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The Mainichi
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival ends with big race in Fukuoka
FUKUOKA -- The Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival finished after 15 days of fun in Fukuoka. In this famous summer event, men wear traditional "happi" coats and loincloths. They run through the city streets carrying huge floats. Each float weighs about 1 metric ton. The festival's biggest event, called "Oiyama," happened early in the morning on July 15. Many people watched and cheered as the men ran with the floats, shouting "oisa, oisa." At 4:59 a.m., a big drum sounded at Kushida Shrine. The first team, Higashi Nagare, ran into the shrine with their float and shouted "Yaa!" They circled a flag and sang a celebration song. After that, six more teams and a special decorative float entered the shrine, each five minutes apart. Then, each team took their turn running about 5 kilometers to the finish. Ryuji Umezu, 60, who helped lead the first team, said, "There was pressure, but we approached the event as we do every year," and "I want to ... work hard to make next year's Yamakasa even better." A 65-year-old Buddhist priest from Mie Prefecture saw the festival for the first time. He said, "I've never seen such a powerful festival. I could feel the spirit of it." (Japanese original by Jangrae Kim, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary festival: a special event with music, food, and fun, often every year float: a big, decorated platform carried or pulled in a festival happi coat: a short, traditional Japanese coat climax: the most exciting part
The Mainichi
18-07-2025
- Science
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: Fukuoka high school girls win AI contest with study app
FUKUOKA -- A group of high school girls in Fukuoka made a special app to help students study. Their AI club at Fukuoka Girls' Commercial High School created an app that can quickly summarize study notes and books. This project won first prize at a national AI contest in March. The club has eight members, from first to third year. They learn about AI with help from a coach at an IT company. At first, they tried to make an AI to predict disasters, but they couldn't finish it. So, they decided to solve a problem many students have: not understanding their own class notes. One student, Nene Takeshita, 17, said, "I write down what's taught in class in my notebook, but I had trouble understanding it when I looked back at it later." Many other students had the same problem. So, the club made a web app called "AI Yoyaku-kun." With this app, students can take photos of their notes or books, or make audio recordings. The app then makes a short, easy summary. It can also help with hard words and make review questions. The girls showed their app at the GEN-AI Koshien contest in Yamagata. They competed with nine other schools and won the "research-theme AI" prize. On June 24, the club visited the Fukuoka governor to share their success. The governor said they had worked hard as a team. He also said, "I want to support your efforts." The app still needs some fixes, but the students want to keep learning about AI and make the app better. (Japanese original by Keisuke Muneoka, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary summarize: to make a short, simple version of something app: a computer program, often used on phones or tablets coach: a person who teaches or helps a team contest: a competition to see who is best governor: the leader of a prefecture (area) in Japan review questions: questions to help you remember what you learned
The Mainichi
04-07-2025
- General
- The Mainichi
Residents on quake-struck southwest Japan island face tough decisions over evacuation
Residents on southwestern Japan's Akuseki Island are facing difficult decisions over whether to evacuate as earthquakes continue to shake the remote island. "Unlike weather disasters, one never knows when earthquakes will stop. The accumulated psychological fatigue of islanders must be significant," stated Genichiro Kubo, mayor of the Kagoshima Prefecture village of Toshima, with a stern expression during a press conference on the evening of July 3 in the city of Kagoshima, where the village hall is located. This came after a temblor registering lower 6 on Japan's 7-point seismic intensity scale struck on Akuseki Island, part of Toshima. The mayor added, "There are people on the island, like farmers who raise cattle, who cannot evacuate even if they want to. Not knowing how long the quakes will continue must be truly painful." The Toshima Municipal Government has decided to allow residents of Akuseki Island who wish to evacuate to leave the island and is checking the availability of accommodation in Kagoshima as potential evacuation sites. Kazunori Arikawa, a 73-year-old fisherman on the island, was at a gas station to refuel his light truck when the strong quake struck. As he stopped the vehicle, the shaking suddenly began. The truck hit a fuel pump, and Arikawa hit his head on the truck's roof. The utility poles along the road shook so violently that he thought they might fall over. "The complex vertical and horizontal shaking lasted about 20 seconds. It was a fear I had never felt before," he said. Emergency broadcasts called for evacuation to the school grounds. Arikawa returned home, picked up his wife, and headed there. It appeared that most of the islanders had gathered at the school, exchanging words of concern as the residents asked each other if they were OK. Village officials explained that those who wanted to could evacuate from the island. As Arikawa's wife is not in good health, he stated, "Evacuating from the island is difficult." The relentless quakes, occurring day and night, have pushed the residents' fatigue to their limits. "I hope there aren't any more earthquakes and things calm down quickly," he said. The area around the Tokara island chain, where Akuseki Island is located, has repeatedly experienced earthquake swarms in the past. On Dec. 9, 2021, a jolt measuring upper 5 on the intensity scale was observed on Akuseki Island, prompting 40% of the island's 75 residents at the time -- 30 people from 12 households -- to evacuate two days later. They fled to the cities of Amami and Kagoshima to stay in hotels or with relatives. As the number of earthquakes decreased, they started returning to the island after about two weeks. (Japanese original by Go Torichigai, Kagoshima Bureau; and Masanori Hirakawa and Haruna Tasaki, Kyushu News Department)
The Mainichi
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: Film tells true story of Japanese soldiers who hid in tree after war ended
FUKUOKA -- A new film tells the true story of two Japanese soldiers in World War II. The soldiers lived for two years on top of a very big tree during the war in Okinawa. They didn't know the war had already ended. The film is now showing in Okinawa and will come to other parts of Japan from July 25. One soldier was Shujun Sashida. In April 1945, near the end of the war, U.S. soldiers landed on the small island of Iejima in Okinawa. Sashida hurt his leg. He and another soldier named Shizuo Yamaguchi hid from the soldiers high up in a large tree. At night, they climbed down from the tree to find food, clothes, and water. They talked often about their hometowns and families. They thought they might be the last ones alive. Almost two years later, in 1947, the two soldiers learned the war had ended. They climbed down and met surprised local people. One local said, "You look fat! What did you eat there?" Later, Sashida went home to Uruma in Okinawa. His family grew food and worked hard after the war. He had two children before the war, then three more after he came home. Film director Kazuhiro Taira made their story into a movie. Sashida's son Mitsuru said, "I was born because my father returned home." Mitsuru, now 77, is happy about the film about his father's story. He said, "It is really amazing that they lived and came home safe." (Japanese original by Maika Hyuga, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary soldier: a person who fights in a war hometown: the town or place where you were born or grew up local: a person living in the area director: a person who makes a movie film: another word for movie amazing: very surprising and wonderful
The Mainichi
24-06-2025
- General
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: Fukuoka remembers bombing that killed over 1,000 people 80 years ago
FUKUOKA -- About 110 people met at Fukuoka city hall on June 19. They came to remember a big bombing that happened in Fukuoka 80 years ago. That bombing killed or hurt more than 1,000 people in the city. On the night of June 19, 1945, many American planes dropped bombs on the city. These bombs caused big fires. Many buildings and homes burned. About 1,000 people died or went missing. Many people tried to hide in the basement of a building used as a bank. But that night, bombs made the building lose electric power. Because of that, doors in the basement could not open, and 63 people who could not leave died there from heat and fire. Yoshitaka Mizobe, now 85 years old, came to this year's memorial. He was a child in Fukuoka at the time. He and family members often hid from bombs in the bank's basement. On the bombing night, after dinner, they went into the basement once, then came out again. Soon after that, an air raid happened. They wanted to go back in, but a fireman said, "You cannot go inside now." His mother led the family away from the fires, so they stayed alive. Yoshitaka's father, Kahei, was not there because he was fighting in the war on Guadalcanal, an island far from Japan. Sadly, he died at age 33 in the fighting. Yoshitaka now often visits schools to tell children what happened. He wants young people to understand how terrible war is. At the memorial, Yoshitaka said, "War can never be right. Sad events like this must not happen again." He added, "Even now, wars happen and take many lives. We must talk about these sad experiences to younger people." (Japanese original by Shizuka Takebayashi, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary bombing: when bombs are dropped during war or fighting memorial: a special event or place to remember people who have died basement: a room under the ground, usually below a building air raid: when airplanes drop bombs from the sky
