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Hi! Joe posted about this event the other day but, just in case someone might like to participate, I'll post again.
I contacted the organizers and learned that all but one of the presentations will be done in Japanese. It costs Y9,000 to participate but, if you attend the party afterwards, you get to hobnob with a lot of movers and shakers. (Note: I read this on the web but I got another notice through my university that you can watch the presentations free of charge and that the "after party" costs 5,000 yen. The web figure of 9,000 is still up but I suspect the notice from Kumamoto Gakuen University, where the event will be held is correct.) I think that interaction between the people who were willing to pay for the live conference was part of the idea behind the original TED conferences too.
At any rate, it will be held of Sunday so if you're interested you should hurry. (I first wrote "hurry" because the web page indicates that you need to apply in advance. However, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get in if you just show up.)
-- Kirk
http://www.tedxkumamoto.com/event_tedxkumamoto2017.html

Ms. Ogata published an article in the Guarding presenting her perspective on the issue. Recommended reading!
Here's one quote that I think gets to the crux of the matter: ". . . this isn’t a women’s problem – it is a management issue."
-- Kirk
I tried to take my child to work with me in Japan – but I got thrown out
As a city councillor I have come to see the huge obstacles that are put in the way of working mothers. For the benefit of all things have to change

Kumanichi reported on the tunnel under construction between Ozu and Aso to replace that crumbled section of Rt. 57. Apparently, building a tunnel is similar to cooking in that the most efficient way to proceed is not necessarily how the food comes out but different in that you also have to excavate evacuation routes (something perhaps recommended for some places I've eaten). Anyway, they're proceeding at what for boring is a lickety-split pace, with over 10% of the entire 3.7km length complete across various sections. The tunnel is expected to open in 2020. - William
二重峠トンネル、掘削１割　大津町長、町議ら現場視察 - 熊本日日新聞
急ピッチで工事が進む二重峠トンネル・大津工区の本坑掘削現場＝大津町　大津町の家入勲町長と同町議が５日、同町古城の国道５７号・北側復旧ルートの二重峠［ふたえのとうげ］トンネル工事の掘削現場を、初めて視察...

Yuki and Sean are back with a special English-based culinary class scheduled for 12/23. The theme for this class is Tex-Mex, a combination of Texas and Mexican traditional foods. Please feel free to message for more information. - William

Have you ever had difficultly sending money abroad from Japan?
Several years ago, when I had just moved to Kumamoto, I needed to send about $1000 back home. I didn’t have many options for sending the money, so I settled on Western Union. But the fees were extremely high — around 15-20%! Paying $150 dollars felt unreasonably expensive.
I think it crossed my mind to send money using bitcoin, but I was totally clueless about it at that time. Moreover, the people to whom I was sending money also knew nothing about bitcoin.
Fast forward to today, and bitcoin is gradually gaining mainstream acceptance along with other “crypto currencies”.
While doing some research on which coins to invest my money in, I came across a project called “Monaco Card”. It’s a prepaid Visa debit card that automatically converts bitcoin or other crypto currencies in your account to local currencies (e.g. $¥€£) when you purchase something. It also converts bitcoin to local currencies when you make withdrawals from ATMs.
In anticipation of going back to Japan next Spring, I’ve signed myself and my family up for Monaco Cards so that we can easily (and cheaply) send money to one another and withdraw it from ATMs.
If the card sounds useful to you, consider signing up for the wait list here:
https://get.mona.co/IVWT/kLh77gdYxI
Thanks for reading,
-Noel
▲Neither Kumamoto International nor I profit from this link. I’m simply sharing this information because it seems really useful to the Kumamoto expat community!▲
Launch Monaco
Please make sure the following badge appears in the app to make sure the referral works. You might need to click the referral link again.

Are you in elementary or JHS? If so, quick, call your parents! I'll wait....
Okay, all gathered round? The ＦＯＲ　ＫＵＭＡＭＯＴＯ　ＰＲＯＪＥＣＴ (weird font in the original), a non-profit supporting earthquake recovery, announced plans to establish the "Kumamon Dance Group Project" and from 12/1 is recruiting 50 participants from the above demographic. Application deadline is 12/8, and participants are expected to perform in an event in March. Call ０９６（３１９）８０１１ or visit the site below.
Lessons will be held once monthly on the 14th-floor hall of City Hall. The first lesson is 12/17 and will be instructed by Kumamoto-born Nesumisu-san of the group Exile (the dance will be to their song "Rising Son") and someone else whose name I don't recognize but is probably important enough to have his/her name printed. - William
https://forkumamoto.yahoo.co.jp/
https://this.kiji.is/309932233257616481?c=92619697908483575
FOR KUMAMOTO PROJECT - Yahoo! JAPAN
【FOR KUMAMOTO PROJECT】くまモン募金箱 – 熊本地震災害支援・復興支援募金 –

Alarm is a matter of degree. (Case in point, this Steven Wright quote: “You know when you're sitting on a chair and you lean back so you're just on two legs and you lean too far so you almost fall over but at the last second you catch yourself? I feel like that all the time...”) I'm far from that level of paranoia, but certain events regarding North Korea have caught my attention. I have two students who work for the Self Defense Force, and both have said a sudden increased work level will prevent them from attending until further notice.
Kengun (健軍 ー literary, "build the military") has been a major base since the Meiji era. It is currently the headquarters of the Western Army, tasked with defending Kyushu and Okinawa. As such, it is a potential target for North Korea's inaccurate intermediate missiles if hostilities do break out. Read more about the Western Army at the link. - William
Western Army (Japan) - Wikipedia
The Western Army (西部方面隊) is one of five active Armies of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. It is headquartered in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture. Its responsibility is the defense of Kyūshū and Okinawa.

