Posts

This is a "pointing a video camera at the TV" video with occasional commentary in English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Cjr60ud_E
Oita and Kumamoto Flooding
More video of our local news coverage provided by Zero. The devastation is incredible.

This video from CNN provides an overview of the recent flooding and landslides.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/16/world/asia/japan-floods/index.html
Torrential rain kills at least 26 in southern Japan - CNN.com
Extraordinarily heavy rains have left hundreds of people cut off and at least 26 dead on the Japanese island of Kyushu, and more storms could be on their way.

When I went to visit Tatsuta Jinnai today, I saw this chair floating down the river -- five days after the initial flooding!

I took this picture and the following one to show how high above normal water level the protective walls are.

Tatsuta Jinnai is the area of Kumamoto City that was hit hardest by the flooding. When I left for my jog today, I decided to take my camera and go in that direction to see what I could see.

On Thursday, a couple hours after the Shirakawa had reached its highest point, I went to have a look. I found this monument to the June 26, 1953 flood.

Here something that I posted a few years ago about the 1953 flood:

"In 1953 the Shirakawa River overflowed. One of the Japanese web sites I looked at said that the total of dead and missing was 422, while another said that the total was more than 500. Unusually heavy rain caused volcanic ash and sand from the Aso volcano to be swept into the river and carried to the city where it took out 85 bridges and inundated 31,145 homes."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kumamoto-i/message/6312

Check out these photos. Several are stunning.
http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2012/07/photos-rain-causes-flooding-mudslides-in-kumamoto-japan-15-dead/
Photos: Rain causes flooding, mudslides in Kumamoto, Japan - 15 dead
Kumamoto - Heavy rain triggered flash floods and mudslides in southern Japan on Thursday, July 12, 2012, causing at least 15 deaths.

This is a Reuters video report.
Deadly Floods and Landslides Hit Japan

This news report was broadcast yesterday. The figures about the numbers of dead are old but the images give you an idea about what has been happening. I hope we have seen the worst. At this writing, 19 are dead,
九州豪雨　熊本県と大分県で相次ぎ川氾濫　13日も大雨のおそれ(12/07/12)
九州北部を襲った記録的な豪雨の被害は、さらに拡大しており、これまでに死者は6人、行方不明者は20人となっている。 熊本県と大分県で、相次いで川が氾濫した。 http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00227325.html

River flooding 2012/7/12 The Shirakawa-River, Kumamoto City.
An evacuation directive was announced for a heavy rain from Kumamoto-city. This is a movie of 9:06 a.m. It is Chuo-ku, Kumamoto-city, near of Taikou-bashi Br...

Mascot Of Kumamoto, Kumamon Being Awesome | Funny Pics, Funny Gifs, Funny Videos

Here's a video related to my post about the mudflats near Arao. It's about the mutsugoro that live in the flats.
有明海の人気者ムツゴロウが産卵期を迎えている。小城市芦刈町の六角川河口の保護区では、求愛ジャンプや縄張り争いを愛嬌（あいきょう）たっぷりに繰り広げている。 この記事のURL http://www.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga.0.1271498.article.html

Here's the video I posted about:
The tale of two Ramen shops in Nihongi,Kumamoto... Japan
Nihongi is Famous for Ramen. One shops is very famous and on is kind of like a greasy spoon. The funny thing is that the greasy spoon worked for the famous a...

I'll post about this cycling road soon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P9g_M3qmvQ

This is a video proposal I sent with a letter to Mayor Koyama today. I had the pleasure of meeting him and talking about the bus system in Kumamoto with him on Saturday. This video proposal is a follow up to our conversation. It's in Japanese (narration by my wife) but the basic idea is simple: Kumamoto City should make it possible for citizens and visitors to search bus routes through Google maps.
http://youtu.be/FGDLNlwG33Q
熊本市のバスはわかりにくい。この動画では、市民や観光客にとって熊本市のバスが利用しやすくなるための提案をしています。つまり、熊本市と姉妹関係にあるアメリカのサンアントニオ市、中国の桂林市、韓国の蔚山広域市と同様に、Google mapsを利用してバス情報を検索できるようにすべきだと思います。

Here's a video about visiting Kumamoto Castle. It's very nicely done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFHl5QsF85o
Kumamoto Castle 熊本城

I found this photo on the following page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/0x_khnemo_x0/6832618778/sizes/l/in/photostream/
I think that if you could look at the left side with your left eye and the right side with your right eye, the photo would be in 3D. Unfortunately, I couldn't make my eyes do that.

Here's the image I introduced in my "Beautiful mudflat scenes in Uto" post.

Yuko Takahashi will be showing her pottery at the Shimada Bijutsukan between January 26 and 30.

Kumamoto Station in the Taisho Era
I found this picture at the following location:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kumamoto_Station_in_Taisho_era.JPG