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Kirk here with some Kumamon news. I looked but couldn't find the complete list of the new images.
New official images show beloved Japanese mascot Kumamon making the most of the summer - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- The Kumamoto Prefectural Government has unveiled 29 new illustrations and logos featuring the prefecture's rotund bear mascot Kumamon.

William Shirakawa is quite diverse despite its short length, from its silent birth in the springs of Aso to its broad flow into Ariake Sea. A delightful area many overlook is its passage through Nishihara Mura, where a beautiful waterfall, Shiroito ("White Thread"), cascades 20 meters down volcanic rock hundreds of thousands of years old.
Volcanic columns formed when lava cooled and solidified are apparent. The waterfall has been selected as one of the 100 best waters in Kumamoto Prefecture. Heavily forested, the spot is an oasis from summer heat, is not too far from the city, and embodies the three symbols of Kumamoto: red, from lava; green, from forest; and blue, from water. A pool at the fall's foot allows for a dip, though be considerate of photographers.
NOTE: Douglas Bruce comments below on the course of the river following the falls: it is the "Taki river which flows into the Kiyama river. The Kiyama river becomes the Futa river for a short stretch and then retakes the name of Kiyama river. The Kiyama river flows on into the Kaze river, which passes the southern end of Ezu lake. Finally the Kaze river joins the Midorikawa and then flows into the Ariake sea." Thank you, Douglas.
This useful site contains many photos and videos of the area:
https://nishiharakanko.com/shiraitonotaki/

Japan urges its young people to drink more to boost economy
The government's tax agency is encouraging a new generation of alcohol drinkers.

William The crayfish might hold a record for record number of names (crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mudbugs, baybugs, yabbies). I was fortunate to have an elementary school friend whose mother was Cajun - straight from Louisiana! - and the crawdads we caught in the creek she put into a tank for a few days, feeding them with cornstarch to clean out their inners, and then: Oh, my!
The species is known in Japanese as "zarigani." I asked my wife why, and she didn't know; my etymological dictionaries provided no help. Perhaps "zari" is related to "jari," so "gravel crab." While Japan has a few native species living in Tohoku, all those in Kumamoto are descendants of those imported from America in the 1930s in what turned out to be a misguided effort to provide income for farmers: though most locals love ocean crustaceans, they recoil at crayfish as they are associated with water filth, which is not true: crayfish only thrive in fresh water and help maintain its state by consuming decomposing matter.
They abound in Lake Ezu, where they're caught by children and either tortured on site or taken home or to school science class, but never eaten. Photo courtesy of Kumamoto YMCA.
They are delicious. If you go hunting (most bodies of water with mud banks should harbor them) and get lucky, here is a good recipe: https://louisianafishfry.com/recipes/official-crawfish-boil-recipe/

Kirk here with a question about the future of this page. Recently, I've enjoyed posts on the "Engrish in Japan" group. Anyone can publish posts to this group but they are all moderated. I recently tried to publish a photo I had taken of some rather strange English I saw in the Asahi Shimbun but it wasn't accepted. That's OK because my post would have been a bit different from typical posts in that group and I think the editots just want to keep a tight focus. But, thinking about "Engrish in Japan" made me consider whether this page should be more like that group.
Things have been pretty peaceful here recently so part of me also thinks that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" may be the best policy. Still, I wonder if any of you have any thoughts or preferences one way or the other.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/EngrishInJapan

Kirk here with some information about free COVID-19 antigen test kits available in Kumamoto.
The situation is pretty confusing because Kumamoto City and Kumamoto Prefecture have separate programs with completely different rules. Moreover, they don't refer to each other on their web pages so I had to do some detective work to figure out that there are actually two completely different programs. In regard to the city's program here's a page in English (machine translation):
https://www.city.kumamoto.jp.e.fm.hp.transer.com/hpKiji/pub/detail.aspx?c_id=5&id=43827&class_set_id=2&class_id=128
The original Japanese is here:
https://www.city.kumamoto.jp/hpKiji/pub/detail.aspx?c_id=5&id=43827&class_set_id=2&class_id=128
For this one, you need to be between 16 and 39 years of age and have symptoms.
Here's a translation of the prefecture's page:
https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp.e.qp.hp.transer.com/soshiki/30/120272.html
And the original Japanese:
https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/soshiki/30/120272.html
For this one, you must NOT have symptoms (go figure) but there's basically no age limit.
Both of the English translations are pretty awful so I'd recommend going to the Japanese and manually checking the content with DeepL:
https://www.deepl.com/translator
I think both the city and the prefecture are pretty darn lame when it comes to promoting new programs in a way that people can understand. I saw a TV segment on RKK about few people taking advantage of the city's new program:
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/rkk/129420
This made me hesitate to even post about this (the linguist hurdle compound confusion and difficulty) but I thought some people might want a heads up about the new system.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/05/national/antigen-test-kits-explainer/
How to self-test for COVID in Japan, and which antigen kits to use
Two kinds of antigen test kits are available, but most municipalities only accept those identified as being for medical use. Here's a guide on where and how to get them.

