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Kumamato University eyes collaboration with UTM on halal food industry
JOHOR BARU: Japan’s Kumamoto University is keen to collaborate with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) on water resource management, water treatment technology and setting up a halal food hub, as well as a student exchange programme.

A note from the Kumamoto International Zoological and Botanical Desk (merged due to budget cuts): Camellias (tsubaki, つばき、椿), native to eastern and southern Asia, are in full bloom now. Over millennia, they have been cultivated and eventually resulted in both ornamental varieties and - get this - the tea plant! This explains their Chinese name, cháhuā (茶花), or "tea flower."
I'd wondered why they blossom in mid-winter, when pollinating insects are scarce; turns out they're pollinated by birds, particularly the bulbul (Hiyodori, ヒヨドリ) - a large and annoyingly noisy bird - and the white-eye (Mejiro, メジロ) - a small, quiet bird that returns from the mountains to spend its winters in lower areas. They feed on the nectar, which explains the flowers' wide shape and prodigious nectar production. Click on the photos and note the pollen-covered beaks.
Kumamoto has six symbolic flowers, the most important of which is the Higo tsubaki. Manhole covers in Kumamoto City are often imprinted with images of these flowers.
Below are Wikipedia links to more info and a few photos. - William
Six flowers of Kumamoto (Higo Rokka, 肥後六花): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%82%A5%E5%BE%8C%E5%85%AD%E8%8A%B1
Bulbul (Hiyodori, ヒヨドリ): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%92%E3%83%A8%E3%83%89%E3%83%AA
White-eye (Mejiro, メジロ): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A1%E3%82%B8%E3%83%AD
Camellia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia

There was an earthquake at about 7 PM. I was on my bike and didn't even notice but it was covered live on NHK's national news (which I had recorded) because it was Level 4 in Kikuchi. The magnitude was 3.2.
By the way, sorry I haven't been feeding much news to this page recently -- computer problems. I've done a "clean install" (starting over with a fresh install of the OS and then adding programs and data little by little) and am finally getting back to normal. If there are any Mac users out there, I can share that this experience has led me to add something called Carbon Copy Cloner to my backup arsenal. Time Machine is good but sometimes it's nice to have a bootable clone. A clone can be a "time machine" in a way that the Time Machine app can't -- it can let you go back, via a clone, and use a previous OS version and any apps that stopped working with an update.
-- KIrk

Joe Tomei here,
this is a message from Huy Tran in Yamaga about job openings.
====
Please feel free to post and share wherever you think qualified candidates would be interested.
You are also free to share my contact information if some people have particular concerns or detailed questions.
Sincerely,
Huy Tran
Direct hire ALT positions for the Yamaga BOE for the upcoming April 2017-March 2018 school year are now being considered for review. Yamaga BOE is continually searching for quality ALTs throughout the year.
Interested Candidates should mail paper copies by JPost by February 1st, 2017 to the address below.
〒861-0592 熊本県山鹿市山鹿987-3　 山鹿市役所　 教育総務課
〒861-0592 Kumamoto-ken, Yamaga-shi, Yamaga 987-3
Yamaga-shiyakusho Kyouikusoumuka
1. Resume (English)
2. Rirekisho (Japanese resume)
3. Cover Letter (English and Japanese) which should share your thoughts regarding...
a. Why is learning another language important?
b. What is your educational philosophy?
c. Share the highlights of your previous English teaching experience in detail.
Application deadline is Feb 1st, 2017.
Be ready to do a short live interview in Japanese and English about Mid-March.
Positions Details
Salary: 280,000 Y - 300,000 Y per month depending on experience
Benefits: Shakai Hoken (1/2 paid by employer, 1/2 paid by employee) 10 days paid leave per + 1 day each consecutive year (nenkyu)
(If your Japanese fluency is high and you are savvy enough, it is possible for you to negotiate better terms of employment.)
Time: 40 hrs per week typically Mon-Fri - classroom, prep, special events 12 month working temporary contract with yearly renewal depending on evaluation.
Schools: JHS and/or ES schools per week with occasional ES and kindergarten classes, eikaiwa classes 5-8 times per semester. This is a unique ALT position for a dynamic individual. The classrooms at these schools have high speed internet, HD TVs, and are slowly but surely having a progressive English education culture. You will have a schedule the same as Japanese teachers, and you are expected to work during the summer time when classes are out doing prep work, collaborating with JTEs and other ALTs unless you take nenkyu.
Besides the typical JHS duties of an ALT, the position is interested in individuals possessing the following goals and abilities of the 21st Century ALT.
1. Be passionate about teaching and learning.
2. Build great relationships with JTEs, team member ALTs and students.
3. Actively speak English with students at all times.
4. Make textbook lessons real and relevant by sharing videos, articles, music, and original writing.
5. Coordinate authentic communication skills such as speaking and writing with students from foreign countries with Skype, e-mail and letter writing on a regular basis.
6. Research, create and share multimedia such as YouTube Videos, smartphone apps, learning websites with JTEs and students.
7. Create student centered, cooperative group learning activities that use English for self-expression to communicate with foreign students.
8. Use the computers as an active learning tool to bring English to life.
9. Be an active team player.
If you are an interested ALT who has a vision to help move English education forward in the 21st Century please mail your paperwork by Feb 1st, 2017.Please feel free to post and share wherever you think qualified candidates would be interested.
Sincerely, Huy Tran

