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Hi again friends.
Sorry, I couldn't add extra pictures in previous post, so I post here again.
The first, but the 20th Anniversary meet up of ''Kumamoto international''was so Great!!
I know Kumamoto-i has started to share international friends' bad working environment and assert their rights. 20 years has passed, it has already, completely changed?! Yes, we, international friends and Japanese readers, should share and think it together still now.
We talked about キンモクセイKINMOKUSEI, Japanese education system, English learning system, sexuality, gender education system, international food ＆Japanese food we made and brought,,,,,.We talked with each other so much.
I know and feel I have lots things I don't know, I should think, I share you more than I've expected.
Anyway it was so wonderful, inspired time we had.
You might think,
OH, I also wanted to join it and talk with together! If you want so, please comment here. Next chance will come soon😁ーAtsuko(*Ü*)
Kumamoto International Facebook Page celebrated its 20th year Anniversary at Kawaramachi Kumamoto today.
We had our get together at Joggle Jog, few doors away from Out of Step cafe.
Thank you Jay Onyskin for thinking of place to gather.
Thank you for all who came and spent time together.
We look forward to contributing more useful articles to readers.
-Olivia-
Kumamoto international first meet up starts!!
Happy 20th Anniversary!
Great works!!
Thank you readers!!ーAtsuko(๑˃ᴗ˂)و♡
A note from the Kumamoto International desk of Virtual Reality (we can pretend that the sink is not full of dishes): It turns out that "virtual reality" in Japanese is 仮想現実, (kasou genjitsu) - kind of an interesting term as 仮想 means "imaginary", with 仮 meaning "temporary" and 想 meaning "thought" - so, yes, those dishes are actually still in the sink.
Anyway, in the runup to the Women's World Handball Tournament, you can play handball against Kumamon using VR headsets at B-Press (across from Tsuruya). Unfortunately, it is only until today, 11/3, so you'd better hurry. - William
競技体感、シュート体験 熊本市で世界女子ハンド応援イベント ｜ 熊本日日新聞
日本郵便は２日、熊本市中央区のびぷれす広場周辺で、３０日に県内５会場で開幕する女子ハンドボール世界選...
Fiona here. This weekend I'm running a contest to win a free escape room experience at International School of Spies. The prize is a free game for one team, with runners-up winning a free game for one player.
GCHQ, the UK's code-breaking intelligence service, is celebrating its centenary in 2019. What was its name when the agency formed in 1919? Send your answer by 19:19 on Monday (send a message via the Escape from Britz page, not to kumamoto-i) and the winning team can play their game anytime in November. Please don't answer in the comments!
A rose by any other name would taste as good as ... what kind of tea? Minamata is holding a festival with 5,000 rose bushes of 800 varieties (who'da thunk?) alongside a tea festival where participants can wander about with a porcelain cup to sample 17 different types of Kyushu tea. I assume they have portable toilets. It's called 「九州和紅茶サミット in みなまた」because "in" in Japanese is for some reason always spelt in romaji. It will be held until 11/17. - William
秋包むバラの香り 水俣市で秋のローズフェスタ ｜ 熊本日日新聞
８００種５千株のバラが咲き誇る熊本県水俣市のエコパーク水俣バラ園で２日、「水俣ローズフェスタ秋」が始...
A quick lunch after my morning class at Minami/South Kumamoto today.
I went to a hand kneaded udon shop.
If you live around Minami area, you should check it out.
-Olivia-
It's been said that dogs can be trained to detect cancer, while cats can be trained to poop in a box.
While walking my dog at the park this morning, I spotted an interesting van and paused (pawsed?) to talk with the driver. His company has trained a dog named Landy to detect termites. Apparently, it's a highly-effective, non-invasive, inexpensive method of figuring out whether your house is being chewed up. Plus, the dog is cute. Landy also serves as a comfort animal for the elderly. Details at the link. - William
https://nisshoukagaku.com/shiroari/tm-dog
A note from the Kumamoto International Polyglot Desk (we speak all languages, but most with terrible accents): To accompany the rising number of foreign residents in Kumamoto, the city government has introduced in all five government ward offices a system which can translate in writing 104 languages (if you speak Kx'a, you're probably out of luck). The user can either download an app via QR code to smartphone which will allow it to synch with the clerk's tablet or use the tablet itself. That Kumamoto is being proactive regarding our international future is good. - William
１０４言語ＯＫ、熊本市の区役所窓口 翻訳ツール導入へ実証実験 ｜ 熊本日日新聞
熊本市は、増加する在留外国人との意思疎通を円滑にしようと、各区役所の窓口での多言語翻訳ツール導入に向...
A long weekend is coming up to celebrate Culture Day in Japan. Why not immerse yourself in the culture of espionage🔎 and detective work🕵 at Kumamoto's only escape room?
Britz, a small English school in the east of the city is rumoured to be the centre of an international spy ring. Your team of covert operatives have one hour to infiltrate the building, search for clues and stop a deadly attack. Using teamwork, logic, deduction and a few hints along the way, it's a fun and frantic adventure unlike any game you've played before.
To experience INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF SPIES please make a reservation for your team of 2-6 players via the Escape from Britz Facebook page. It costs 1000 yen per player (500 yen for children and students) and is suitable for anyone over the age of ten. Teams should have at least one fluent speaker of English. There are no horror elements to the game and you're not actually locked in!
If you've already played the game, please tell your friends about it. If you teach, bring students! If you're a parent, bring your kids! If puzzles are not your thing, bring someone smart!😉😂
Escape from Britz reopens on November 2nd and will be available on weekends and some weekday evenings.
Thanks!
Fiona (Creator/ Game Master)
A note from the Kumamoto International Wha-?! Desk (we facepalm a lot): There will be an international festival on Kengun shopping arcade all day on 11/2. The brochure is only available in Japanese. It lists event running times but not starting times.