Kirk with an inquiry about an ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist (otorhinolaryngologist or 耳鼻科 [jibika] in Japanese). There seems to be an ENT specialist in Kumamoto who studied at the University of Michigan and speaks English quite well. Does anyone know who that might be?
P.S. The photo is just a generic jibika image from the web -- this is not the guy.

(Douglas) It is interesting to see the latest headlines from Japan being shown on the BBC news.
I guess some of you will be taking part in the campaign! 😃
Japan urges its young people to drink more to boost economy
The government's tax agency is encouraging a new generation of alcohol drinkers.

Kirk here. Sorry for the alarmist headline but we have a new record. I saw something on RKK that indicates that hospital beds in Kumamoto are filling up but I couldn't find good verification in a text article. Nonetheless, I'd recommend taking even more care than normal to stay healthy and avoid unnecessary hospitalization until this settles down.
P.S. Though I don't want to take up a hospital bed myself, I'm still interested in visiting a hospital to donate blood because I suspect that this is a time when such donation may be especially appreciated. Who knows, I may even get an extra juice box! ;) (Actually, the little presents they give to those who donate can be pretty nice -- even better than a juice box. Last time, I got a portable phone recharger!)
【速報】過去最多感染者数更新　新型コロナ　熊本県新たに 5684人感染確認　死者 1人 　8月18日発表 | 熊本のニュース｜RKK熊本放送
熊本県は8月18日 木曜日、過去最多 5684人の新型コロナウイルス感染を確認したと発表。（先週の木曜日は3745人）熊本市　　　3061人熊本市以外　2623人死者　1人

Kirk here suggesting that those who are able consider donating blood. The Japanese-language news report I'm appending to this post says that August and February are normally slow months for blood donation and that the most recent wave of infections we are experiencing is causing an additional reduction in donations. The image has some suggestions about where to donate in Kumamoto City but I'm sure that hospitals in other parts of the prefecture must be accepting donations too. If you need help finding an appropriate place to donate, let me know.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/d7520e1ac03c27f109f3cf6979bddf791cf745a6

Kirk here, following up on William's post about the castle. William mentioned that, with the dark sky as background, the castle keeps in the photo he shared reminded him of Darth Vadar:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/pfbid0KWReqBXVENeZqqEbmD72N4vrbqKiLXq7qinTkCb5fateFXNU8KDBA7aGXpxCQ2rpl
I immediately saw the resemblance and was prompted to start playing with my photo editing software. The image you see is the result. That made me wonder if this might be more than a coincidence. I've read an article about how Darth Vadar's helmet was inspired by one worn by Date Masamune of modern-day Sendai:
https://nipponrama.com/date-masamune-samurai-darth-vader/
I've never seen any indication that the mouth on the helmet has roots in Japanese castle design but it's seems plausible to me that designers flipping through images from 15th century Japan might have borrowed part of the design of the helmet from castle architecture.

William Yagi-sensei with an interesting perspective of our castle. Looks a bit like Darth Vader & Son.
The KKR Hotel (which has a wonderful tea room in the lobby and patio) area offers interesting perspectives of the castle with its steepest, tallest walls as well as the Kumamoto Art Museum Annex and the Traditional Arts and Crafts Museum, the latter definitely worth a visit. The entire area used to be within the castle walls. If you poke about east (to the right, downhill) a bit, you can find remnants of castle wall and a portion of old moat. http://www.kkr-hotel-kumamoto.com/

Kirk here with some COVID-19 stats. Today, the prefecture set a new record for new cases in a single day: 5,157 (Wednesday, August 17th). Though the current variant tends to be less lethal than previous ones, the high infection rate is leading to a spike in deaths. Today there were 11 deaths in Kumamoto and 286 nationally. To put that in perspective please look at the attached image. Japan has surpassed the current death rate per million in the U.S. and the current wave may be close to outstripping the number of deaths from the previous wave.
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/127194?display=1
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases

