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"Although Abe’s visit to Kumamoto was originally planned for April 16 — two days after the first magnitude-6.5 quake hit —it was postponed after the stronger second quake measuring magnitude-7.3 struck the area in the early hours of that day, causing even more serious damage."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/23/national/abe-visits-quake-hit-kumamoto-service-on-key-section-of-kyushu-bullet-train-line-resumes/#.Vxt5J2Nq0pY
Tag: Media
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Abe visits quake-hit Kumamoto; service on key section of Kyushu bullet-train line resumes | The...
Making his first visit to Kumamoto Saturday after the powerful earthquakes that hit the prefecture and other parts of central Kyushu roughly a week ago, Pr

This update is from the Kumamoto JET page but should be of interest to non-JETs as well. It presents a wealth of information on the following topics:
Volunteering
Donations
Railway Transportation
Road Transportation
Supermarkets
Mail and Delivery
Mobile Data Service
Kudos to Roland Carlos!
-- Kirk
http://kumamotojet.com/shin/index.php/2016/04/22/april-22-updates/
April 22 Updates Kumamoto JET
April 22 Updates April 22, 2016 News Here is a summary of some the latest earthquake related news/updates. If there is any information you need specifically, please contact the PAs and we will try and get it out to you. Volunteering The Kumamoto City Volunteer Center will be registering volunteers t…

For several days after the big one, early on the morning of Saturday the 16th, media reports continued to say that only one earthquake had produced level 7 shaking on the Japanese scale: the level 7 shaking at Mashiki on Thursday evening. However, as the Japanese article and the graphic indicate, that was because the shaking in Mashiki and Nishihara could not be measured properly due to mechanical failure after the magnitude 7.3 quake.
Now, the data is in and we have been told that there were three instances of level 7 shaking: Mashiki on Thursday night and both Mashiki and Nishihara during the early Saturday morning quake. Thus, Mashiki got hit twice with level 7 shaking. This is the first time since the measurement system was put in place in 1949 that one place has been hit twice with this intensity.
To see photos I took showing the difference between the same sites on Friday (after the first) and Monday (after the second) click on the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1020587988014633
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1020607748012657
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1020592071347558
Tags: Understandingwhathappened, photography, media
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http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ4N5TBQJ4NUTIL04H.html
本震も震度７　気象庁、益城町の震度計を回収・分析：朝日新聞デジタル
　熊本県益城（ましき）町で１６日未明に起きたマグニチュード（Ｍ）７・３の本震が、震度７だったことが分かった。気象庁が震度計を回収して分析した。１４日のＭ６・５の地震でも震度７を記録していた。　益城町の…

"Of some 80 evacuees in the center, about 50 are from overseas, according to the Kumamoto International Foundation, the operator of the center. Some 20 staff members are taking turns to distribute food and blankets, and translate disaster information from Japanese into other languages."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/22/national/kumamoto-sets-shelter-quake-affected-foreign-nationals/#.VxrdWWNq0pY
Tags: Media, gettinghelp
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Kumamoto sets up shelter for quake-affected foreign nationals | The Japan Times
Following the recent series of strong earthquakes in Kyushu, the Kumamoto Municipal Government has set up a shelter for foreign nationals that can offer re

The image you see is a message of support and concern from Eiichro Oda, creator of One Piece, who is originally from Kumamoto. The article includes an English translation of that message. Hajime Isayama, also from Kumamoto, is the author of Attack on Titan.
-- Kirk
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2016-04-21/eiichiro-oda-hajime-isayama-show-their-support-after-kumamoto-earthquakes/.101319
Tag: Media
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Eiichiro Oda, Hajime Isayama Show Their Support After Kumamoto Earthquakes
One Piece cast also records message for people in affected areas

The zoo, like most facilities in Kumamoto, is struggling to deal with the aftermath of the quakes.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/22/national/zoo-animals-evacuated-quake-hit-kumamoto/#.VxrdYWNq0pY
Tag: Media
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Zoo animals to be evacuated from quake-hit Kumamoto | The Japan Times
Carnivores at a zoo in Kumamoto Prefecture, which has been hit hard by a series of powerful earthquakes since last week, are set to take shelter at zoos in

Update from long-time Oguni resident and Kumamoto International supporter Charmaine Minami. Thanks Charmaine!
-- Kirk
P.S. The update came out 5 days ago so this information is now somewhat dated.
http://kurokawa-onsen.com/update-on-kurokawa-onsen-and-recent-earthquakes-in-central-kyushu/
Update on Kurokawa Onsen and Recent Earthquakes in Central Kyushu
Kurokawa Onsen is within the area badly affected by two recent large earthquakes in central Kyushu on 4/14 and 4/16. There have been no casualties in the are

