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The number of influenza patients in Kumamoto has reached an all-time high: 5,887 people. To see a Japanese news video, click on the link:
http://youtu.be/0RMDrMtSM7s

Though the text below the image is in Japanese, this link will take you to a report written in English about Tarutama Onsen in the Aso area. The English page doesn't explain how to get there but there's a link to a Japanese web page that has a Google map showing the location.
http://kumanago.jp/en/blog/2015/01/01/great-onsens-of-tarutama.html
Blog Kumamoto Nagomi Tourism Site
「火の国」くまもとの雄大な自然の中でゆったりのんびりくつろぎませんか。くまもとの多彩な観光地、美味しい特産品や伝統ある工芸品、イベント、キャンペーン、グルメなど盛り沢山の情報をご紹介した熊本県観光サイト・なごみ紀行です。

"The production and assembly lines of motorbikes with under 50cc engines could likely be relocated to Kumamoto Prefecture this year, according to the Honda Vietnam representative."
http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/25382/honda-considers-relocating-vietnam-bike-production-back-to-japan
Honda considers relocating Vietnam bike production back to Japan
Japanese automaker giant Honda Motor Co. is weighing the possibility of relocating part of its motorcycle production in Vietnam back home as Japan’s domestic manufacturing costs have fallen over the weak yen, a representative with its Vietnamese unit has said.

This Kumamoto native went far and accomplished a lot. RIP.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/arts/music/yoko-nagae-ceschina-countess-and-fairy-godmother-to-the-arts-dies-at-82.html
Yoko Nagae Ceschina, Countess and Fairy Godmother to the Arts, Dies at 82
Countess Ceschina was one of the world’s foremost patrons of classical music, if also one of the least publicly known.

"In addition to the residents’ petition with the Kagoshima District Court, a larger group of plaintiffs filed in 2012 a lawsuit with the same court against Kyushu Electric and the state to prevent the restart of two reactors at the Sendai plant due to safety reasons. The 23 residents are part of this larger group and reside in Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/18/national/some-residents-drop-petition-to-halt-restart-of-sendai-reactors-in-kagoshima/
Lawsuit-leery opponents drop restart petition against reactors in Kagoshima | The Japan Times
Some of the people seeking a court injunction to halt the restart of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s nuclear plant in the town of Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture,

Moving to Israel allowed this woman from Kumamoto to become a sushi chef. According to the article, women here are not allowed to apprentice in traditional sushi kitchens.
I don't know how difficult it is for women to get training as sushi chefs (itamae; 板前) in Japan, but it is unusual enough to make news:
http://www.47news.jp/feature/woman/womaneye/2010/05/post_20100517160748.html
Have any of you encountered any women in local restaurants who do the work of molding and shaping the sushi in their hands (すしを握る女性の板前さんは熊本にいますか)?
http://www.jpost.com/Metro/The-secret-sushi-chef-387870
The secret sushi chef
Akiko Ben-Zvi learned the art of sushi behind closed doors, then opened her Japanese kitchen to Israel.

"By prefecture, Miyazaki had the highest average number of flu patients with 76.42, followed by Okinawa with 62.98, Kumamoto with 57.23, Fukuoka with 54.29 and Nagasaki with 50.86."
The average is per medical institution. The "alert level" is 30. Take care!
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/16/national/science-health/flu-cases-surge-beyond-alert-level-signaling-pandemic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=flu-cases-surge-beyond-alert-level-signaling-pandemic
Flu cases surge beyond alert level, signaling pandemic | The Japan Times
Japan is probably in the midst of an influenza pandemic after cases reached an estimated 2.06 million in the week through last Sunday, breaking the alert l

As a result of an investigation of the suicide of a girl who was attending a prefectural high school, the prefecture has concluded that, contrary to the report initially made by the high school, bullying was a likely factor.
http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2395092.html
「熊本女子高生自殺「いじめが原因の一つ」」TBS　News i
　いじめが自殺の原因の一つとされました。

"The Kyushu Technical Education College (ktec.ac.jp) is looking for someone to teach English one day a week for 4 hours starting in April. Anyone interested should contact Keiko Akayama at [email protected] or by phone at 096-211-0181."
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/kumamoto-jet/CI---jVxnz8/ZMjsvKCioY0J
Teaching Opportunity at Kyushu Technical Education College - Google Groups

Yesterday, the plume of smoke and volcanic ash rose 1300 meters above Mt. Aso -- the highest so far. Click on the link to see a video from RKK.
http://youtu.be/aY1N7gi4AzI

RKK has a live camera showing what Mt Aso is doing at any given moment. This is the live image from a minute ago. Recently, the volcano has been very active.
http://rkk.jp/livecamera/aso_live.php
RKK熊本放送 http://rkk.jp
九州熊本のラジオ＆テレビ放送局！(TBSテレビ系列) Ustream/Twitter/Facebook/foursquare にアクセス！

"For example, if you want to go from Hakata to Kumamoto by Shinkansen you’d normally have to pay 4,610 yen (39 US samoleans), but with a “gachi” ticket any bohemian, beatnik, or hippy can ride for only 2,570 yen (22 US clams). That’s a 40% discount, daddy-o!"
I assume most readers will be interested in the prospect of cheaper travel. On the other hand, some Japanese-language students out there might be more interested in mastering the usage of "gachi" in modern Japanese. In that case, see
http://zokugo-dict.com/06ka/gachi.htm
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/01/11/aw-snap-yo-jr-kyushus-really-cheap-gachi-ticket-is-in-the-hizzouse/
Aw snap yo! JR Kyushu's really cheap "Gachi Ticket" is in the hizzouse!
Wassup young people, I'm speaking your language today to tell you about to totally tubular deal from JR Kyushu! They're offering some super-rad discounts of up to 40% off on train fares around the island of Kyushu for a seriously limited time. It's called the Gachi Ticket, where "gachi" is a new wor…

This page now has 1,000 likes. Thanks to all of you for your support and thanks to Jessie for being number 1,000!

