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"UM educators say the document focuses on bringing more Japanese students to local high schools through study abroad programs, and creating paths for those students to enter programs at UM after graduation."
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/story/27897926/mcps-and-um-strengthen-ties-with-kumamoto-prefecture
MCPS and UM Strengthen Ties with Kumamoto Prefecture
University of Montana and Missoula County Public Schools strengthen ties with Japanese educators.

Here is a press release from the Kumamoto Islamic Center about recent events in France and the Middle East.
http://www.kicjapan.com/press-release-on-recent-paris-religious-crisis-and-kidnapping-of-two-japanese-citizens-by-isis
PRESS RELEASE ON RECENT PARIS RELIGIOUS CRISIS AND KIDNAPPING OF TWO JAPANESE CITIZENS BY ISIS
Visit the post for more.

Here's a video of people welcoming the arrival of the new Cocoro tram, which was designed by Eiji Mitooka.
わくわく都市くまもとを掲げる熊本市では、2014年10月に水戸岡鋭治氏がデザインした新型超低床電車「COCORO」の登場に合わせ、「COCOROを見たら、こころを振ろう」を合言葉に熊本市民が心（ハート）を振る動画を公開しました。 わくわく都市くまもと http://wakuwaku-kumamoto.com/ C...

The Brookings Institution has come out with an interesting study ranking various cities, including Kumamoto, by their relative growth rates.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports2/2015/01/22-global-metro-monitor
The map is interactive and should be of interest to those studying development and/or economics.
Here's an explanation from the Guardian about the list:
"A list of the top notable cities on the list follows. They are listed by rank in the study; country; city; percent real GDP growth per capita; and employment growth in 2014."
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/22/china-best-performing-economic-cities
And here's an article that contains the complete list:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/how-does-your-city-stack-up-in-economic-ranking-of-300-world-cities-1.2200208
Tokyo, the highest ranking of all of the Japanese cities was only No. 201. Kumamoto was not far behind. I'm not an economist so I'm not qualified to evaluate these results but, on the surface at least, it was seem that Kumamoto isn't doing that badly after all.
Posted by Kirk
Global Metro Monitor
With only 20 percent of the population, the world’s 300 largest metropolitan economies accounted for nearly half of global output in 2014. This interactive and report compare growth patterns in the world’s 300 largest metro economies on two key economic indicators—annualized g…

A new hot spring facility for soaking your feet (ashiyu) has opened in the scenic Matsushima area of Amakusa. You can find a Google map and pictures of the ashiyu on the following page:
http://kumamoto.pics/2014/07/松島温泉-龍の足湯/
The next page shows a sign pointing to the new facility:
https://www.facebook.com/amakusafan/posts/888858374491964
The sign reads "龍の足湯" in Japanese and "Foots Hot Spring of a Dragon" in English. However, "Ryu no Ashiyu" (that is, Romaji showing the reading of the Japanese name) is nowhere to be found. As many of you have noticed, many signs in Japan have Romaji (Roman lettering indication the Japanese pronunciation). Recently, however, the powers that be have come to the conclusion that Romaji is useless and what is needed for internationalization is English. This "Foots Hot Spring of a Dragon" sign reminded me of that trend. For a discussion of it, go to
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/signs-in-government-district-get-english-makeover
I agree with a comment posted there by Ambrosia:
"Why not keep both? Why not have the sign say Kokkai in Roman letters and then National Diet under it or in parentheses?"
The same issue has been discussed (with similar conclusions in the comments section) on the Japanese version of the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2013/09/11/olympic-road-sign-english-_n_3910790.html
"オリンピック見据え 意味不明なローマ字道路標識、英訳へ"
Unfortunately, it seems that the truism that "English can be quite helpful to foreigners" has morphed into the "Foreigners only need English" stereotype. If, however, you need to ask an ordinary Japanese person how to get to the hot spring, "Ryu no Ashiyu" will be much more useful to you than "Foots Hot Spring of a Dragon," which is likely to be met with a good deal of head tilting and sucking of air. Also, the elimination of the Romaji makes any problems in the English (which are pretty egregious in this case) stand out all the more.
My two yen for today. :)
Posted by Kirk
http://www2.dandl.co.jp/gold/misakitei/blog/index.php?M=659
松島観光ホテル岬亭-熊本県上天草市-天草松島温泉-ブログ [松島港に新名所 足湯がオープン！！]
熊本県天草松島に位置し、露天風呂と新鮮な海の幸、釣りにゴルフと遊んで！食べて！寛ぐ！の三拍子揃った癒しの宿。観光情報や毎月の豪華プレゼントクイズも満載！

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?