The English information offered on this site is minimal, but I think it's great that they are able to put out information in so many languages.
-- Kirk
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201604220013.html
Tags: Gettinghelp, media
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Website offers multilingual evacuation info in Kumamoto：The Asahi Shimbun
Osaka University and international organizations in Kumamoto Prefecture have established a website p

Here's a link to a long article by Jemma Gallagher, who lives in Kamiamakusa City, describing her experience of the earthquake.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jemma-gallagher/kumamoto-earthquake-i-just-want-it-to-stop_b_9728042.html
Tag: Media
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Kumamoto Earthquake: I Just Want it to Stop
I've lived in Kumamoto Prefecture in Kamiamakusa City for 20 months now. It's a small island town located in the Ariake Sea between Kumamoto and Nagasaki...

This post is a little long, so let me start with the key points for those of you interested in volunteering:
* Mashiki got plenty of volunteers today so they closed registration.
* According to their Japanese web page, Minami Aso is accepting volunteers but you would probably need your own transportation to get out there and be fairly fluent in Japanese to communicate properly.
* Kumamoto Prefecture has a page (only in Japanese unfortunately) with information about a variety of volunteering opportunities:
http://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/kiji_15404.html?type=top
* I hope those of you with such information will type it into a comment to this post.
Now, about this article, I should have shared it sooner. Now it seems that the situation has changed; volunteers in Mashiki have gotten a yellow light, not a green one. Information about volunteering in Mashiki, though only available in the Japanese language, can be found on Mashiki's official Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/kumamoto.mashiki/
Today, they got so many volunteers that they closed their registration process at 9:10 AM.
The article has a link the the Kumamoto City's information about volunteering but it doesn't work. I went to the city's website and searched with the Japanese word for "volunteer" and got the same link provided in the newspaper article (which, of course, didn't work). It seems that at some point the city simply deleted the information that the felt was obsolete. I find this to be very problematic. If they had erased the original content and posted a short note about how the situation had changed, that would have been much better. Here's a e-mail I sent to the city to report the problem:
ボランティァ情報のウェブページ上の問題についてご報告します。
「ボランティア」というキーワードで検索すると
http://www.city.kumamoto.jp/search/pub/Default.aspx?c_id=2&q=ボランティア
最初の二つの検索結果
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.city.kumamoto.jp/hpkiji/pub/detail.aspx%3Fc_id%3D5%26id%3D12533&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwijs5GtxqPMAhXDEpQKHe8LAVoQFggFMAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNEvy195jxHco1LN3A_pOTArt1W8Mg
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.city.kumamoto.jp/hpkiji/pub/detail.aspx%3Fc_id%3D5%26type%3Dtop%26id%3D12541&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwijs5GtxqPMAhXDEpQKHe8LAVoQFggIMAE&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNEcILPc2RbvJwN-xEshKlU8NVNdrw
は実際に存在するページにはつながりません。
サーバー エラー
404 - ファイルまたはディレクトリが見つかりません。
検索中のリソースは削除された可能性があります。または、名前が変更されたか、一時的に使用不可能になっています。
メディアで市のページへのリンクを見てこの問題に気がつきました。情報が古くなったら「削除」ではなく、変更またはredirectを使って修正していただきたいと思います。
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/20/national/quake-hit-town-mashiki-city-kumamoto-give-green-light-volunteers/#.VxrE0mNq0pY
Tags: Media, volunteering
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Quake-hit town of Mashiki, city of Kumamoto give green light to volunteers | The Japan Times
The social welfare council in the town of Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, which was heavily damaged by one of last week's earthquakes, announced Wednesday th

Sara here.
This may seem silly to post, but I found this English update on the homepage for Kikuchi City, where I live, and it made me smile. There's another English post containing info about the earthquakes. There aren't actually that many foreigners here, but the fact that the city made an effort to reach out to us in English made me really happy. I wish more cities made efforts like this and also that Kikuchi continues to make improvements in this area.
Tag: Donating
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Thank You for Your Relief Supplies and Donations - 菊池市
菊池市のThank You for Your Relief Supplies and Donationsに関するページ

This came out on the 17th so it is fairly old but it's a nicely done article and may still be helpful.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/17/national/kumamoto-quake-info-where-to-go-how-to-help/#.VxrLA2Nq0pY
Tag: Gettinghelp, media
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Kumamoto quake info: where to go, how to help | The Japan Times
Starting with a magnitude-6.5 quake on April 14, a series of major earthquakes have hit the central Kumamoto area of Japan, causing deaths, injury and wide

I checked reports in the Japanese press and confirmed the the prison that is being discussed is the one in the Central Ward (Chuo-ku), adjacent to my university.
Kirk
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/prison-in-kumamoto-starts-sheltering-quake-evacuees
Tag: Media
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Prison in Kumamoto starts sheltering quake evacuees
Japan has resorted to opening a prison to those left homeless by two deadly earthquakes, officials said Tuesday, highlighting the…

