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(Fiona) After meeting a few Kumamoto-i members on a walk in Tatsuda-yama yesterday, we talked about making an event of it....the Kumamoto-i Walk and Talk! Tatsuda-yama has lots of walking trails, ranging from gentle to mildly strenuous, and now is a great season to explore it, before it gets too hot and the mosquitoes are out in force. It's also one of the locations of the Green Vision Expo and currently offers free shuttle trips to the area from downtown Kumamoto.

Kirk here. The caption reads "A woman lights a lantern at temporary housing in the Kumamoto Prefecture town of Mashiki on April 14, 2022, the sixth anniversary of two devastating earthquakes in the southwestern Japan prefecture. A total of 276 people were killed in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures in the quakes on April 14 and 16, 2016. (Kyodo)"

William It was the quakes that turned Kirk's hobby into a full-fledged venture: this site. For some, the quakes were a seminal event; new arrivals who did not experience them may have noticed the scars. If you were here during that time, please share your stories below. They may be helpful for the next one.

Kirk here with something I posted last year. Apologies to those of you who have already seen this.

William Sometimes little things go under the nose - like those little sprinkles on your rice, called "furikake" (ふりかけ). Turns out the ubiquitous sprinkle was invented by a Kumamoto guy, To supplement the calcium-deficient diet of the time, the Kumamoto pharmacist Sueyoshi Yoshimaru came up with the simple idea of grinding fish bones into powder and sprinkling it over rice. So, in addition to karashirenkon and basashi, we've got that going for us, culinary-wise.

William This post is not Kumamoto-specific but may nonetheless benefit our home.

Kirk here with a video (in English) from NHK about the 6th anniversary of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes:
Kumamoto marks 6 years since major quakes | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
Recovery work is still ongoing six years after a series of strong earthquakes hit the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto.

Kirk here with a little commemoration of the 6th anniversary of the beginning of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. One obvious role for this page during the disaster was to provide information for English-speaking people who were here in Kumamoto. Another, rather unexpected, role we wound up playing was providing information to people who were not here but wanted to know what was going on. In that regard we got lots of inquiries from foreign media. Among them was the BBC. William was kind enough to try to relay the inquiry from them to me but I'm glad that he was able to take the interview when I failed to respond quickly enough.

Kirk here with a share from Kuma Visit. I only occasionally get around to sharing posts from Kuma Visit and other useful pages. So, if you like what you see, be sure to "like" the page. ;)

Kirk here, copying and pasting. One way in which I look for stuff to post to this page is to search Google news for "Kumamoto." Today, that led me, in a round about sort of way, to this information about a major golf touranament that will be held here this weekend. I don't know how easy or difficult (cheap or expensive) it might be to watch the stars of women's golf play in person, but, if you're a fan, you might want to check it out:

Kirk here was some news about Jikei Hospital's "baby hatch." The circumstances that led to this person's being left at the hospital are tragic but I'm glad to learn that he is doing well.
15 years after being left in 'baby hatch,' Japan teen embraces happiness with foster family - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- This May will mark 15 years since Jikei Hospital in this southwest Japan city established a

Kirk with some Kumamoto-Ukraine news. Reading the article made me wonder how best to contribute (that is, give money) to Ukraine. Any ideas?
17-yr-old in Japan raises money for Ukraine after cousin forced to flee country - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- A high school student here whose cousin evacuated from Ukraine days before Russia invaded has started a humanitarian aid fundraising campa

Kirk here with an article about how Oguni-machi is cooperating with a company called Asteria to manage its forests more effectively. Asteria seems to have a platform that makes it possible for lay people to build simple apps that assist in recording and managing data. The article doesn't use the term, but I think such platforms are generally referred to as no-code or low-code platforms.
Town, company team up to achieve SDGs in Kumamoto
While the United Nations sustainable development goals present the diverse challenges the world faces, it is important that companies and municipalities ex

Kirk here with some information on opportunities to study Japanese in Kumamoto City. Today, I received the following information in an email from the Kumamoto International Foundation:

William Culinary-wise, Kumamoto hits that sweet spot between mountain and sea. Likely no finer cuisine exists in Japan. My wife hails from the mountains of Yabe, but her grandfather was a fishmonger (her mother was the first female in Yabe to obtain a drivers license so that she could travel to Tasaki Market to buy fish.)

William Support our local artists - tonight!:

William Running does odd things to one's mind, with a singular goal focused. Kumamon inexplicably showing up was likely unappreciated.

William Noyaki (野焼) - the burning of undergrowth - is a periodic event which prevents Aso from becoming a forest - and allows for these:

Megumi and I (Douglas) have had our eye on this area since last autumn. About a week ago we drove there to film and photograph the blossoming cherry trees.
Early April over the Tateoka and Hanazono ponds to the south o...
Early April over the Tateoka and Hanazono ponds to the south of Kumamoto City, Japan

Kirk here with a detailed and informative article about recent Minamata disease court decisions:
Court blocks bid by 7 for Minamata disease recognition | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
KUMAMOTO--The district court here March 30 ruled against seven people seeking official recognition as Minamata disease patients, thereby depriving them of eligibility to receive state assistance for their medical treatment.