Kirk here with football (soccer) news. Japan plays Germany at 10PM tonight (Japan time). One of the players, Shogo Taniguchi, went to Ozu High School, a school that is known for the strength of its soccer program.
Posts
Kirk here with some statistics on the 2020 population of non-Japanese in Kumamoto. The numbers from countries whose primary language is English are surprisingly low: just 370 from the US; I presume from the graph that other English-speaking countries are in the "other" category and have fewer than 51 (the lowest number for an individual country on the graph) living here.
Kirk here with a view of Kikuchi Keikoku (Kikuchi Gorge) that was posted to a blog on Friday. I should have posted earlier about Kikuchi Keikoku as a great place to enjoy the fall colors because it's getting rather late in the season. But, I would guess that it's still quite pretty. Has anyone been there recently? Please leave a comment.
TOM TANIGUCHI'S CHRISTMAS QUEST
Kirk here with a post about how it's gotten colder recently. Last week (I think it was Wednesday when this article was published) the cold morning air caused a phenomenon in Amakusa called "kearashi" (気嵐; けあらし; smoke on the water [not the song, the phenomenon]).
Carlton here. I have a selfish nationalistic interest in eating turkey this Thursday (American Thanksgiving). Does anyone know of any Kumamoto restaurants that might be offering that for the few folks like me who might have such a seasonal craving?
The Formere Residence of Hosokawa Gyobu Autumn Illumination
TOM TANIGUCHI'S CHRISTMAS QUEST
Kirk here with a share from Kuma Visit about the Autumn illumination of the Former Hosokawa Residence (Gyobutei; 旧細川刑部邸).
The convention that seems to have been established of putting the name of the person posting is, in my opinion, less than ideal. There is already a byline indicating who created the post. Starting the text with the posters name is distracting and conveys no additional information. I ask that it be stopped.
Kirk here with a video of the SL Hitoyoshi introduced by Mason Buskirk in the following thread:
27th Kumamoto International Friendship Festival
Kirk here. William posted about this earlier but I found an English-language article that I thought I'd share. Unlike the photo in William's post, this one has relatively few people wearing masks.
William My wife is fighting cancer. We have been diligent in paying our Japan national insurance payments, so the cost of care is quite low. For those who intend to live long-term in Japan, I encourage keeping up with these payments. They may seem excessive in the short term, but they do pay off greatly when disaster strikes.
Kirk with a visual puzzle from my neighborhood. The image on the bottom is the actual photo and the image on the top is a mirror image of it (top and bottom reversed). As you can see, the English in blue only becomes completely legible in the mirror image. I'd love to know the backstory behind this (what the sign maker was thinking) but at this point I have no clue.
Kirk here with another post that is tangentially related to the arrival of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) in Kumamoto. I just listened to an hour-long interview with Chris Miller, author of "Chip War." I found it to be a very edifying discussion; I learned about the global importance of TSMC and many other interesting things about the technology in our phones and computers:
Kirk here. This article discusses the impact of TSMC in Japan so the focus isn't on Kumamoto. Still, if you're interested, I think the article provides some context.
Kirk here. As I posted the other day, Roasso came close to getting into J1 but didn't quite make it. You can see the highlights here:
William Haiku is tricky: ideally, it is a 5:7:5 syllable bit with a seasonal reference, though lenience is granted. Kumanichi reports that a Ukranian woman won the Kusamakura (草枕) haiku competition despite having never visited Japan:
Kirk here. Kumamoto's Murakami had a great year. Given his ability and his interest in moving to the majors, I think it's just a matter of time now.
