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We got an inquiry about smoke-free restaurants in Kumamoto.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/893049087435191
I did a little research on the web about found this site:
http://goo.gl/r0iaTc
(Tabelog)
It is really quite good. If you click on the link above, you'll be taken to a site with an English interface (other languages can be chosen as well) that shows a list of over 200 smoke-free restaurants in Kumamoto with the locations indicated on a map. You can change the location yourself, but that works best in Japanese. I typed in my address in Japanese and was able to find a map, centered on my house, that showed a number of smoke-free restaurants in my neighborhood. Bon appetit!
-- Kirk
P.S. The site may not be completely reliable. It also allows you to search for "vegetarian" restaurants. I did so for Kumamoto but many of the restaurants clearly featured meat dishes. When I looked at the Japanese side of the site I found that the Japanese that corresponded to "vegetarian" on the English side read "vegetarian options available" in Japanese. At any rate, the site seems helpful but you may need to double check before you actually commit to eating a meal at a particular restaurant.

This is NOT Kumamoto but I'm posting this video here because the issue of how to interpret evacuation notices is one that has come up here several times. As I have written before, developments such as this one (north of Tokyo today) are extremely difficult to predict accurately so warnings frequently wind up being premature and ultimately unnecessary or, sadly, too little too late. If you are in an area of Kumamoto that is vulnerable in any way, make sure you have a reliable way to get information about evacuation recommendations and err on the side of caution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad70oVi742s
-- Kirk
Dramatic Aerial Rescue Over a flood-hit house in Joso JAPAN FLOODS (VIDEO)
Video: A dramatic aerial rescue over a flood-hit house in Joso, Japan Water from flooded Kinugawa River strands residents in Ibaraki Japan's Joso floods afte...

A neighbor came to my house today and gave me some materials about the census, including this sheet with the codes I needed to fill it out on line (I've blurred those numbers in the image). It wasn't hard to fill the information out on line (they have an English interface) but they could have made it easier to find the right URL. As you can see it's nowhere to be found on this sheet. You have to look elsewhere for it and even then you have to click through a number of screens to find what you are looking for. If you'd like to go directly to the page where you type in your information, use the following URL:
http://www.e-kokusei.go.jp/pc/en/portal/top.html
-- Kirk

This event, the Fujisaki Hachimangu Shrine Grand Festival, will be held on the 20th of this month. For more information in English, go to
http://kumanago.jp/en/events/detail/430000001380.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoE200Kz56w
2014年藤崎宮秋の例大祭 馬道會

Joe Tomei here. The 7th East Asia Citizen Coexistence Film Festival will be held on Oct 9 and 10. This year, the festival will be showing the film Ha-fu, which is about the challenges of growing up as biracial in Japan. There will also be a panel discussion about the film (in Japanese). The website is <http://film.witheastasia.org/>. Tickets are on sale for 1000 yen advance purchase.

To read this interesting blog post about on Yamabiko Onsen, near Oguni, click on the following link:
http://kurokawa-onsen.com/onsen-hop-12-yamabiko-ryokan/

This may interest you if you are in the market for new furniture.
http://kyodonews.net/news/2015/08/26/29581
IKEA to open small outlet in Kumamoto in Oct. | Kyodo News
The Swedish furniture giant IKEA will launch a small-scale outlet in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, in October

According to the announcement on the following Japanese web page, this group, called Kado (or, literally, "flower children") is performing every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Sakura no Baba Jousaien, near the international center downtown:
http://www.sakuranobaba-johsaien.jp/d/news/info/detail/id/261
The movie is of performances at Suizenji Park.
The Kado performances are part of a program including other performances. I'm sorry that I can't take the time to translate all of the details. If you are interested but unable to read the Japanese, please ask a friend for help.
-- Kirk
https://youtu.be/cwN-XcP1v34
舞踊団 花童 ～新春寿ぎの舞と水前寺まつり～
2015年元日 熊本市中央区の水前寺成趣園（水前寺公園） 昨年に続き、少女舞踊団ザ・わらべのお二人が舞を披露されました。元旦には時折激しく雪が舞いながらも、その寒さを伺い知ることはできない美しい舞を披露されました。その様子を、水前寺まつり2014と合わせて紹介ビデオ風に作ってみました。 ▼当日の様子はギャラリーへ...