Here's some tourism news about Kumamoto. I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news regards cruise ships coming to Yatsushiro port.
First, the following Japanese article, which came out in May of this year, says that the port is expecting 75 cruise ship visits this year, 7.5 times last year:
http://www.sankei.com/region/news/170526/rgn1705260016-n1.html
The next article, also in Japanese, says that they are doing work on Yatsushiro port to make it possible for 220,000 ton cruise ships to dock there. The work is scheduled to be completed by March of 2020, in time for the olympics.
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLZO11845140Y7A110C1LX0000/
The bad is that 2016, the year the earthquake hit, was a bad year for tourism -- no surprise there. The number of foreign tourists visiting Kumamoto dropped to 4.6 million, down about a million from the previous year. It was the first time to go under a million in 9 years.
On the positive side, I think the increase in cruise ships and other factors should lead to significantly better numbers in coming years.
-- Kirk

Here's a bit of jaw-dropping news that is not specific to Kumamoto but definitely strikes me as relevant discussions we've been having recently.
The opening sentence of the article, which summarizes the ruling, says that a Kobe judge has ruled that a law, currently in force, that allows the husband to declare that a child borne be his wife is not his, but does NOT allow the wife to make such a legal claim, is constitutional. (Insert image of jaw dropping to floor here.) It seems to me that the woman might have some idea of who the father of her baby is (I'm not sure, you know, being a man and all, but I think many women probably notice who it is that they are engaging with when doing the business of baby making) but the woman has no legal right to declare that, if I have understood the ruling correctly -- and the judge says this is all constitutional and no problem in terms of equality of the sexes. Someone, please tell me that I've misunderstood this. I heard about it on the news today and couldn't believe my ears. Reading the Japanese text gives me the sinking feeling that I understood the news report correctly the first time.
「妻が産んだ子どもを法律上自分の子どもではないと求める手続きを、夫にだけ認めた民法の規定が、憲法に違反するかどうかが初めて争われた裁判で、神戸地方裁判所は「法律的に子どもの身分の安定を保つもので、合理性がある」として、憲法に違反しないという判断を示しました。 」
-- Kirk
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20171129/k10011239771000.html

The problem of suspects being pushed to make false confessions is not unique to Japan but, since protections for suspects being interrogated are relatively weak, it has long been recognized as a serious problem in Japan's legal system. The first death sentence in Japan to be overturned because the confession was eventually ruled to have been forced was that of Menda Sakae of Kumamoto. Here's another such case regarding a crime that occurred in Kumamoto. This one, however, isn't over yet.
-- Kirk
High court upholds retrial of man convicted of 1985 Kumamoto murder | The Japan Times
A high court on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision to retry an 84-year-old man who served prison time for fatally stabbing an acquaintance in Kumamoto

In this post, I'd like to present two articles that provide some additional information and updates on the Ogata Yuka baby-in-city-council controversy. First, the image you see is from a BuzzFeed article about the case. The second article
Lawmaker who brought baby to assembly receives written warning
https://japantoday.com/category/politics/lawmaker-who-brought-baby-to-assembly-receives-written-warning
is, as the title indicates, about a formal warning she has received.
-- Kirk
https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/yuka-ogata?utm_term=.lvop7nnnR#.bpZnpVVVA
Everything You Need To Know About The "Controversial" Japanese Politician Who Brought Her Son To Work
The Kumamoto Prefecture assembly waited 40 minutes before Japanese politician Yuka Ogata left the chamber with her son.

Sojo University is one of a relatively small number of universities in Japan that train aspiring pilots. The university's training facility (with small aircraft) in Kikuyo-machi was part of a story broadcast nationally by NHK last night on the shortage of pilots and efforts to train more. A video of the broadcast can be found (while it lasts; NHK takes stuff down pretty quickly) on the page I'm sharing. In the video, Sojo University President Nakayama can also been seen participating in a meeting of university leaders about the topic.
I once had a very good student who wanted to become a pilot but failed the examination. According to his explanation, if you failed once you were told that taking the exam again would do any good -- you only had once chance. From talking with this student, I got the impression that it's very difficult to become a pilot in Japan.
Perhaps the difficulty of gaining entry to the profession in combination with increased demand are behind recent news reports such as this one about pilot shortages:
Pilot shortage prompts Air Do to cancel 34 flights in November
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/01/business/pilot-shortage-prompts-air-scrub-34-flights-november/#.Wh4a_LaB3_Q
-- Kirk
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20171128/k10011238091000.html
パイロット養成を後押し 奨学金制度を来年度から導入へ | NHKニュース
国内の航空会社で欠航便が出るなどパイロット不足が深刻化する中、若手パイロットの養成を後押ししようと、航空会社や私立大学などが連携してパイロッ…

