If you’re traveling around Kyushu, you’re likely to pass through Kumamoto more than once. Which is fine, as it’s a really pleasant city in which to while away a few hours or days.
Transport and Trains
Kumamoto is on the Kyushu Shinkansen line, roughly half-way down the island and so between Hakata in the north and Kagoshima in the south. Trains also go off east towards Aso and Beppu, and ferries arrive from Shimabara to the west – well, unless they all get cancelled due to typhoons, as I found out.
Getting around the city is, once again, easiest by tram. There’s a stop right outside the main JR station, and if you’re heading into the city centre you want the platform that’s right in front of you, with trams heading from right to left on the A line – this runs past the castle (PDF map here). The fare’s 160 yen, payable in cash when you exit.
The Castle
The most famous sight in Kumamoto is pretty hard to miss: the castle, considered one of the finest in Japan, is right in the city centre. The keep (top) is reconstructed, the original having burned down during the Satsuma rebellion, but other sections are original.
Entry costs 500yen, but that allows you to stroll around the whole grounds, climb the keep and also visit the spectacularly reconstructed interior rooms (above). I visited on a weekend, so it was full of Japanese tourists, but there were also talks and performances being given inside, alongside lots of information about the castle’s history and reconstruction.
Kumamon
It’s also worth mentioning Kumamon – the black bear mascot who seems to be ever-present in Kumamoto itself, and crops up regularly in the rest of Kyushu – I even caught him being interviewed on national TV. Apparently he was recently voted the most popular mascot character in Japan. Kumamoto does such a good line in characters, in fact, that there’s another popular one: Kuro-chan the dog is used to promote the trains through to Aso, and in particular the completely crazy Aso-Boy limited express (sadly I didn’t manage to catch it, but check out the pictures on Wikipedia – bottom of this page).
Staying
Kumamoto has loads of accommodation, but I arrived late after a failed attempt to get across the water from Shimabara and so checked into the JR Hotel, right by the station. It’s nice, but a short tram ride to the downtown shopping and restaurant areas. The local dish is taipien – a bit like Nagasaki’s Champon, but with vermicelli noodles.
From Kumamoto I moved on south towards Kagoshima and Sakurajima.
This is part of my Japan on a Budget series – a collection of random advice on how to travel Japan without spending a fortune. See the rest here.