I'm sharing this in the hope that doing so will help more people see it. Also, I have one suggestion -- the Kumamoto Prefectural Gym (Kenritsu Sogo Taiikukan):
http://www.kspa.or.jp/sougou_taiku_charge.html
You can lift weights for two hours for 380 yen. I've gone swimming there, but not tried lifting weights there. Because it's fairly reasonably priced, it tends to be a little crowned but I think that both in terms of location and cost it's probably a good choice for you.
Any other ideas?
-- KIrk

Once every five years, a major population census is conducted in Japan. Someone may come knocking at your door to collect your information and not being Japanese does not make you exempt. For more information in English (and other languages as well) go to
http://kokusei2015.stat.go.jp/en/

The lady you see on the left, Mitsu Morita of Yatsushiro, is one of Kumamoto's most famous athletes. She has set several world records for her age group since turning 80. For more information in English go to
http://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00103/
I'm not familiar with the lady on the right, though I'm sure she's very impressive in her own way.
http://www.kininaru-k.jp/2015/totteoki/150903/
とっておき対決だモン！「おばあちゃんランナー」VS「おばあちゃんアナウンサー」 | 熊本県の情報サイト「気になる！くまもと」
TOPページ > とっておき対決だモン！「おばあちゃんランナー」VS「おばあちゃんアナウンサー」

This article from the Asahi Shimbun is about the level of English skills among junior high and high school teachers throughout Japan, including Kumamoto. The benchmark used in the survey was 80 or more on the TOEF iBT (which would be about 550 on the old TOELF test), or 730 or more on the TOIEC, or jun'ikkyu (a step below the highest level) on the Eiken test. The article says that only about 50% of the high school teachers in Kumamoto are at this level and that the number falls to less than a quarter at the junior high school level. Both of these are below the national average which itself is pretty low.
I think that junior and senior high school teachers have to work very hard in Japan. It must be difficult to improve one's English skill dramatically while working long hours every day. If that's the case, however, I think that, for the sake of the children, teachers need more time to study and improve themselves. English teachers should be able to speak with confidence to young people about how they mastered the language -- not how even they are having trouble getting the hang of it.
-- Kirk

The fireworks show in Ezuko was a big success. Actually, though I have been in Kumamoto the whole time, I wasn't fully aware of the recent history of the event. According to this article, the event got started in Ezuko in 1978. Due to concerns that distracted drivers on the Higashi Bypass might cause accidents, the event was moved to Kumamoto Castle in 2005. However, Kumamoto Castle proved to be a problematic venue as well. Congestion in the downtown area led to the cancellation of the event after 2010. Sunday's event was the first such fireworks show in Kumamoto City since 2010 and the first show in Ezuko since 2004. During his campaign, Mayor Onishi promised to bring the event back to Ezuko so the show was also the fulfillment of a campaign promise.
The other day I wrote that the city got a good deal of criticism on their Facebook page because of the late cancelation on Saturday. Actually, though, when I went back and read a bit more I found that the majority of people wrote words of encouragement like "we understand that you're doing your best to make it a success," etc. I think a lot of people really appreciated the revival of the event. Personally, I enjoyed a distant view for a few minutes from a point near my home, but didn't go all the way to Ezuko. Nonetheless, I'm glad that the rain wasn't too bad and that the event was a success.
--- Kirk
http://www.sankei.com/region/news/150214/rgn1502140027-n1.html
熊本市花火大会復活へ　５年ぶり、江津湖を会場に
熊本市は、観客の安全確保の難しさを理由に５年前から中断していた夏の花火大会を今夏、復活させる方針を決めた。江津湖を会場とする。昨年就任した大西一史市長が選挙で“…