There are lots of pictures of the aftermath of the quake, but relatively few videos showing buildings as they are being shaken. Fortunately, this little house withstands the quake, though several shingles fall off (as happened with my house and those of many, many people here). I like that way the man taking the video, presumable the owner of the home, says "gambare yo" ("hang in there") at the end. He seems to be offering his home words of encouragement.
http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2016/04/stabilized_amateur_footage_of_the_kumamoto_earthquake_in_japan.html
Tag: Video
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Watch Haunting Stabilized Footage of the Kumamoto Earthquake in Japan
On opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, rescue workers are still searching for survivors of the earthquakes that shook Japan and Ecuador just days apar ...

If you click on the link, you should be able to see a video about what happened in Nishihara Mura. There are two things I would like to point out (both of which I did not understand until recently): First, analysis has revealed that Nishihara also experienced Shindo 7 (the highest level on the Japanese scale) when the big one hit a little after 1 AM on the 16th. Second, the Japanese headline for this report is that at least 60% of the homes in Nishihara completely collapsed (344) or were severely damaged (1087) and five people died.
Perhaps I'm not alone in finding that the scale of this catastrophe is so large it is taking more than a few days to come to terms with.
-- Kirk
http://www.news24.jp/articles/2016/04/17/07327859.html
Tags: Media, video
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熊本・阿蘇郡の西原村では、１６日未明の地震で村内の約２３００棟の住宅のうち、３４４棟が全壊、１０８７棟が半壊した。倒壊した建物の下敷きになるなど５人が死亡。警察や消防団は１６日から各集落の安否確認を行っており、今のところ行方不明者はいない。

The possibility of earthquakes occurring to the southwest was also brought up on a television program I saw. No one really knows what will or will not happen but it does seem to be the case that experts are saying that points farther south on the red fault lines you see here may experience strong earthquakes. This is particularly worrisome because earthquakes in this area would be more likely to produce tsunami and because of the proximity of the Sendai nuclear plant.
-- Kirk
Tags: Media, understandingwhathappened
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Seismologists urge caution as epicenters move southwest：The Asahi Shimbun
Residents in relatively calm parts of Kyushu should be on guard for strong earthquakes because the s

"The hometown tax donation system (furusato nozei) is a way for individuals to donate to municipalities of their choice, and have almost all of the donated amount deducted from their income and residence taxes."
-- Kirk
Tag: Donating, media
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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/21/national/hometown-donation-system-emerges-effective-way-help-quake-victims/#.Vxm3PGNq0pY
'Hometown donation' system emerges as effective way to help quake victims | The Japan Times
Amid a flurry of fundraising and charity projects launched in the wake of last week's deadly earthquakes in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures, the "hometown ta

William here. I made an interesting discovery today. Last night, chatting with Rene, I learned that someone had made off with a case of energy drinks he had sitting on his futon while he was away, so I contacted the company (Itami Pharmaceuticals 伊丹製薬) and received this morning a very polite response: That while they normally contribute monetarily, not in kind, they would be happy to make an exception in this case. So now a crate of energy drinks is on its way to Minamiaso.
"Wow, this is easy!" I naively thought, and after gathering a list of most-wanted items from Rene and his buddies (mostly hygiene-related, particularly foot- and hand-care medicine and socks and underwear, plus instant coffee and miso), I contacted some major Kyushu chains, figuring they'd be happy to contribute in kind.
Nope.
Cosmos - nope. Hirose - nope. Daiki - pending.
The former two both indicated a willingness to deliver needed items to the zone if they were paid for. The lesson here, I think, is that monetary aid should be targeted at the local level so that it can be used for specific needs and avoid bureaucracy.
Rene said that he is investigating setting up a fund at the Minamiaso City Hall. I hope that this will be realized soon and that we will be able to attract donors towards this more specific, urgently-needed, shovel-ready cause.

Here's an inquiry with some responses about learning Japanese in Kumamoto. At first I hesitated to share it here when everyone is concerned about the aftermath of the earthquake. On second thought, however, for some people this may turn out to be a good time to do some language learning. :)
If you have any opinions about where to learn Japanese, please add them to the comments.
-- Kirk
P.S. Click on the date and time shown below the name (Manjit Singh Grewal) in order to see the comments make in response to the original post.
Tag: LearnJapanese
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This is another collection of photos from Kumamoto and the surrounding area showing the devastation from the recent series of earthquakes.
Dan
Tags: Photography, media
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Kumamoto Earthquake Photos from April 16, 2016 : The Japan New
Photos show scenes from the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake