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REGISTRATION FOR INFORMAL ZOOM CHAT.
Hello there,
Here is the invitation to the Informal Zoom Chat.
When: Apr 24, 2022 11:00 AM Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
You must register in advance for this meeting.
The meeting is limited to myself, Kirk and 6 other registrants.
Please make sure that you will be able to attend before registering.
Register at the following url:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkdeiopjsqG9G6imN9NFnTOkSTJvxz9hbu
After registering successfully, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
If you are unsuccessful, but would like to join future Informal chats, please send me an email ( [email protected] ) and I will add you to a waiting list.
Regards
Douglas
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Getting to know You. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Kirk here, thinking "learn something everyday" because, even after running this page for a long time, I still keep finding stuff I don't know about Kumamoto. Today I learned that Kumamoto has a local organization to promote world peace and that each year they chose a high school student to be their "Peace Ambassador." This year it was FUKUHARA An (pictured) of Kyushu Gakuin High School. She (and others?) collected signatures in favor of the abolition of nuclear weapons that, if it hadn't been for COVID-19, she would have delivered in person to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
The TV segment I saw can be found here:
https://rkk.jp/news/index.php?id=NS003202204071759500111
(The screenshot is from this.)
An article in Japanese about Ms. Fukuhara that is on the Kyushu Gakuen websited (Japanese-language only, unfortunately) is here:
https://kyugaku.ed.jp/hs/news/2021/05/2-24.php
And the website of the "Kumamoto Organization of Peace Ambassadors" (my unofficial translation of 平和大使協議会) can be found here:
http://3752906peace.org/index.html
Peace!

William Our friend Greg has provided a job listing:
Freedom English School, located in Kamitori and Suizenji in Kumamoto City, is seeking an English teacher for a full-time position starting in July.
Applicants should be comfortable teaching children of all ages, ranging from kindergarten age through to Junior High School students. Experience is preferred, but not essential for the correct candidate. Pre-employment and on-the-job training will be provided.
We offer a competitive financial package - details of which will be provided on request - and an excellent working environment. If you are interested in joining our growing teaching team and would like to find out more information, please contact Greg Howes at [email protected] or 096-322-7100.

William Today is "castle day" (4/6 - しろく- okay, ya gotta be a castle nerd to get this). Most who visit the castle only see the main keep and its adjacent Ninomaru park. Other areas, particularly to the southwest - head to 三の丸 and venture from there - are quiet, mostly unvisited, eternally evoking the grand aspirations of the castle's remains.
If you've time and knees (lotta stairs at varying angles), a walkaround is recommended.

William As a newbie to Kumamoto, I'd chosen a campsite near Yabe when an experienced resident cautioned: "If it rains, you will die." I moved camp.
Historical memory is of great value. Arroyos abound.
Science helps too. Kumamoto Prefecture has created a new "inundation estimation area map" based on the assumption of a "thousand year rainfall," which meteorologists suggest may occur quite more frequently. Shirakawa has been widened and fortified to deal with this, but lower-lying areas in Kumamoto are at the mercy of nature. Learn potential dangers near you and how to prepare and respond.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/614595

Kirk here, posting a photo I took almost a month ago near the Prefectural Building (Kencho). It is of a monument to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly's 2001 resolution (in March, before 9/11) calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the promotion of world peace. Personally, I strongly agree that nuclear weapons are accidents waiting to happen and that we human beings need to do what we can to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons before they are used again. I was slightly surprised, though, that Kumamoto's government had passed such a resolution. It's my impression that Kumamoto tends to be rather conservative (strong support for the LDP, etc.). As many of you probably know the national leadership of the LDP (including the current Prime Minister, who is from Hiroshima) have not been willing to take the risk of upsetting the United States by signing the UN's treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Here's a list of current signers:
https://treaties.unoda.org/t/tpnw
So, it seems that the Kumamoto government is more progressive on this issue. In 2009, the prefecture called upon the national government to put pressure on the U.S., China, and Russia (and other nuclear powers) to more toward the abolition of nuclear weapons:
https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/59552.pdf
Of course, current events make the need to get rid of nukes all that much clearer. I don't think the continuation of humanity can be trusted to the sanity of whatever hypermasculine character happens to be at the head of a country that has nuclear weapons.

Mainichi . . . er, I mean Kirk here with a followup to William's post about Tsujunkyo.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220325/p2a/00m/0na/045000c
And here's William's post:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/7075707569169281
168-yr-old Japanese aqueduct to open for visitors for 1st time since 2016 Kumamoto quake - The Mainichi
KUMAMOTO -- Tsujun Bridge, a stone aqueduct in the southwestern Japan town of Yamato, Kumamoto Prefecture, is slated to reopen to the public on April

Informal Zoom Chat
A few weeks ago I asked Kirk if he would be interested in joining me in an experiment with Zoom.
I was curious to see what sort of positive outcome we could get by chatting with a few of Kumamoto-International's members.
Personally, I am negatively inclined to any so-called "social" media, and keep my presence there to a minimum.
However, when I lived in Sweden many years ago,I joined the newly started Swedish creation - Skype. In those days there was no such phrase as "social-media". Since Microsoft acquired Skype and then proceeded to kill it off, I eventually moved to Zoom.
There is a lot to be gained by communicating with people in a real-time face-to-face environment. There are less misunderstandings and any that do arise can be quickly clarified.
But I ramble on too much....
On Friday (8th), I will post the url to a sign-up page for the Informal Zoom Chat, which will take place on Sunday, 24th April at 11.00am.
Apart from myself and Kirk, there will only be 6 other places available.
If you are interested in taking part in the meeting, think carefully and make sure that you can attend on that date.
Then follow the url and register for the meeting.
If you are too late in registering, but would like to have a chance to attend a future meeting, contact me and I will add you to a waiting list.
Kirk and I are hoping that we will get to know six of Kumamoto-International's members better by giving us a chance to communicate on a more convivial level. It should be a taken as a chance to meet the person behind the posts!
Regards
Douglas

William Firefly season has arrived. To call the firefly a beetle (which it is) is to call the lowriders of my native Los Angeles cars (which they are): they've just been incredibly tweaked.
Warning: Content below may be disturbing to some readers
Firefly larvae are specialized predators which feed on other larvae, snails, and slugs. They have evolved mandibles which deliver digestive fluids directly to their tummies from their prey. Yikes. Slugs.
When mating season comes, the males must find females within the two or so days allotted to them so fly around flashing in bioluminescence "Let's have sex!," and the females, who generally don't fly, having found an appropriate place to lay eggs, respond with a gentle bioluminescent wink. They then get it on.
The larva require very clean water both for their own health and that of their prey. As such, firefly habitats have been greatly reduced. Kumamoto, famous for its spring water, remains a major habitat. Google "熊本蛍マップ" to find a likely sighting spot near you, or click on this link: https://kumamoto.guide/seasons/firefly/ . (One such place is the garden behind the city library at Ezuko).
Below: Firefly female; males hoping to get lucky.

Kirk with some information on the "Green Vision Expo" (in Japanese this is the くまもと 花とみどり の 博覧会 or くまもと花博 [Kumamoto Hanahaku] for short).
First, the English you see is from the following address:
https://kumaryokkafair.com/assets/ryokkafair_outline_en.pdf
It's nicely done but, unfortunately, it seems that this one pdf is all there is. So, if you want to take advantage of the free shuttles between the three areas (City Center, Waterside, and Machiyama [Tatsutayama]), you need to look at the Japanese website. The image you see is from an RKK segment that ran today. It seems that the city is spending 16 million yen (about $130,000 USD) to pay for free transportation that very few people are using. I can't translate all of the information on the Japanese page but I can tell you that there are schedules and information there in Japanese about how to get free rides (via taxis in some cases!!) between the venues. Check out the "access" (アクセス) information on this site:
https://kumaryokkafair.com
And, I learned about the free 20-minute taxi rides from downtown to Tatsutayama here:
https://rkk.jp/news/index.php?id=NS003202204041702090111
Finally, one thought about name confusion: I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few Japanese people who were asked about the "Green Vision Expo" failed to realize that it was the English term for "Hanahaku." Translations help us English speakers understand the gist of an event, even if we don't understand Japanese, but lack of a common event name (even in parentheses would be enough) can cause communication problems.

Kirk here feeling a bit surprised by the popularity of books on Kumamoto dialect (熊本弁). When I posted about "atozeki" here, it turned out to be one of my most popular posts:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/6666171880122854
It seems that lots of Japanese readers also have a fondness for Kumamoto dialect: This series is made up of three books!
Two of them can be found on Amazon but the third (in gold) is new and so you need to look on the Kumanichi site:
https://www.kumanichi-sv.co.jp/booksinfo/bookinfo/まっだしでヨカですか%E3%80%80熊本弁コージ苑ファイナ/
At least one other book about the dialect is available on Amazon and still others may have been published in the past.

William　　Reading Kirk's post about Suizenji brought to mind the cause of the many springs in Kumamoto. Simply: we get much rain, particularly in the mountains. The water sinks through the volcanic soil and seismic cracks of both Aso and Kimpo into a gigantic artisanal reservoir which flows towards the Kumamoto alluvial fan, where a 30,000 year old underlaying layer of basalt covered by a thin layer of sediment forces the water to the surface. Kumamoto is the only city in Japan whose entire water supply is artisanal (that is, from wells).
Hailing from California, where water is the most valuable commodity, I appreciate this very much.
A couple of images of where your oh-so tasty Kumamoto water comes from, and an introduction to the Suizenji-Ezuko Spring Group:
https://www.city.kumamoto.jp/kankyo/hpkiji/pub/detail.aspx?c_id=5&id=20470
https://www.web-gis.jp/GM1000/LandMap/LandMap_19_009.html

Kirk here reporting that it was very pleasant today in Suizenji. My wife and I paid just 1,000 yen each to get unlimited access for a year -- a good deal I think, especially if you don't live very far away and like to walk.