I read an article about this short movie (with titles in English and Japanese) in a Japanese newspaper (Asahi, July 30). You can see the whole thing right here on the web.
If the video piques your interest in kagura, which is still a living tradition in the area, you can learn more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagura
Here's an introduction to the short movie from the Vimeo web site:
--- start quote ---
A young man who has lost his lover visits the Kurokawa Onsen village, in the backwoods region of Japan's Mt. Aso, where she used to love to go.
As he journeys through the mountainside, the figure of a girl appears before the young man. She looks exactly like the legendary ancient dancer from the myths that have been handed down since ancient times in Japan.
As the two make the journey together, they come across some of the earliest remembered scenes of Japan, and they meet up with the people of Kurokawa, living in the closest relationship with nature and who represent the gods and goddesses of ancient Japan...
恋人を喪った青年が、かつて彼女の愛した日本の阿蘇山の奥地にある黒川温泉郷を訪れる。
阿蘇の山中を旅する青年、その前に一人の少女が現れる。
少女の姿は日本で古来から伝承されている最古の踊り手と同じものであった。
一緒に旅をすることになった２人は、黒川にある日本の様々な原風景、そしてその自然に寄り添いながら暮らす日本の八百万の神々を模した黒川の人々に出会っていく…
--- end quote ---
-- Kirk
https://vimeo.com/122172620
KUROKAWA WONDERLAND
http://kurokawawonderland.jp -- A young man who has lost his lover visits the Kurokawa Onsen village, in the backwoods region of Japan's Mt. Aso, where…

The film "HAFU" is coming to Kumamoto on October 9th.
"With an ever increasing movement of people between places in this transnational age, there is a mounting number of mixed-race people in Japan, some visible others not. “Hafu” is the unfolding journey of discovery into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experience in modern day Japan. The film follows the lives of five “hafus”–the Japanese term for people who are half-Japanese–as they explore what it means to be multiracial and multicultural in a nation that once proudly proclaimed itself as the mono-ethnic nation."
The film is in English (or Japanese with English subtitles) so it will be accessible to all readers of this page.
It will be shown at the East Asian Citizen Co-existence Film Festival, which will be held on the campus of Kumamoto Gakuen University on the 9th and 10th of October. I'll post more about that later.
http://film.witheastasia.org
http://hafufilm.com/en/
Kirk

The big fireworks show in Ezuko (Kumamoto City) has been rescheduled for Sunday night:
https://www.facebook.com/KumamotoCity/posts/980230731999783
Kumamoto City is getting lots of criticism on their Facebook page for announcing the rescheduling so late.
Here's the address of web page from which I took the image:
http://www.kumamotonavi.jp/summer/hanabi/eduko.html
-- Kirk

Today I dropped my iPhone, causing the damage you see on the left side of the "before-after" photos. The "after" part was taken care of by the good people at Smapho Dr., located just across the river from downtown Kumamoto. It cost me a little over 10,000 yen (I have an iPhone 5c) but that was slightly less than the Apple fee. What was even better for me was that I could take it in at 2:30, do a little shopping in the Daiei across the street, and then at 3:00 when I returned it was already done. If you want to be sure to get this kind of service, however, you need to call ahead to check to make sure that they have the parts required for your phone and then make an appointment.
http://www.iphone-kumamoto.info/map/
-- Kirk

This page comes to life when there's a serious storm, flood, or other threat from Mother Nature. The image you see is a screenshot of the statistics that are available to editors of a page life this one. You can see that the typhoon made a big bump in all of the numbers. I'm glad the page proved useful but I'm hoping we won't have any more emergencies to contend with for a long time.

When: September 6th, 2 PM
What: Performance by Tibetan vocalist Bema Yangjan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBPmMhTq8P0

I just posted about the lack of power in Kuma and Itsuki, near Hitoyoshi. The photo you see is from Yamae, located between the two villages. The link below takes you to a Kumanichi article (in Japanese) explaining how the landslide has isolated 19 households (36 people) in Yamae. The article says that it may take several days to remove the debris so that people can get in and out again.
https://kumanichi.com/news/local/main/20150826003.xhtml