Posts

Kirk here with more news about Jikei Hospital and an observation about how English can be a rather difficult language.
Hospital Reveals 2nd Confidential Birth in Japan
Kumamoto, May 11 (Jiji Press)--A woman has given birth to a baby anonymously in the second case of so-called c…

Kirk here with more about names for Kumamoto. This time I'd like to write a little about the name "Hi no Kuni" (火の国 or 火国).

Kirk here with some thoughts about names for the place we currently call "Kumamoto." Kumamoto is on the island of "Kyushu" (九州), which literally means "nine states." However, the "states" (州) were actually called "countries" (国) and this place was called Higo no Kuni (written "肥後国"). So, what was "Kumamoto"? Well, in the Edo Period, different parts of Japan were governed by "han" (藩) or "domains" and "Kumamoto Han" was the name of the domain started by KATO Kiyomasa and later taken over by the Hosokawa family.

Kirk here with some news about the establishment of an association for Vietnamese residents:
Assoc. of Vietnamese residents launches in Japan's Kumamoto Pref. - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- An association of Vietnamese nationals living in Kumamoto Prefecture has been launched to facilitate interaction and information exchange

(Fiona) Thanks to all who came along for the first in-person Kumamoto-i meet-up in a very long time. We enjoyed walking and talking in the woods on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Kirk here with a view of a train crossing the bridge just south of the the Tatsutaguchi Station in Kumamoto City's East Ward. I was just upstream from the Ozeki Bridge. This part of the Shirakawa can be very pretty but it's often hard to get close enough to enjoy it. I was happy to find this spot on my way back from Saturday's "Walk and Talk," which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Hi Atsuko with bamboo lights information from tonight, May 7 (Sat.)

(Douglas) A short video taken of this year's, much reduced, display of Koi no Bori over the Tsuboi river at the bridge to the Takahashi Inari shrine.
Koi No Bori , Carp Streamers across the Tsuboi River
Megumi and I usually visit the Takahashi Inari Shrine bridge over the Tsuboi River in Kumamoto to see the Koi no Bori hanging in strings across the river eve...

(Fiona) This is the meeting point for the Tatsuda-yama Walk and Talk event this afternoon from 3pm. It's about a five minute walk from the car park and just outside the fenced off Matsuri Hiroba where the Hanahaku events are taking place. If you arrive earlier you can go inside and try out the bamboo maze, handicrafts and new playground.
立田山憩いの森 公衆トイレ · Norikoshigaoka, Kita Ward, Kumamoto, 861-0000, Japan
★★★★★ · Public bathroom

Kirk with more about the violence perpetrated against students at Shugakukan. Violence is one serious problem; lies are another. At first the school said, "such violence doesn't happen here regularly." However, a survey of the students led them to admit publicly that there had been 25 such instances, includuing "stepping on a student's face"!

Kirk here with a restaurant recommendation. I'm a fan of Indian cuisine and, fortunately, we have several good choices here in Kumamoto. One is called Surya and has locations in Tatsuda (in Kumamoto City's North Ward) and Ozu. Here are the two addresses, which can be popped into Google maps to show you the location, regardless of whether or not you can read the Japanese text yourself:

(Fiona) It looks like we will have good weather for the Tatsuda-yama walking event on Saturday. It's still possible to sign up via the event page (or in the comments below). We'll meet at 3pm in the small car park in front of the toilets next to Matsuri Hiroba and walk for approximately 90 minutes. It's well worth arriving earlier in the day if you want to enjoy the Hanahaku attractions inside Matsuri Hiroba. If you're arriving by car, there are lots of staff on hand to guide you to the correct car park. It's also possible to get a free shuttle service from downtown.

Hi friends, Atsuko here.

Kirk here with some news about and comments on the 66th anniversary of the official "discovery" Minamata disease (May 1, 1956).

Kirk here with a little bit of "what foreigners think" nonsense related to なんばしよっと ('What are you doing?' in Kyushu dialects) that I wrote about yesterday. This article came up when I was looking for information about the expression. It discusses the claim that 'nanba shiyotto' sounds like 'None but shot' to us and that, when addressed to us by a policeman, we would interpret "none but shot" to mean "The only thing to do is to shoot him."
徹底検証！「なんばしよっと？」に外国人ビビる説　本当に「None but shot」と聞こえるのか｜Jタウンネット
全国に無数に存在する方言。同じ日本に関わらず、地域によってこんな言い方もあるのかと驚くものだ。日本人ですらそう思うのだから、海外から訪れた人にとってはより一層驚...

Kirk here with a photo I took in Aso today. My wife and I want late in the day so we didn't have to deal with traffic. The late afternoon light made Aso look even more beautiful that usual. We got out of the car and walked for a while to enjoy the scenery you see in this photo. You can see just a hint of the Shirakawa winding its way through the fields.

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(Fiona) Tatsuda-yama Walk and Talk Take Two!

Carlton here. Awhile back Kirk posted about the subject of Japanese signs and advertising translated ineptly into English. It‘s been a source of amusement over the years to us native English speakers.

Kirk with another Kumamoto-ben post. The other day I posted about a sign in which ここば使わす人 was used to mean ここ