William Kirk had written about Takachiho Gorge. Another similar gorge exists in Yabe. I'd like to write about what is one of the best autumn road trips in Kumamoto.
Posts
Kirk here with a share from Explore Kumamoto about Takachiho Gorge:
Kirk here. Just after William shared the Kumanichi's report about the fireworks display in Yatsushiro, I saw this on RKK. In addition to old-fashioned fireworks (the kind you light with a match) they have new-fangled displays made up of large numbers of remotely controlled drones. This dragon slowly opens his mouth in the video. Maybe next year they'll have one that actually breaths fire! (Flame-throwing drone or drone-launched fireworks?)
William Fireworks were invented in Asia, first to scare the pants off opponents in battle, and then to warn off demons. Apparently, there is something called the "All-Japan Fireworks Competition," recently held for the first time in three years. Thirty groups from all over Japan competed in three divisions: the No. 10 ball, which blooms with a diameter of about 300 meters; the No. 5 ball, which is about 150 meters; and the Star Mine, which launches 250 shots in a row. Woof. That'll scare the pants off the ghosts.
Douglas here with a follow up to the translation mix that Kirk started a few posts below.
FINA World Masters Championships water polo
Kirk here with a little report on a multilayered instance of "lost in translation." I laughed when I noticed the English on this sign because I could see immediately that the Japanese was referring to the danger of PEOPLE falling from the window but the translation (probably from DeepL or some other machine translation service) makes it sound like the danger is that the window may fall. I guess the editor of the popular Facebook group about English mistakes who rejected my post understands Japanese about as well as DeepL.
William Kumamoto Castle is known as "Ginkgo Castle" (銀杏城, ginnanjō) due to its large number ginkgo trees, which has become a symbol not just of the castle but of the city itself. Now is the season when they turn a stunning golden-yellow. Another good place to view ginkgo is the entrance to Prefectural Hall.
Kirk here with another article about the Filipino technical intern who is suing her employer. The image is of a protest in Tokyo regarding the abuse of so-called "ginou jisshuusei" (技能実習生; trainees).
Kirk here. "The law on equal opportunity employment for men and women, which also applies to foreign technical trainees, prohibits unfair treatment on the basis of an individual giving birth or becoming pregnant." But, this would seem to be another instance of that law being ignored.
William Kumanichi reports on the education of children who will accompany Taiwanese workers to TSMC.
Susure! Churu Churu☆Festival
Kirk here sharing an article on the creation of an new faculty at Kumamoto University. The idea is to create a faculty that focuses on high tech and English. It is at least loosely associated with the new TSMC chip plant being built here. On RKK I heard that this is the first creation of an entirely new faculty at Kumamoto University in decades -- since the creation of the 文学部 (Bungakubu; Faculty of Letters?) and the 法学部 (Hogakubu; Faculty of Law?). Students from Sojo University and Tokai University will also be able to take courses online in the faculty.
Kirk here with more on the influence of Unification Church (the Moonies) in Kumamoto -- my "Kumamoon" series.
William Personal note: My son, who has moved to Tokyo, will marry a Tokyoite (Edo-kko, 江戸っ子). My wife's health prevents us from traveling up to Tokyo for their wedding, so her parents came down to Kumamoto to meet us. They (and his bride) are the sweetest people imaginable.
William Live long enough and learn new words: "geoglyph" (地上絵, chijō e ga) is a character or image carved into the earth. There's a really big one of Kumamon in Shimoezu. Bring your camera-carrying drone and send us your photos. There's also a stand from which one can view it for ¥500.
William Katô Kiyomasa famously killed a tiger with a spear during one of his two invasions of Korea. He clearly was not a man to be trifled with, particularly if one were a tiger. He was born in Owari (now Aichi) and participated in Hideyoshi's Kyushu Campaign in 1587, for which he was given the northern half of Higo, now Kumamoto Prefecture, and built the castle.
William with another post on "where the water is."
Kirk here with a major scoop. Kumamon has been in cahoots with the Moonies!! Well, actually, to be fair, it's probably more a matter of Kumamon getting used by the Moonies. Here's the story . . .
William I've written about this before, but with Halloween approaching, a reminder: Lafcadio Hearn, once a Kumamoto resident, ebooks are available free at gutenberg.org. One appropriate for this season is "In Ghostly Japan." As it is a collection of short stories - some just a few pages long - it is appropriate for language classes. Though written over a century ago, the English is remarkably fresh. Some of the stories are very, very scary.
