William This is something to keep an eye on.
Posts
Public lecture comparing U.S. and Japanese responses to COVID-19
Kirk here. This guy is amazing! I heard on TV today that there are enough games left in the season for him to surpass the all-time record if he continues at his average for this year's season.
Kirk here with a screenshot from Tropicalstormrisk.com. It indicates that we are fairly likely (40% ?) to experience tropical storm winds about 5 days from now (120 hours).
William Kumamoto had a difficult time dealing with leprosy. Documentation of abuse is abundant. Many infected were isolated at what became temples on Mt Kimpo at what is collectively called Hon Myoji (本妙寺). Several of these temples remain on a long walk up a flight of stairs. Start early, take a day, and bring water.
Kirk here with a note about my continuing research on Kumamoto's Moonie connections. This has to do with Kumamoto's "family education" law (くまもと家庭教育支援条例) which was established in 2013 and can be read here on the prefecture's website (in Japanese):
Miyabi: The history and the beauty of the Hosokawa collection
Kirk here reporting that the temperature in Kosa (in Kumamoto) was 36.3 C (97.3 F). That's a new record for Kumamoto in September and it was the hottest temperature in the country today.
William Our friend Liz is a very talented photographer and runs a studio near Fujisaki Shrine, so if you have something to commemorate over eternity, go her way. She took these marvelous photos of the moon. According to Wikipedia, "The most widely accepted origin explanation posits that the Moon formed 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth, out of the debris from a giant impact between the planet and a hypothesized Mars-sized body called Theia." Brutal. Don't name your daughter "Theia," and appreciate life. Photos by Liz Suenaga.
William Things one might not associate with Kumamon and badminton might be one, but remember: this guy (?) somehow swims.
Kirk here with some news about Kumamoto's relationship with Montana.
Kirk here with some local news that has become national. IDE Nobuo, an LDP member of the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly, is shown in this video smoking in Koshien Stadium, while rooting for Kyushu Gakuen High School, his alma mater. This part of the stadium is "no smoking" but he continued to smoke despite requests from school officials to cease and desist. The video contains an older video from Mr. Ide where he says that his motto is 初志貫徹 (shoshi kantetsu), which means "once you decided to do something, you should see it through to the end." I guess the implication is that once Mr. Ide decided to start smoking in the stands, he was determined to see it through to the end, regardless of what others might say.
William Our good friend Tami Day recently posted that there are over 230 varieties of potatoes in the Americas. This is particularly important for genetic health - think of the the Irish potato famine. Kumamoto does a whole lotta potatoes (yeah - their is an "e" on the end when you pluralize them).
William This article is about a female infant who was born and abandoned in a phone booth, likely as her mother was panicked and could think of no other options.
Kirk here with more recent successes of Kumamoto's own Munetaka Murakami: "Murakami, who has a very real chance of becoming the first Triple Crown winner in Japan since Nobuhiko Matsunaka of the then Daiei Hawks in 2004, homered over the center-field wall in his first at-bat of the night in the second inning at Jingu Stadium."
Kirk with some economic news: "FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO, Representative Director: Teiichi Goto) has announced that it will invest approximately 2 billion yen installing a production facility capable of manufacturing cutting-edge semiconductor materials in Kumamoto supporting the growth of the electronic materials business."
William Living in Oe, I am lucky airport-transportation-wise (bus!), but I have heard the woes of those in further locales, particularly northern Kumamoto (from there, it's often easier to go to Fukuoka). However, JR Kyushu and Kumamoto Prefecture have finally gotten around to kinda start studies into creating a rail line to the airport from Higo Ozu Station. The rationale is the closer distance compared with Sanrigi and the demand which will arise from the new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. While a final decision has not been made, we may see this within our lifetime.
William with a tangential post: We Californians do not take well to royalty - think of Maximilian I, the Austrian archduke who reigned as the only Emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from1864 until his execution in 1867. Yet having lived under the reign of Japanese emperors for most of my life, I have grown to appreciate their function. Morose at the loss of Elisabeth 2. (Funeral styles are rather different - the Showa Emperor and the Queen Mother.)
Kirk here with another installment in my not-very-popular Kumamoto-Moonie series. This one is about the Kumamoto International Association (熊本県国際協会) and connections of two Kumamoto-based LDP politicians to the Moonies.
Kirk here with a Kumamoto-Moonie update (a "Kuma-Moon" update ;) ).