William Kumanichi has an informative article on the revitalization of downtown (Japanese, but Google Translate is your friend, so I have done so and pasted it below, unedited). The article discusses the new Kumamoto Castle Hall (熊本城ホール), located at Sakuramachi; a link to the facility is below. All of this activity is attributed to what is termed the "straw affect", which apparently is a result of improved transportation (in this case, the Shinkansen Kumamoto Station) resulting in business relocating to that hub. On the positive side, Kumamotoites need no longer travel to Fukuoka for good shopping; on the other, these new shopping facilities siphon off business from neighboring areas, including Kamitori and Shimotori. Pictured at bottom: Kumamoto Castle Hall and a map of the planned revitalization area.
Kumamoto Castle Hall site: https://www.kumamoto-jo-hall.jp/
Kumanichi article: https://kumanichi.com/articles/611657
(From the Kumanichi)
Kumamoto City celebrated its 10th anniversary on the 1st, becoming a government-designated city in April 2012. How has the prefectural capital, which has come to occupy one of the 20 "big cities" nationwide, promoted town development under the new system such as the authority transferred from the prefecture and the administrative districts? Report on the 10-year history and changes in the city.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
"If there is a plaza, the city will be lively." Saya Kimura (29), who visited from Kita Ward, smiled at the Hanabata Square venue (Chuo Ward) of the "National Urban Greening Fair" held in Kumamoto City. The 1.5-hectare plaza was developed by the city for about 2.4 billion yen as a place for citizens and tourists to interact, and became available in the fall of last year. Katori Yokoo, a 72-year-old housewife from Higashi Ward, hopes that the new coronavirus will settle down quickly and that many people from all over the country will come.
■ Straw phenomenon ■
Behind Kumamoto City's aim to become an ordinance-designated city, there was a sense of crisis about the "straw phenomenon" in which people, goods, and money were absorbed by other cities due to the opening of the entire Kyushu Shinkansen line. The aim was to be a "city of choice" in terms of tourism and economy. In order to enhance the city's comprehensive strength, the city has promoted multiple development projects in collaboration with the public and private sectors.
The redevelopment of Sakuramachi and Hanabata districts in Chuo Ward was particularly emphasized as the "face of the city". Kyushu Sangyo Kotsu Holdings (HD)'s commercial complex "Sakuramachi Kumamoto" opened in September 2019 in the area adjacent to the plaza and became one of Kumamoto's landmarks. Of the total project cost of about 79 billion yen for the redevelopment building including the bus terminal, the city paid 12.6 billion yen including half the national subsidy.
The large-scale customer attraction facility "Kumamoto Castle Hall" in the redevelopment building is a new base for tourism strategies that attract academic societies and international conferences. After completion, the city bought it separately for about 30 billion yen.
On the other hand, around JR Kumamoto Station in Nishi-ku, the prefecture has elevated the conventional line along with the development of the Shinkansen. Condominiums, hotels, national joint government buildings, etc. were built, and in April last year, JR Kyushu's commercial facility "Amu Plaza Kumamoto", which can be said to be a complete finish, opened. Along with the Shirakawaguchi station square, where the city cost about 9.6 billion yen, the "entrance" of the prefectural capital, which had a lonely impression, has been transformed into an orderly subcenter.
■ Bitter start ■
However, the creation of liveliness through redevelopment did not go as planned due to the corona. The number of visitors to Sakuramachi in the first year was about 13 million, which is almost half of the pre-opening target of 25 million. Keisuke Mori, president of Kyushu Sangyo HD, complains, "Due to the drastic decrease in tourists and refraining from going out, we could not take advantage of the location near Kumamoto Castle and the bus terminal."
Kumamoto Castle Hall was also closed and reservations were canceled one after another, resulting in a deficit of nearly 150 million yen in FY2009 (as of the end of December). It was a bitter start for the city to make up for the deficit to the designated manager who runs the hall.
On the other hand, there is also the aspect that the "city of choice" has progressed. Due to the effect of the Shinkansen, the number of annual guests in the city increased by 720,000 from 10 years before the opening of the Shinkansen to 19 years before the Corona disaster. The number of business locations, which was 2 in FY2011 before the government-designated city, increased to 16 in FY2012, and has remained in the 10s per year since then.
■ Machinaka reproduction ■
Following the Sakuramachi / Hanabata district, we will also work to improve the attractiveness of the central area. The city has started the "Machinaka Revitalization Project", which encourages the rebuilding of dilapidated buildings through deregulation and financial support, mainly in the Shimotori area. With similar efforts, Fukuoka City's "Tenjin Big Bang" is also conscious of the move, aiming to rebuild 100 projects by FY2017.
Urban development in Kumamoto City has been accelerated by the Shinkansen and government-designated cities. Hideki Miyano, General Manager of the Business Cooperation Department of the Regional Economic Research Institute (the same city), said, "Amid the declining population and competition between cities, coexistence with Fukuoka will continue to be an issue for Kumamoto. Need to increase. "