Here's an inquiry from Andrew Wolff. If any of you can provide any clues, I'm sure he'll appreciate it.
"I'm an ex gaijin resident of Kumamoto and friend of Sean who I think you know. He posted a photo of one of my favorite restaurants in Kumamoto called Rugger, which was owned by a lovely couple who I was friends with. I think their surname was 坂口 (Sakaguchi)。 They served delicious and very generous portions of katsu kare and were popular with Kumadai pharmacy department students as Rugger was just round the corner on hakuzan doori. They have closed and I have lost contact with them. Would love to know if they are still around the area if anyone knows."
By the way, I attempted some Google in Japanese and English but came up empty handed.
-- Kirk

Our friend Billy Bento has reopened his eponymous cuisine outlet at his location in Minami Tsuboi. He can be reached at [email protected] or at his Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009289978056&fref=ts
https://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&pc=FACEBK&mid=8100&rtp=~pos.32.8077497_130.7132353_Billy+Bento+biz&cp=32.8077497~130.7132353&lvl=16&sty=r&rtop=0~0~0~&mode=D&FORM=FBKPL6&mkt=en-US
Bing Maps
Map multiple locations, get transit/walking/driving directions, view live traffic conditions, plan trips, view satellite, aerial and street side imagery. Do more with Bing Maps.

The beautiful article linked below is from the Guardian and regards how politeness pervades Japanese society, written from an Australian perspective. The article ends: "Does Australia have anything that Japan doesn’t? Yes! The new $5 note, designed with a raised bump so blind people can identify it."
Actually, all Japanese currency is designed so that sightless can identify it by touch. Look at the bottom corners of any of your bills and you'll see raised print areas of different shapes for each denomination. Those with sight may not notice them, but those without tend to become very sensitive to touch - and they can. The image below is of the raised print signatures on each bill. - William
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/05/how-japan-weaves-caring-and-sharing-into-all-layers-of-society

Remember when you were young, and youth itself was akin to a drug? - Okay, combine that with being a mascot, and then put that mascot in Paris, and - well, let's just say he was escorted onto his departing flight. (It could have been worse.) Kumamon in Paris (the video he doesn't want you to see).
Tip o' the hat to Explore Kumamoto. https://www.facebook.com/franceiine/videos/1071689626277017/

If you're like me (and I sincerely hope you're not), you use Windows and must log in every morning, staring at whatever photo the algorithm has determined will most calm you while your machine grinds itself to life. This morning, I was startled to see that photo as being Enkei Bunsui (円形分水【えんけいぶんすい】), a little-known remnant of 19th century irrigation technology located in Yabe.
Called in English "circular tank diversion works," the device solves a problem of how to combine and divert rapid, large-volume water flow from irrigation canals. The answer our clever ancestors came up with was to force the water up through pipes and allowing the now-tamed flow to spill gently over the lip of the circular tank. Good idea, guys!
They're rare, and this one in Yabe is particularly famous. It splits the flow of one powerful channel into two at a ratio of 7:3 - the larger of the two eventually crosses Tsujyun Bridge. If you're ever out in that neck of the woods, it's worth a look - or maybe you'll see it on your Windows login page. The link is to an informative and entertaining explanation. - William
http://www.ajkj.jp/ajkj/kumamoto/yabe/kanko/enkeibunsui/enkeibunsui.html