Shopping streets such as Kengun are often called "shutter dori" due to the large number of shuttered shops. If this is the best they can do - well, facepalm. Scroll down to enjoy the sole English note from the Kumamoto Foreigner Support Center: double facepalm. - William
Our friend Luz-san has completed the Alter de Muertos. It will b'é on display at the Centro Internacional de Kumamoto until November 3. Pop by for a look! - William
Tristan Vick here with a question . I’m in need of a notary. Does Kumamoto have anybody who can notarize American paperwork?
Mark Twain is said to have written, "Whisky is for drinking; water is for fighting over." Having grown up in the American southwest, I can appreciate the sentiment: one cannot have the former without the latter.
The Daiso Dam (大蘇ダム - not the 100 yen shop - in fact, costs over its 40-year journey from conception to completion ballooned 5.5 times to some 72 billion yen even while the amount of water provided is expected to be a mere 10% of iinitial projections), located in Ubayama Mura, Aso, is slated to open next year, with the reservoir water shared between Kumamoto and Oita (the latter via pipe) and then divided between water-hungry farmers and municipalities. The Aso region was promised 261 hectares (the article doesn't indicate units; in th US, we use water-feet, the amount of water required to fill a cubic feet of space), but infrastructure for just 40 hectares for highland farming and 30 hectares for Aso City has been installed. As usual, Aso is getting screwed.
Let the water fights begin. - Wlliam
大蘇ダム利水、計画の３割 熊本側畑地、受益農家減少で負担増懸念も ｜ 熊本日日新聞
２０２０年４月に供用が始まる国営大蘇ダム（熊本県産山村）を水源とする土地改良事業で、熊本県内では実際...
Attending college in Maine state, where lobstering is huge, I learned that buoys are colored to indicate their owners. Kumanichi just taught me this: Ariake Sea is the largest nori cultivation area in Japan, and now is seeding time along long poles supporting nets which will later be dispursed further out to sea. Just like buoys, the pole colors indicate ownership.
Now is the only time to see all of the nets congregated; work will last through the first week of November. The article's photo is from Uto, but Kawachi is also a good sight for photographers. - William
赤、青、緑…ノリ網鮮やか 宇土市の有明海 ｜ 熊本日日新聞
養殖ノリの種付けが始まった熊本県宇土市の有明海上に、この時季にだけ見ることができるカラフルな“ノリ網...
First frost in Kusasenri. Asked whether they liked it, the majority of horses answered "Neigh!" with only one answering "Aye!" (He was the only guy with a sled.) - William
草千里にうっすらと霜 阿蘇市 ｜ 熊本日日新聞
２８日朝は県内各地で今季一番の冷え込みとなった。熊本地方気象台によると、最も気温が低かった阿蘇市乙姫...
Hello friends.
I'm not sure if it's the first post about it because many friends might know and have joined this event before.
On 10 November, there is English market at HAYAKAWA SOUKO(早川倉庫) nearest tram stop is Gohukutyou (呉服町).
The market's has one rule, you can speak English only. No need to be fluent. Hoping just enjoy!!
I will join as a owner of a shop ''Team TONAKAI''. We'll sell crapes and fried potato to raise donation money to give Christmas presents for orphans.
There are lots international food and goods shops. So enjoyable!!
Hoping you also enjoy the English spoken market!! ーAtsuko(*Ü*)
イングリッシュマーケット実行委員会
公式Webサイト：https://english-market.com/
FBページ：https://www.facebook.com/englishmarket.kumamoto/
Instagram：https://www.instagram.com/english.market/
#EnglishMarket
#EnglishMarketvol.4
#早川倉庫
#スポンサー
#熊本学園大学
#崇城大学
#有限会社モイスティーヌ・ファミーユ
#GlobalSmileJapan
English Market – Welcome to an English speaking world. Shop.Speak English.Enjoy yourselves.
Fiona here with a book recommendation, actually one that my reading book will be discussing this evening, and possibly even chatting with the author via Skype. Tracy Franz used to live in Kumamoto and wrote this memoir of her time here while her husband was training to be a Zen monk. She writes about her job at a local college, pottery lessons, karate, meditation and challenging trips to Alaska... it's a fascinating read and if you've been in Kumamoto a while there's the added bonus of occasionally meeting a character in the book who is someone you know. The book is called My Year of Dirt and Water and is published by Stone Bridge Press. Here's a review that was in the Japan Times:
Dirt and difficulty: Life as the wife of a Buddhist monk | The Japan Times
Tracy Franz's poignant memoir, "My Year of Dirt and Water," is full of carefully observed details. Organised by the season and dated like a diary, Franz delves into the solitary year she spent in Japan while her husband was cloistered in a Zen monastery.
Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead): in Mexican culture, death is viewed as a natural part of the human cycle. Mexicans view it not as a day of sadness but as a day of celebration because their loved ones awake and celebrate with them - a bit like Japan's Obon: During this time, people go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing favorite foods and beverages, as well as photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls to allow them to hear the prayers and the comments directed to them. Unlike Halloween but again like Obon, the festival stretches over several days, typically the first four of November.
The holiday is particularly focused on children, who make and munch alfeñique, which is a confection molded from sugar paste in the shape of a human skull (yes, it is an acquired taste - a symbol of the finiteness of life akin to the sugar lotus flowers displayed during Obon - but I grew up with them in LA). Our friend Luz-san is the matriarch of the Kumamoto Mexican community. She has organized an event at the International Center for children to be held on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, from 10:00 AM. Admission is free, but the number is limited to 20 children, and a reservation is required, available at the number or email on the link. Thank you, Luz-san, for your everlasting efforts to promote international understanding. - William
