Posts

Kirk here with a follow-up regarding the Unification Church and Abe's assassination. I'll include a more direct connection to Kumamoto (my own encounter with the Moonies while living here) in this post but first I'll start with the national context.
全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会が会見 旧統一教会2世信者の苦悩、政治家との関係が明らかに（日刊ゲンダイDIGITAL） - Yahoo!ニュース
　安倍晋三元首相が8日、奈良市で街頭演説中に銃撃され死亡した事件。逮捕された山上徹也容疑者（41）の母親は1998年ごろから、世界平和統一家庭連合（旧統一教会）の正会員で、2002年に自己破産してい

Kirk here with more COVID-19 news. The numbers were up nationally and paricularly in this part of Japan. Nationally, it's been several months since the total for the country was at this level (76,011) or higher. And as you can see in the image, many prefectures in the western part of the country set new records today. The number of new infections in Kumamoto was 2,333.
【国内感染】新型コロナ 23人死亡 7万6011人感染 (12日18:45) | NHK
【NHK】12日はこれまでに全国で76011人の感染が発表されています。全国の感染者の発表が7万人を超えるのは、ことし3月3日以来…

William I've only met my neurologist a few times, but when I asked her for some powerful sleeping pills (I've been up 24/7 since my wife's been absent with cancer), the nurse came through. I then made my way home in an hour fine, and have zero memory of the subsequent six hours - the first sleep I'd had in three days! Clearly, this is a temporary thing until things calm down, but, wow, if you're in need of a good sleep but can't seem to get it, this is very beneficial. Living abroad, being in an international marriage, being separated from one's homeland may quickly lead to psychiatric or psychological issues. Though we are obviously not medical professionals, we can point you to where help is available 24 hours a day. PM any of us, any time. You are not alone.

Kirk here. I hope I can be forgiven for writing about something that pertains to Japan as a whole and is only relevant to Kumamoto in the sense that Kumamoto is part of Japan. I'll try to keep such deviations from the main theme of this page to a minimum.
New details emerge about the man who assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe
Tetsuya Yamagami shot and killed Shinzo Abe with a homemade gun while the politician was giving a speech in Nara. He told police he had also hoped to kill a leader in an unnamed religious group

William When it comes to sports, Kumamoto is the perennial runner-up: SO close, but do you remember? (It took our most famous athlete, Shizo Kanekure, 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20 seconds to complete his marathon.) And who was victorious when Satsuma and Edo trampled? - actually, we didn't care: it was planting season. The whole "The Last Samurai" stuff happened HERE (look up Tabaruzaka: https://tinyurl.com/ycxb7uvu). We didn't even get a credit.

Kirk here with a belated bit of information about the new subvariant behind the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. If you'd like to hear an audio report on what makes the BA.5 strain different, check out the NPR link:
BA.5 subvariant leads resurgence in new COVID-19 cases in Japan | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
Novel coronavirus infections have continued to increase around Japan since health protocols were eased, a resurgence that prompted the Tokyo metropolitan government to raise its alert level for the spread of the virus.

William While not exactly located in Kumamoto, Nagasaki has sent some heavy stuff our way, mostly thanks to the Unzen volcano. In 1792, the mountain collapsed, creating a "bathtub effect" in which tidal waves bounced between the two coasts. It has been estimated as one of the deadliest tidal waves in history.

Kirk here with a quote from a news article from 1994:

William "Nihon Ichi" (日本一 - "Best in Japan") is something you'll come across often here, from kittens to cabbages. But one where you won't go wrong is what's colloquially known as "3333 Steps" (it's more; I've counted). Built in 1988 to access the Misakain Temple, the granite of pain is formally known as "shakainmisakayūhodō" (釈迦院御坂遊歩道), and you can't really say you're from Kumamoto until you've climbed it. (I left my sunglasses at the temple once so did it twice in one day.)

William Volcanoes fall into that bucketlist "iffy" category: on one hand, wouldn't it be cool to climb one? - but on the other, dying in pyroclastic flow, akin to jumping into a pool filled with lighted charcoal, would be unpleasant. (I've climbed both Unzen and Sakurajima - seems that timing, totally out of one's control, is key.)

