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Kirk here. I learned recently that there was a murder earlier this year in which, according to reports, both the victim and the suspect are foreigners. I'll refrain from going into details but I can say that reports indicate that "equal work, unequal pay" may have triggered the incident.
I'll put a link in a comment.

Kirk here with something for history buffs. I'll append a ChatGPT 4.0 translation, which I think is pretty good.
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/rkk/874059?display=1
--- ChatGPT 4.0 translation of article ---
New Documents Discovered Related to Hidden Christians: "Retaliation against the Village Headman for Leading Christian Hunts" Described
December 4, 2023, Monday, 15:24
New documents related to hidden Christians, previously unexplored, have been discovered in Amakusa City, Kumamoto Prefecture.
The newly found documents pertain to hidden Christians following the "Amakusa Collapse" (Amakusa Kuzure). The Amakusa Collapse refers to an incident in the late Edo period where many Christians were captured.
The documents reveal that, six years after the Amakusa Collapse, there was turmoil in a village where the community sought the dismissal of the village headman of Imatomi Village (current Imatomi, Kawaura Town, Amakusa City). The headman is believed to have led the search for Christians, and the turmoil was considered retaliation against him for these actions.
From these documents, it can be understood that the faith of the hidden Christians was preserved even after the Amakusa Collapse. It also sheds light on how the village headmen, including other locals at the time, perceived the existence of hidden Christians. The discovery of these private documents, apart from official records, is said to be very rare.
Professor Keimei Ando, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kumamoto University: "A comprehensive analysis of these documents may reveal a new image of hidden Christians in Amakusa."
Starting December 7, an exhibition interpreting these ancient documents will be held at the Amakusa Christian Museum and Amakusa Rosario Museum.
キリシタン探索を主導した “庄屋への報復 ” など記述 『潜伏キリシタンに関する新たな資料を発見』 | 熊本のニュース｜RKK熊本放送
これまで解明されていなかった潜伏キリシタンに関する新たな資料が熊本県天草市で発見されました。今回、新たに見つかったのは『天草崩れ（あまくさくずれ）』後の潜伏キリシタンに関する文書です。天草崩れとは江…

William I first came to Japan by ship (!!) - from Taiwan via Okinawa to Osaka. Without a word of Japanese and no knowledge of the culture, I spent a lonely week in Naha. Yet shop after shop offered what I termed "banana fish" - see, they were shaped like bananas but smelled like fish.
Turns out they were katsuobushi 鰹節 - smoked bonito Later, I spent time in Kagoshima and visited facilities where they are made. (if you visit the area, you'll see pile upon pile of wood for smoking). It is a lengthy process. But if you are a katusobushi fan (which I have become), Kagoshima is your Jerusalem. PM us for info - touring a factory is a wonderful experience.
Katsuobushi flakes are available pretty much anywhere. They are good on anything - heck, put them on your toast! - and are healthy and nutritious. (If you're a hardcore traditionalist, you buy a cutting board box specifically designed to shave katsuobushi.)

Joe Tomei here, passing on a post by Ruth Maruki Kai. The fundraiser is for Christmas gifts for the orphanage.
An onegai, if you do donate 2nd hand items, you should try and swing by at the end and pick them up if they haven't been bought.
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12月10日（日）10～16時、砂取公民館で開催されるバザーにぜひお越しください!!!!! 🎅中古品やハンドメイドアイテムをお持ちの方は、寄付金として販売することもできますので、たくさんの品物をリホームしてみましょう　✌ 👒🖊📚💖 Come to our bazaar fundraiser this Sunday, 10th December (10-4pm) at Sunatori Community Center. If you've second-hand items which can also be sold for donations so let's try rehome many items! 🎨🪘 🫰
また、お菓子や飲み物をご持参ください!! 子供たちのクリスマスプレゼントのための信金繰りも兼ねて、楽しく交流しましょう。Bring baked goods and drinks to share if you can! Let's enjoy mingling and putting the FUN back in FUNdraising!!!!! ☕🍪🍩🎁🎁✨
Address: 神水本町6-29 (Limited parking at the center! Please consider park at the gymnasium!) ナースパワーアリーナ(熊本市総合体育館・青年会館)から歩いて２分!!!!