William Much has been said about Kumamoto being the only major municipality to provide 100% artisanal water. My older sister made me buy bottled water at the combini and, when the manager scolded me, I said, "Yeah, well, she's from LA, Boston, and Baltimore respectively, so give her a break. (Plus, she's older than me.)"
Words do not do justice. Behold actual artesian water intake pumps whose water flow directly to your taps. Apparently, the prefecture operates 98 such wells across the city. Whether you're cooking, brushing your teeth, or flushing the toilet, this is the extravagant substance you are blessed with. (Photos from Prefectural Waterworks - love the bottom photo clearly showing the water gushing up to enter the intake pipe).

Kirk here. Kyushu Gakuin plays their third game in the series tomorrow (Thursday, the 18th) at 3:30 in the afternoon. The will play against Seiko Gakuin of Fukushima. Thus, Kumamoto and Fukushima, two places known for big earthquakes that have hit in the 21st century, will compete to advance to the semifinals. Seiko Gakuin is a school that has a history of doing well in the Koshien Tournament:
https://office-morioka.com/h_baseball/seiseki/seiko_gakuin.html
Schedule screenshot taken from here:　
https://www.hanshin.co.jp/koshien/highschool/summer2022/schedule.html

Waterman: Where/how to get 新型コロナウイルス感染症に関する自宅療養証明書 after ending home recovery?

Kirk here. Kyushu Gakuin plays their second game today (against Tochigi) starting at about 10:30:
10:30　第2試合(3回戦)
九州学院（熊本）　－　国学院栃木（栃木）
https://www.baseballchannel.jp/etc/132610/3/
I'll be watching on the web here:
https://vk.sportsbull.jp/koshien/
【夏の甲子園2022】試合日程スケジュール 組み合わせ一覧｜第104回全国高校野球選手権大会 | ベースボールチャンネル - Part 3
第104回全国高等学校野球選手権大会が2022年（令和4年）8月6日から17日間、阪神甲子園球場（兵庫県西宮市）で行われる。全国47都道府県の49代表校（北海道・東京は2校）が出場し、夏・王者をかけて熱戦を繰り広げる。試合....

William "Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Greek: Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν), was a Greek-Irish-Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the West," Wikipedia notes. His Japanese name was Koizumi Yakumo (小泉 八雲) .... His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things."
In 1891, Hearn obtained teaching position in Kumamoto, at the Fifth High Middle School (a predecessor of Kumamoto University), where he produced many of his most famous works.
He was particularly interested in Japanese folk tales, which, fortunately for posterity as most were oral stories, he noted down. Many of these were ghost stories. As the Japanese ghost season coincides with Obon (rather than the west's Halloween), which is now, this would be a good time to familiarize yourself with them.
His works have fallen out of copyright so are available for free at Project Gutenberg: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Lafcadio+Hearn&submit_search=Go%21 "In Ghostly Japan" is a favorite of mine.

(Fiona) The news of the attack on Salman Rushdie is not directly relevant to Kumamoto of course, but as one of the editors here at Kumamoto-i it struck a chord with me. Our diverse readership extends to a few thousand people with an interest in Kumamoto, and it's inevitable that some posts will offend or annoy. Our remit at Kumamoto-i is to provide useful and interesting information about this region, but occasionally we veer off track or facts need correcting. Sometimes we receive requests that news articles be suppressed and posts taken down as they are deemed to have offended sensitive readers. I hope that we will always strive to uphold the values of tolerance and freedom of expression, including of course the right to reply and express opinions in the comments.

William The lovely town of Shisui is not the place one would stop at (even more go to) other than to visit the Michi no Eki Melon Dome. Work took me through the area countless times, yet I had no idea of its history as host to the Army Kikuchi Airfield. Next time I visit, I will view it through different eyes. Kumanichi reports on this: https://kumanichi.com/articles/759215
In 2008, the "Association to pass on the war legacy of Hanafusa (Kikuchi) Airfield to the future (花房（菊池）飛行場の戦争遺産を未来につたえる会)" was established. Their website is here: http://ans0924.blog.fc2.com/ Perhaps contacting them before visiting will result in a bilingual tour.
Pictured below is Yasushi Kurasawa (101), a resident of Shisui, who says, "(This water tower) is a living witness to our history, standing up to the fires of war and sustaining our lives even after. I want to leave it to future generations as a symbol of peace and recovery."