Kirk hee with some "insights" about the kinds of posts that get big responses on this page:

William When I read on the Guardian that "Ippudo, which operates 50 ramen shops across the country, is offering endless free noodle refills for a fortnight from election day on Sunday until 24 June," I had three questions: what is a "fortnight," is there an "Ippudo" in Kumamoto, and why are they informing us of this in July? It turns out that a "fortnight" in this case is "until 24 June;" that, yes, there is an "Ippudo" in Kumamoto: https://stores.ippudo.com/1069; and that, no, we are clueless as to the tardiness. You'll need proof that you voted, so make something up, and fudge the date. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/06/free-noodles-offered-as-japan-wrestles-with-low-youth-turnout-for-elections
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Kirk here reporting that Kumanichi is reporting that there were 1443 new cases of COVID-19 today. I guess yesterday's high of 1589 is no longer such an isolated statitstical outlier.
＜速報＞熊本県内1443人コロナ感染確認　２日連続で千人超（熊本日日新聞） - Yahoo!ニュース
　熊本県と熊本市は６日午後４時、新たに１４４３人の新型コロナウイルス感染を確認したと発表した。このうち熊本市は５７５人。県内の感染者数が千人を超えるのは２日連続で、５日の１５８９人に次いで過去２番目

Kirk here was a follow-up to Atsuko's post (Thanks, Atsuko!). I made this little graph to put the numbers in perspective. I hope this is just a blip, so to speak, but today's number are literally close to being off the charts. The chart is from the following page:

Atsuko here. Unfortunately, it's the new record ,1,589 cases of Corona infection in Kumamoto Prefecture.
　熊本県と熊本市は５日午後４時、新たに１５８９人の新型コロナウイルス感染を確認したと発表した。１日当たりの新規感染の確認としては過去最多。このうち熊本市は６２３人。２人の死亡も公表した。

William Here is what Kumanichi has to say about the typhoon: "Typhoon No. 4 is expected to come closest to Kumamoto Prefecture from the morning of the 5th to the afternoon. The Kumamoto Local Meteorological Observatory calls for caution against sediment-related disasters, inundation of low land, and flooding of rivers, saying that active rain clouds may enter the entire prefecture and cause heavy rain. Some elementary, junior high and high schools and special needs schools in the prefecture have decided to temporarily close on the 5th.
台風４号、熊本県内に５日最接近　小中高校で休校も｜熊本日日新聞社
　台風4号は、5日朝から昼過ぎにかけて熊本県内に最接近する見通し。熊本地方気象台は県内全域に活発な雨雲が入り込み、大雨となる恐れがあるとして、土砂災害や低い土地の浸水、河川の増水などへの警戒を呼びかけて....

Kirk here with some information about a couple of volcanologist who lost their lives here in Kyushu on June 3, 1991 when Mount Unzen erupted. The movie isn't available here yet but I would guess that it will arrive eventually. The director, Sara Dosa, is an American but the volcanologists (Katia and Maurice Krafft) were French so it will probably be necessary to understand French or Japanese subtitles if one wishes to watch it here in Japan when it comes. You can see a trailer and high ratings on the film's IMDb page:

William Kumamoto was a major manufacturing base of airplanes and center of logistics during WWII. The Army Aviation Headquarters was located in Ikeda-cho, and two Mitsubishi aircraft factories producing the Ki-67 heavy bombers were located in Kengun (where the headquarters of Japan's Western Army remains) and Obiyama-cho. Small plants producing airplane parts were spread throughout the prefecture.

Kirk here with a follow-up to William's and Atsuko's posts about the approaching typhoon. Fortunately, it's not very powerful. The image shows the current projection regarding how the storm will move in the next 24 hours. Though it looks like it will come close to being a direct hit on Kumamoto, it shouldn't be a very hard hit, at least in terms of wind speed. Tropicalstormrisk.com says that the probability of tropical storm winds or stronger is less than 10%. But, on the other hand, we may have a lot of rain. Sometimes slow moving storms with relatively low wind speeds can do a lot of damage if they wind up dumping a lot or rain in one area.

William A bit more about springs and where to find them: The Kashima Spring Park Natural Pool (Kashima-chō yūsuikōen ten'nen pūru, 嘉島町湧水公園 天然プール) is a wonderful place to bring the kids. It consists of a conventional spring-fed pool and a natural area for exploring. Admission is free, but parking is ￥500. Their website https://www.mlit.go.jp/tochimizushigen/mizsei/mizusato/shichoson/kyushu/kashima.htm indicates they are open this year; a confirmation call is recommended.　096-237-2619