two B52 strategic bombers of the US Air Force on the 27th in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. It seems that the aim is to restrain China, keeping in mind the situation surrounding Okinawa Prefecture, the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan. Summer in Japan is hot enough - let's hope it doesn't get any hotter. - William
https://kumanichi.com/node/213882