William Opinions regarding zoos differ both interspecies and intraspecies, such as this hypothetical conversation:
"Bob! Howzit feel to be a caged orangutan again this mornin'?" "No complaints. mate, 'cept I can't feel me leg." "That's yer arm ya'got holda there, Bob." "Crickey! Good on ya - thought a jaguar had gone an' eaten me leg right off."
Good zoos offer zoological education at the primary and professional levels and through inter-zoo exchanges promote biodiversity. Plus, inmates don't have to worry about jaguars.
Conversely, zoos are prisons which deprive wildlife from the environment to which tens of thousands of years of genetic memory have such accustomed them.
Kumamoto Zoo has announced a male chimpanzette born to Marc (42) and Milk (15 - and don't prejudge that age gap: it's the way chimps swing), yet to be named. Milk has taken the child to her breast; promisingly, both parents seem to be actively engaged in childrearing. This chimpanzee birth is the zoo's third as part of the zoo's breading program, following that of Milk's first child in December 2008, who died of weakness the same day, and a birth recorded in 1979, who died after a few months.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/612082

William According to the Kumanichi evening edition, Godzilla has been rampaging around downtown Kumamoto City since the morning of 4/1. Mayor Ohnishi has issued a statement: "Sometimes, the only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them."
Video at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyFU8HL6fHI

Kirk here with a little illustration I made up after I read Fiona's post, which is here, by way:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/7092504690822902
I hadn't heard of dekopon being called "Sumo oranges" but I was aware that they are also known as Shiranui. Wikipedia says that "Shiranui (不知火, unknown fire, Shiranuhi in the historical kana orthography) is an atmospheric ghost light" that appears in the Ariake Sea off Yatsushiro at certain times of the year.
I thought that "Sumo orange" might make a cute character so I did an image search but didn't find anything. Hence, my do-it-yourself version. :)

William I don't collect a lot of things. Hats, sure, particularly those belonging to unusual ethnic groups, and coins of course. And clocks. I've got about a dozen, all sleeping at that instant when I removed their batteries - or their batteries removed themselves. One of them is frozen at 9:26, the time when the first Kumamoto quake jiggled the clock battery free. It's good to see I'm not alone in my hobby. Kumanichi reports on such a man.
https://kumanichi.com/articles/610294

Fiona here with some citrus news. Apparently the lowly dekopon, also known as a shiranui (the name of a town in Kumamoto prefecture) is being rebranded as a Sumo orange in the US and selling in huge quantities thanks to a viral TikTok video.
How one determined Trader Joes shopper made this ugly orange go viral
Felt the unexpected urge to buy a large, dimply orange lately? Thank the Sumo orange evangelist of Trader Joe’s – and TikTok

Kirk here with some news about a new position I’ve been given. In recognition of my many years of service to the local community and in view of the knowledge I have accumulated about Kumamoto during that period, RKK has designated me as their “Senior Foreign Correspondent” (主任外国人特派員) and set aside a three-minute slot for me to express my views on local events and issues. I recorded my first session the other day in which I proposed that the name “Kumamoto” be changed to “Voltomoto” and that Kumamon be replaced by an electric eel called “Voltomon.” I know, I know . . . this was my “April fools” post last year (see URL below) — but the more I thought about it, the better the idea started to seem to me, so I thought I’d make the proposal for real this time.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/5139433589463365
I asked about when my next column was scheduled to be recorded and aired and they said something about freezing temperatures in a fiery inferno. Must be some kind of media lingo or something. I’ll let you know when I hear back from them.
By the way, they originally wanted to call my column “青い目から見た . . .” (“A blue-eyed perspective on . . .”) but I said “Hey! Look at my eyes! They’re green!” Well, “hazel” really, but I didn’t know how to say that in Japanese. At any rate, that’s why the column is titled “緑の目から見た熊本” (“A green-eyed perspective on Kumamoto”). After I get the name of this place changed to “Voltomoto” I’m going do a column about how everything in Kumamoto looks green to me — you know, because I have green eyes.
Happy April 1st!