For any boxing fans out there . . .
http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/fukuhara-set-fight-wbo-interim-title-387780
-- Kirk
Fukuhara set to fight for WBO interim title • Boxing News
By David Finger Comebacks are never easy, just ask the city of Kumamoto in Japan. It’s been eight months since …

My lodgings in Kyoto when I first came to Japan were not so luxurious as to include bathing facilities, so I relied on the local sento (銭湯, public bath). These differ from onsen in that the water is usually artificially heated and that the purpose is more utilitarian. Sento have mostly disappeared, but the few that remain in Kumamoto stepped up after the quakes, offering free services to the weary, waterless populace. (Sadly, Jigoku Onsen [地獄温泉] near Kamitori was damaged so badly in the quakes that it has shut its doors for good.)
There is apparently a tradition on January 2, when the sento reopen, of adding sake to the bathwater, and the six remaining in Kumamoto did just that. This is said to increase circulation and improve skin condition. The below photo shows the Daifuku Yu (大福湯) sento in Tsuboi Machi where two sho (升, a volume unit slightly less than a half gallon) of sake and a kilogram of sake kasu (酒かす - the solidified remains of the rice used to make sake - it's also often used as animal feed, much to the delight of the livestock) have been added to the bath.
Drinking the bath water is not recommended.
If you're interested in sento and where to find them, please let us know. - William
http://kumanichi.com/news/local/main/20170102003.xhtml
ほろ酔い気分で入浴楽しむ　新春恒例の酒風呂－熊本のニュース│ くまにちコム
熊本日日新聞社が取材した熊本のニュース。新聞紙面に掲載前の記事もお伝えします。

"I walk out of the shelter
With the flowers in my hand."
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201701020047.html
Imperial couple's poems reflect on visit to quake-hit Kumamoto：The Asahi Shimbun
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko with other members of the imperial family (Provided by the Imperial Household Agency)

"More than 300 visitors came to stricken Kumamoto Castle here to view the first sunrise of the year. When the sun appeared in the cloudless sky behind the damaged castle and bathed the area in a brilliant light, gleeful shouts erupted from the spectators."
Pasted by Kirk
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201701020040.html
Spirits lifted in Kumamoto with prayers made for a peaceful 2017：The Asahi Shimbun
KUMAMOTO--People impacted by the devastating earthquakes in the prefecture last year marked a welcom

A note from the Kumamoto International culinary desk: A friend of mine from Gokanosho (五家荘, a village between Yatushiro and Yabe), which is famous for yuzu (ゆず - a citrus similar to a lemon), recently visited and gave us a bottle of Yuzukosyou (ゆずこしゅう), a paste made from three ingredients: yuzu peel, red pepper, and salt - and it is absolutely the most delicious condiment I've ever tasted! The flavor is both strong and subtle. Looked up their Website, and they do Internet sales ー it costs about 700 yen but is worth much more, culinaryesquely (and, yes, I did just make up that word). There's also a green sauce made using Japanese pepper (sansyou, 山椒) that I'm dying to try. Let me know if you have any questions. - William
http://www.gokanosyo.jp/products
http://www.gokanosyo.jp/

First of all, best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2017. 2016 was a busy year for this page. The quake more than doubled our readership but, of course, I would have preferred the quiet of a normal year. This year, I hope that we will be able to focus on innocuous news and information about events, etc. If our readership flatlines or even declines because Kumamoto is just too darn safe and peaceful to be interesting, that will be just fine with me.
Speaking of innocuous news items, Kumamon is starting a cafe in Shanghai! Yipee! ;)
-- Kirk
Cafe themed on Kumamoto Pref. mascot 'Kumamon' to open in Shanghai - The Mainichi
A cafe featuring Kumamoto Prefecture's beloved bear mascot

