Tweet of the Week #117: Kumamoto Castle Wall Restoration Complete!

At last, the restored Kumamoto Castle has recovered its former glory. Free from scaffolding, one of Japan’s most beautiful castles now stands proud, a symbol of the locals’ unwavering strength. 

Kumamoto Castle is known as the “castle of ginkgo nuts” for a ginko tree planted during its construction in 1600. The current castle is a reconstruction built in 1960, but it was heavily damaged after a terrible earthquake in 2016.

The earthquake caused 80 meters of the castle’s Nagabei Wall to collapse. The destruction of the city’s jewel was a tragic sight for the locals and a heartbreaking reminder of nature’s power. For the past five years, the beautiful castle has been covered in gaudy scaffolding.

Before

わたくしが行ったときはこんな感じでした。がんばろう熊本。がんばろう日本。 pic.twitter.com/9CvuVzFIEG

— 白ネギ入り (@negiiri) January 31, 2021

わたくしが行（い）ったときはこんな感（かん）じでした。がんばろう熊本（くまもと）。がんばろう日本（にほん）。

“Here’s how it was when I went there. Hang in there, Kumamoto! Hang in there, Japan!”

After a lot of hard work later, the castle looks better than ever. The entire 242-meter long Nagabei Wall required demolition, but workers rebuilt it from the ground up using stainless steel reinforcements as quake-resistant measures.

While some work remains to be done inside the castle grounds, the castle’s office would like everyone to witness how much progress has been made in such a short period.

After

ねえ見てーーーー！！！
足場が全部取り外されてるよーーー！！！
熊本城天守閣が復活してるよーーー！！！ pic.twitter.com/PvGL3cfiBA

— ワト@とうらぶ垢 (@watokadu_tk) January 31, 2021

ねえ見（み）てーーーー！！！

足場（あしば）が全部（ぜんぶ）取（り）り外（はず）されてるよーーー！！！

熊本城（くまもとじょう）天守閣（てんしゅかく）が復活（ふっかつ）してるよーーー！！！

“Hey, look!

All the scaffolding has been removed!!!

Kumamoto Castle castle tower is back!!!”

How to use とき to express ‘at the time’ or ‘when’

The word とき translates to “time” and is often used to express the period when an action or a state occurred. とき acts as a connector between two sentences, the first giving details on the time or period and the second, stating the action or state.

You can express events and actions that took place in the past.

• 学生（がくせい）のとき、インターンシップしました。= When I was a student, I did an internship.
• 日本に行ったとき、とくさんお土産（みやげ）を買（か）いました = When I went to Japan, I bought tons of souvenirs.

とき can help express what you intend to do in the future.

You can also express permanent truth and continuous actions. Things that take place at specific times such as closing the windows when the wind is strong.

• 食（た）べるとき、絶対（ぜったい）テレビを消（け）した方（ほう）がいい = When you eat, you should definitely turn off the TV
• 夜（よる）寝（ね）るとき、皆（みな）さんは電気（でんき）を真っ暗（ま　くら）にして寝ますか? = When you sleep at night, do you turn all the lights off?

Finally, とき can also help you express what you intend to do in the future.

• 結婚（けっこん）するときにこの指輪（ゆびわ）を買います= When I get married, I’ll buy this ring.
• 日本にいくとき、とくさんお土産（みやげ）を買（か）います = When I go to Japan, I will buy tons of souvenirs.

Note that when you use とき with nouns, you need to use the particle の.

Vocabulary

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