A quick 45 minute Shinkansen ride dropped us at Kumamoto Station. The city is best known for it’s castle, Kumamoto-jō, which was completed in 1607. The original was burned after a 50 day besiegement in 1877 during the Satsuma Rebellion, the last stand by the samurai against those who were making their way of life obsolete.

The sprawling castle grounds made for a lovely walk with amazing views. Gardens display the six Higo flowers: chrysanthemum, morning glory, camelia, peony, iris and sasanqua. Believed to have had 36 turrets originally, we were able to enter a few that still remain today, one five stories tall. This gave a very real feel to what it would have looked like as invaders were attacking. The defense of these buildings was well planned. There were openings in the floor that over-hung the wall so that one could drop large rocks on someone trying to scale up. Not to mention the small openings throughout the exterior walls for bow and arrow fire and later rifles.

As we made our way to the main castle tower we encountered men dressed in samurai and ninja costumes and of course we both got a photo with them! There were many people touring the grounds that day with the concentration near the castle’s keep. The atmosphere there was one of amazement and rightfully so: this building was enormous, beautiful and imposing.

After climbing what seemed to be hundreds of stairs we reached the sixth story were you could look out and see the entire city. This must have been a grand view when Kumamoto-jō was in it’s prime. Each floor housed relics of the Kato and Hosokawa families, the two ruling feudal families of the time.

Kumamoto is also known for horses and when I say that I mean eating them. There were several specialty restaurants serving everything from steaks to sushi. We decided against having a Mr. Ed burger and decided to eat a little more local style, a ramen shop.

The shop we chose was well off the main street’s dining and shopping arcade. When we entered we were directed to a vending machine. In Japan there are vending machines everywhere, and you can buy most anything from them. The man in charge gave us a tip that the weekly special was half price and people had been ordering it a lot. Of course we were sold, so we fed a bill into the machine and pressed the buttons for two bowls or ramen and two beers. Out popped four small tickets which we handed over and then had a seat on a stool at the bar.

After loudly slurping, which is how it’s eaten, our ramen and washing it down we decided to head back home and turn it for the night as tomorrow we once again would be on the move.

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