Kirk here with news about an Indian restaurant I've posted about in the past. On RKK last night, I learned that the restaurant is located in the the area near the new TSMC facilities that has increased in price the most in the last year. In fact, the rate of increase the highest of any place in Japan. This has led to additional publicity for the restaurant. I'll put some related links in comments to this post.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid067SgvWoaXCQCdFambqrvcpzaAqB8sum9mX2Nd5N5pX5ZsU4FVNZYNfqYYbkduNJ5l

William A bit of private stuff but maybe of general interest

William I used to run along Shirakawa, passing a group of homeless living under a bridge. They seemed to be doing quite well - they had pallets for flooring and even furniture that they'd scavenged. They always offered me sake, which I declined.
And then, one day, their settlement had vanished.
I hope that they had been moved into more suitable quarters, but I don't know - they could have been just shunted off.
There was an elderly man, a jieitai vet, who slept rough in our local park. My wife and I would feed him with bentos and allowing him in our house for food and sleep when it was particularly rough outside. He was found dead in the park from exposure.
Maybe you notice someone like that. Extend a hand.

Kirk here with something about what is called "kanten" in Japanese (寒天) and "agar" in English. Here's a quote from the article, which explains why it came up in a Google alert about new articles about "Kumamoto":
"Ai Hosokawa, who grew up in Tokyo, has lived in Kumamoto for 14 years and is fascinated by its rich natural environment and clear water. Her house and atelier stand in the historical remains of Taishoji temple that used to be the family temple of the Hosokawa Clan, which once ruled the Kumamoto Domain."
The article is interesting but it's a good example of a pitfall in translation: using an English word that many native speakers are not likely to know: agar. Of course, it's a perfectly good word. I found lots of information about in on the web. But there are two problems as a see it:
1. English-language speakers who live in Japanese may be even more likely to recognize the word "kanten" than "agar" -- even though "agar" is an English word. That was this case with me. So, I would have like them to identify "agar" as what is called "kanten" in Japanese at the top of the article.
2. "Agar" is very similar to "kanten" but, according to information I found on the internet, they are made from different kinds of seaweed. So, "Japanese agar" is probably more accurate.
Fun fact from the Wikipedia page on agar: "Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water. This results in the consumers feeling fuller."
TASTE OF LIFE/ Water-based agar jelly: Fragrant citrus fruits from garden hold key to iced dessert | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

Flights between Kumamoto and Hong Kong have resumed after a
7 year hiatus. I'll put citations to the English and Japanese articles in comments. -- Kirk

Kirk here with a post about a little place I found in Ezuko. The entrance is about halfway between the Shimo Ezuko parking lot and the part of the zoo where the giraffes and the elephants are. The sign says that there's a free gallery in the back. I'll add some notes to each picture.

Here's an article about the Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster Museum KIOKU in Minamiaso Village. -- Kirk
Building back better
Tayayuki Kubo was living far from home in 2016 when a series of catastrophic earthquakes battered Kumamoto in southwestern Japan.

Sean here-
Update - Update - Update - Update - Update - Update
Thank you for your patience.
Here is the response -
“They would prefer men.
They don't care about the race that much.
Japanese level should be enough to communicate with the church ppl.”
If this interests anyone. Just pm me.
- End update -
I'm writing to you today about a unique opportunity that may be of interest to some of you.
An acquaintance of mine is looking for someone to act as a 偽牧師 (nise bokushi), which translates to fake priest, for officiating weddings in Yatsushiro.
Why is this a thing?
It turns out that having a Westerner as the officiant is considered オシャレ (fancy/exotic) in Japan. Christian-style weddings are surprisingly popular, even though only a small percentage of the population is actually Christian. This means that you don't need to be a real priest to perform weddings in Japan!
What qualifications are needed?
While some Japanese language skills would be helpful, fluency is not required. This is a particularly great opportunity for someone who enjoys acting. The majority of these weddings take place on weekends.
Interested?
If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please send me a message and I'll be happy to provide you with more details.
Thanks