Here's an article about a site of historical importance that is located in northern Kumamoto.
"The Mitsui Miike Coal Mine, one of several UNESCO registered Meiji Industrial Revolution Sites since 2015. While the central role of the coal industry in Japan’s industrialisation was stressed through the world heritage registration process, the close relationship between pre-war industrialisation and development of the modern penal system, and the use of prison labor, has been less acknowledged. In Miike, use of convict laborers from the nearby Miike shūjikan (central correctional institution) was indispensable for the operation of the coal mine during the early Meiji period."
The article also discusses the use of labor from Yoron, now part of Kagoshima. I have seen a documentary that includes testimony that the treatment of people from Yoron was worse than that of the convicts because the people from Yoron were not considered to be Japanese. I think the depth of discrimination against people from Okinawa is an important clue to understanding how Okinawa came to be the site of U.S. bases. (Of course, it's complicated and its not only about Okinawans not being seen as fully Japanese . . . )
-- Kirk
http://apjjf.org//2017/01/Miyamoto.html
Convict Labor and Its Commemoration: the Mitsui Miike Coal Mine Experience¹ | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Miike Coal Mine, extending across Omuta and Arao in Kyushu, was an engine for economic growth in Japan until the nation’s defeat in World War II. In 1873, the Meiji government introduced convict labor in the mine. This arrangement continued after the government handed the mine over to a private…

MEXET has allocated 300 million yen for studies on main Kumamoto faults headed by researchers from Kushu and Kumamoto Universities. Expected to continue for three years through 2018, their initial report was just released.
The report points out that both the Hinagu (日奈久断層帯) and Futagawa (布田川断層帯) faults can be divided into three sections. However, only the northern sections of each fault ruptured in the quakes. Research thus focuses on determining how much strain and distortion has been loaded to the central and southern fault sections. Also, whether the Futagawa fault continues through Aso caldera - suspected but never measured - is under study. In addition to geological measurements, reviews of ancient literature are being conducted to search for historical evidence of past quakes so as to discern patterns.
The blue lines in the map show ruptured sections; red, those unruptured and thus of concern. The major aim is to recalculate quake probabilities over the next 30 years. - William
https://this.kiji.is/187379978482515969?c=92619697908483575
断層の未活動区間調査　九大や熊大、次の地震に備え - 熊本日日新聞
　熊本地震を起こした日奈久断層帯と布田川断層帯のうち、今回は活動せず地殻にひずみがたまったままとみられる区間の総合的な活断層調査に、九州大や熊本大などのグループが着手した。過去の地震の活動周期を調べて次の地震に備え、地元自治体などに調査結果...

Kumamoto shares a sad history of discrimination against Hansen's disease (leprosy) patients (including former patients who are now disease free). Kumamoto was also the site of a ground-breaking legal decision that put an end to forced isolation.
-- Kirk
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20161226/p2a/00m/0na/016000c
83-year-old seeks retrial for fellow Hansen's disease patient executed over 1952 killing - The Mainichi
Some 64 years ago, in a village in the mountains of Kumamoto Prefecture, a terrible crime was committed that would claim two lives: one, a survey-taker, murdered in that mountain settlement; the other, a man with Hansen's disease accused of the killing, and later put to death.

"Wi-Fi services can provide stable internet access. It proved to be effective in confirming people’s safety at evacuation centers and other purposes in the wake of the Kumamoto Earthquake in April."
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003427402
-- Kirk
30,000 new Wi-Fi spots planned in public spaces / Benefits envisioned for tourism, disasters
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry plans to install free Wi-Fi hotspots in about 30,000 locations across the nation by 2020, including public schools, parks run by municipalities and museums, it has been learned.

Here's an article about the bird flu situation:
"The agriculture ministry and other sources said there has been no report of human bird flu infection through the consumption of poultry meat or eggs in Japan."
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003428243
-- Kirk
7th bird flu case at Kumamoto farm
KUMAMOTO (Jiji Press) — An outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza has been confirmed at a poultry farm in Nankan in Kumamoto Prefecture, the prefectural government said Tuesday.