This is the winner of a poster contest in nearby Fukuoka. Hats off to the junior high school student who came up with this. It's a very clever way of making the point and the execution is outstanding. But, perhaps unintentionally, does the poster also equate bad manners with Americans and/or foreigner culture? Note the contrast with the kimono, a symbol of traditional Japanese culture. If you are interested in this and similar issues (views of non-Japanese living in Japan), have a look at debito.org.
http://www.debito.org/?p=12953
debito.org » Blog Archive » Fukuoka Subway Poster Contest winner: Rude Statue of Liberty...
eBooks, Books, and more from ARUDOU, Debito (click on icon): UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito DEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free “LIKE” US on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/debitoorghttp://www.facebook.com/handbookimmigrantshttps://www.facebook.com/JapaneseOnlyTheBookhttps://www.face…

This article includes several paragraphs about the Shinpuren Rebellion (神風連の乱) of 1876. Here's one of those paragraphs:
"Kaya Harukata, a Shinto priest, and his former classmate Ōtagurō Tomō founded a new Shinto faction, called Keishin-tō, the Party of Divine Reverence. It became more commonly known, however, as Kumamoto Shinpūren, the Kumamoto League of the Divine Wind. Harukata and Tomō recruited the sons of samurai families and students from the Shinto schools, many of them teenagers. Others were men outraged by what they saw as the decline of Japanese culture. In the end, the force was less than 200 men strong, but they decided to attack Kumamoto, where an Imperial Japanese Army was stationed. It was 173 samurai against some 2000 armed troops. And, to make the odds even worse, the Shinpūren fought only with swords, a symbol of their commitment to the samurai way of life."
Along with the famous Satsuma Rebellion (西南戦争) that began just a few months later, the Shinpuren Rebellion was one of the last samurai rebellions. Samurai were angry about the decline in their status but also believed that the process of Westernization was a threat to Japanese culture. In that sense, Japanese nationalists continue to pay homage to what they see as their valiant attempt to preserve Japanese culture or the "Japanese spirit." Here for example, is a video (in Japanese) by Mizushima Satoru (水島総) of the ultra-conservative "Japanese Culture Channel Sakura" (日本文化チャンネル桜) praising the spirit of the Shinpuren:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTRFbyQQqRU
The Shinpuren Museum (資料館) is very close to Kumamoto University:
https://plus.google.com/111091052965827466630/about?gl=jp&hl=en
I've never been there but writing this has piqued my interest. Perhaps I'll stop by one of these days.
http://io9.com/why-did-japanese-people-stop-performing-seppuku-1678549063
Why Did Japanese People Stop Performing Seppuku?
Seppuku, a highly ritualized form of suicide that involved cutting one's own stomach, was once part of the bushido samurai code, and considered an honorable way to die and, until the 20th century, was quite common. So what happened? Why did this practice die out?

I'm sharing this so more people can see it.

I don't know if any of these authors worked as JETs in Kumamoto. If any of you happen to know, please post a comment. Also, I think there are others who could be added to the list on Amazon (the page to which this link takes you has a link to the Amazon list). If you are a former JET and have published a book, why not add your work to the list or post about it here?
https://www.facebook.com/JETAAInternational/posts/877811262240888
The JET Programme, Japan - Books by former JET's

Influenza is on the rise in Kumamoto. Here's a link to an English article about the recent increase in flu cases in Japan:
http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/110927.php
http://kumanichi.com/news/local/main/20150109002.xhtml
県内インフル患者増、注意報に　山鹿など警報－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。

Even if you are not interested in the discussion to be held in Japanese starting at 2 PM, you may enjoy the Tsugaru-jamisen performance that starts at 1 PM on Sunday the 11th at the Bipuresu Hiroba (near the entrance to the Kamitori Arcade).
https://www.facebook.com/kumamotokibiru/posts/984084864952963
[熊本市]１月１１日(日)熊本市のまちづくりについてのトークライブ及びまちづくりＰＲイベント開催のご案内 | 大学コンソーシアム熊本
[熊本市]１月１１日(日)熊本市のまちづくりについてのトークライブ及びまちづくりＰＲイベント開催のご案内 投稿日:2015年1月8日 作成者: 大学コンソーシアム熊本 2015年1月11日10:00 AMto5:00 PM こんにちは。大学コンソーシアム熊本事務局です。 熊本市よりイベントのご案内です。 １月１１日(日)に熊本市現代美術館アートロフトで芸術や音楽などによる熊本市のまちづくりについて大西市長とプロモーターの前田様、KUWATA BANDのリーダーで音楽プロデューサーの今野多久郎様のトークライブを開催します。 また、桜町・花畑周辺地区のまちづくりＰＲイベントもびぷ…

Kumamoto is No. 3 when it comes to the number of inpatients per 100,000 in the population.
"According to some observers, this reflects the fact that some hospitals intentionally fill their existing beds with such inpatients from a business perspective."
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001808274
Nationwide survey finds large regional gaps in inpatient rate at recuperation facilities - The...
Major regional disparities exist in the rate of inpatients at recuperative facilities, where mainly elderly people are hospitalized for long periods, according to a survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.