Kirk here with a post about reducing environmental mercury. This has a strong connection to the Minamata disease issue but will impact people throughout Japan.
By the way, I have a pet peeve about the transition to LED as a replacement to the traditional, Japanese-style "pendant" lights. The problem is, when I had to replace a 10-year-old pendant LED light (even LED will wear out eventually), I could not just replace the main lamp (LED) part -- I had to buy a new "set" (that is the core lamp and the "lamp shade" or kasa [笠]). This means more trash. In the past, I could just replace the fluorescent lamp and continue to use my old shade. Environmental improvement in one sense, more trash and a step back in another. :(
Fluorescent lamp production to end by 2027 to cut mercury risk | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
Signatories to the Minamata Convention on Mercury have agreed to ban the manufacture, import and export of straight tube fluorescent lamps by the end of 2027, paving the way for an end to production of all fluorescent lamps used in homes and offices.

Kirk here with some images from an RKK segment on four young women from Myanmar who are working in a facility for elderly people. It includes footage from an event in which they spent some time talking about their work and experiences with local high school students.
Learning to understand the dialects spoken by the elderly residents was one of the difficulties that the women from Myanmar talked about. In the second photo, a high school students explains that suu suu suu (スー スー スー) means "it's chilly."
I'll put the URL in a comment.

Kirk here with an article about work by a local professor. If you're interested in studying Japanese, you can click on "Japanese version" to see the original.
Japan prof. develops system allowing disabled people to play guitar with 1 hand, foot - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- A university professor here has developed a system to assist people with physical disabilities to play the guitar using one arm and a foot

Kirk again! Here's a share from Kuma Visit. I'll be interested to learn about the feedback that Kuma Visit gets. :)
https://www.facebook.com/kumavisit/posts/pfbid031cs18d6BrFx9kE97J3Yo6TiM8agxEDcoi8NgX7WSeVnr34dg7AWofgyyr7SC98AXl

Kirk here with the results of a survey question directed to residents of Kumamoto. Here's a translation of the question:
--- start translation ---
The number of foreigners living in Kumamoto Prefecture is increasing year by year. What do you think about a society where foreigners and residents live together in the community? (Please mark only one with a circle.)
Desirable 32.9
Somewhat desirable 19.9
Neither 38.4
Not very desirable 6.6
Undesirable 2.2
--- end translation ---
The graph compares this year's results with last year's. The number of folks who saw increased internationalization positively (the two shades of blue) decreased a little and those with negative views (the two shades of yellow) also decreased slightly. All in all, no big change.
Of course, I'd like to see more people viewing the internationalization of Kumamoto positively but, on the other hand, considering that anti-immigrant sentiment is rising in many parts of the world, I'd say the results aren't all that bad.
I'll cite my sources and put other information in comments.

Kirk here. Each year, Saishunkan Seiyakusho puts on a winter light show. The location is the East Bypass (Higashi Bypass) in the Obiyama area. The light show has already started this year and will last until the 25th. I'll put citations and other information in comments.

Kirk here with some statistics on "foreign workers" in Kumamoto. The category of "foreign worker" includes people like me (I'm a worker in the educational sector) but would not include foreign students at my university. I'm not completely sure but I think that the foreign children (those without Japanese citizenship, even if born here) may account for rest of the gap between the total foreign population (now nearly 20,000) and the approximately 15,000 figure in the report.
I'll provide a citation in a comment and some explanatory notes for each graph (if you click on an individual graph, you should be able to see my notes).

William with a heartwarming experience: I ran into my daughter's (who is now 26 and lives in Tokyo) kindergarten teacher, who remembered her and my family.
Sekidai Kindergarten has a very long history, founded in 1888. A look at portraits of headmasters over the decades shows only males until the war and only females after. It has a wonderful location, just in front of Fujisaki Shrine, with its fresh air, broad road, and no traffic. Apparently, they even have English lessons now!
Entering any kindergarten can be difficult due to lack of places, and unlike primary school, is not obligatory. Applications for the coming school year are now being accepted. I found the teachers there to be very welcoming of non-Japanese, both students and parents.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
http://www.kumamoto-kmm.ed.jp/sch/k/k-sekidai/