Posts
Kirk here. I'm not trying to advertise KFC but, even though I've lived in Japan a long time, I just learned today that there's a strong association of KFC with the Christmas holiday in this country. My wife mentioned the long lines she saw at the KFC in Kengun today "because it's Christmas eve." My first reaction was "what does Christmas eve have to do with KFC?" The answer is in the following article:
Kirk here with number 6 on our countdown to 2023. This post from Liz got 2,704 views.
William Kumamoto received an unfortunate mention in Japan Today: "In 2020 in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan, a Vietnamese trainee, who feared being dismissed or compelled to return home, gave birth to stillborn twins and was charged with abandoning the bodies. She was given a suspended sentence but is appealing it to the Supreme Court."
Kirk here thinking that it's pretty cold out these days. I saw a national (!) news report this afternoon about cars and trucks stuck in traffic in the Minamata area. I'm not sure if they were talking about the traffic jam that you see in the picture, which occurred in the Minamata area this morning but, in either case, it's clear that snow and ice caused significant problems in Kumamoto Prefecture today.
Kirk here, continuing the countdown to 2023. This is number 7 (in terms of "reach") with 2,627 views. It was posted by Atsuko, whom I think we were all happy to have back as a healthy editor. Kudos again to Julie for her fine work.
Kirk here with number 8 in my retrospective countdown to 2023. This one by William is about Kumamoto's streetcars (or trams or trolleys; 市電 [shiden] in Kumamoto but generally referred to as 路面電車 [romen densha] in Japanese) and got 2,627 sets of eyeballs.
William My wife will receive a blood transfusion at Kumamoto University Hospital tomorrow as part of her cancer treatment. Usually we walk - it's only a mile - but considering her schedule and the weather, I thought a taxi would be best. I'd called our local taxi company for a reservation; they said they were booked. Other companies I called said the same thing.
Kirk here, continuing my retrospective countdown to 2023. This post got 2,535 views, making it the 9th most viewed post of the year. Here's hoping the earthquake it discusses never occurs:
Kirk here with the beginning of a retrospective on Kumamoto International's year. I rearranged the posts from the past year in order of "reach" (the number of people that Facebook says viewed them) and thought I'd go through the top 10 at a pace of one a day. Here's number 10 in the countdown with 2,288 views:
Kumamoto Sinfonietta Concert
Kirk here with more about Kumamoto as part of Japan's silicone island.
Sean here - Although this is a shared post based on the US Social Security system, scammers of this type will use similar tactics in all countries. So, prevention methods and warnings are applicable as they are similar worldwide,
William According to http://ejje.weblio.jp/, "snow flurries" in Japanese is しゅう雪 (syuu yuki). Having attended college in Maine, where snow accumulates knee- (or sometimes waist)-height, that it didn't "stick" is something of a disappointment. It did stick in Aso and on Mt Kimpo, though. Kimpo is a convenient place to go if you'd like to see snow; just be prepared to U-turn your car on a very narrow road and drive wrong-way on a one-way, one-lane road back down if conditions do not allow you to traverse the hump. Several good photos at Kumanichi: https://kumanichi.com/articles/890936
Sean here -
Kirk here with news about plans for Kumamoto University's new TSMC-related faculty:
Mini Marche - Part II
Kirk here with old news in a different package, with a few more details for those of you who might be interested.
Kirk here with a follow-up to yesterday's post about the time that Apple's Tim Cook spent in Kumamoto. It seems that the CEO was not the only Apple executive who came to Kumamoto. Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, was also in town and stopped by the Prefectural University of Kumamoto to visit Dr. Ichiro Iimura and his students. Prof. Iimura is featured on Apple's website:
Kirk here reporting that Tim Cook, CEO of the 5th largest company in the world by revenue (Apple, Inc), was in Kumamoto last night and today. This is just one of his tweets about his visit. Go to his Twitter account to see more.