There are two main roads to Yabe, 445 to the north and 218 to the south. I find 218 preferable as its slopes are marginally less panic-inducing, but it's understandable that those who live along 445 have not been pleased with the continued severance of a 4.3KM section of the road since the quakes. (There is a bypass, but it's even more tortuous.) Kumanichi reports on bad news: engineers are shrugging their shoulders at any imminent restoration due to a combination of mountains and gravity (the accompanying photo gives a hint at the challenges). The article quotes a local gas station owner who commented with laconicism typical of Kumamoto: "Business has been up due to the number of construction vehicles, but still, I suppose it would be good to reopen the road."
Aside from Route 57 through Tateno (which is being rerouted through a tunnel via Ozu), this is apparently the final road that remains severed due to the quakes. - William
国道445号、復旧見通せず　想定上回る被害判明　御船町 - 熊本日日新聞
熊本地震に伴う斜面崩落で激しい損傷を受けた国道４４５号の路面＝２８日、御船町滝尾　熊本地震で被災し、一部で全面通行止めが続く熊本県御船町の国道４４５号について、県が目標としていた本年度中の開通が見通せ...

The new world champion you see on the right is a student a Kumamoto Gakuen University. This is the first victory for Japan in a couple decades. Needless to say, it's a first for Kumamoto. -- Kirk
BOWL.com | Netherlands, Japan win singles at 2017 World Bowling Championships
The first medals have been handed out at the 2017 World Bowling Championships, with the singles titles going to the Netherlands and Japan.

As the article indicates, this article discusses the debate that has been heating up on Twitter and other forums about this issue. No mention is made of raging debate on the Kumamoto International Facbook page, though ;)
At any rate, it's a good, moderately long article. Worth reading, I think. (It also provides some historical background.)
-- Kirk
Japanese lawmaker sparks nationwide debate by taking her baby to work | The Japan Times
A female politician's decision to bring her baby to an assembly session to highlight the difficulties faced by working mothers is drawing support on Twitte

If you would like to read an academic study on last year's earthquakes, you can read this one free-of-charge online.
-- Kirk
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/11/e1700813.full

The other day I posted about an RKK video in which it was explained the the City Council is considering reprimanding (or, would "censuring" be a better translation?) Ms. Ogata. Unfortunately, the link I posted went dead almost immediately. If you would like to see that video, it seems to be available on Yahoo now. -- Kirk
赤ちゃん連れで市議会に出席　緒方市議を処分検討へ（RKK熊本放送） - Yahoo!ニュース
赤ちゃんを抱いて議会に参加しようとした議員に処分が検討されます。赤ちゃんを議場に - Yahoo!ニュース(RKK熊本放送)

Apparently, the US tilt-rotor V-22 aircraft, popularly known as the "Osprey," will be deployed for exercises in Kumamoto, and whether the safety history of the plane is cause for concern is under debate.
I'm old enough to remember when the prototype version of the aircraft was dubbed "the widowmaker" due to its tendency to suddenly collide with what scientists call "the ground," but my reptilian statistician brain nagged me for more recent data to support my perception. So here you go: in a nutshell, it depends on which version statistics commence from, but the more recent version of the plane could be termed moderately safer than the helicopter it replaced, the CH-46 "Sea Stallion," which has been in service since the Vietnam War. So if you're against the plane flying over your area for safety reasons, you'd logically be against every type of helicopter as well.
There are of course other reasons to oppose the overflight of military aircraft, but safety is, at least regarding this plane in relation to others, statistically not a significant one. - William

This provides some international perspective on recent events in Kumamoto. The article is from just a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps Ms. Ogata was aware of it when she decided to take action. -- Kirk
New Zealand's new baby-friendly Parliament
An MP's baby was breastfed in Parliament and then sat on the Speaker's lap in the paid parental leave debate.

Unfortunately, a participant in Kumamoto International who disagreed with some things I had written and that others on the page had written about Ms. Ogata's case began to engage in ad hominem attacks. The person began "you should not enhance this case while you don't know much about the situation in Japan." Then, when I warned him about the ad hominem nature of this argument and explained that I do not allow ad hominem attacks on this page he responded "I clearly understood what kind of a man you are" etc. So, I did something I almost never do on this page; I banned him. He will no longer be able to participate in discussions on this page.
I am sorry I had to do this. I would like Kumamoto International to be a place that welcomes diverse opinions. But, my experience on the internet tells me that ad hominem is a line that must be maintained.
One problematic consequence of banning the individual seems to be that threads he participated in have disappeared, along with other thoughtful, civil comments. I'm sorry about that but Facebook doesn't seem to give me an option in that regard. :(
-- Kirk