It's Kumamoto da-mon!

The last time we were in Kumamoto, we were visiting the castle when Sumi badly sprained BOTH of her ankles while climbing down the steep steps of the main castle. The rest of the trip in Kyuushuu, she basically hobbled along, too stubborn to give up precious vacation time in Japan for something as trivial as catastrophic injury.

This time, I made her promise not to hurt herself until near the end of the trip. So far so good.

The ride to Kumamoto was quick and quiet, and when we arrived, we had several hours to kill before the bus that would take us to Amakusa Island was due to leave. The train station was about a mile or so south of the bus terminal and castle grounds, so we decided to walk up to the castle, as we only had our backpacks with us. Kumamoto town is a nice, clean city with lots of local flavor. Buses and light rail with brightly painted cars, riverwalks, and or course, the city mascot Kumamon

At the train station

Playing handball

Kumamon is somewhat of a cultural icon, having been voted the most popular yuru-chara, (area mascot) in the country in 2011. He was designed in 2010 to boost tourism. Whether he did that or not, I don't know, but merchandise sales of Kumamon products exceed that of nearly all other mascots combined, so he did accomplish something. He is so popular here in Kumamoto, many homes can be seen with Kumamon planters (just his head) and other small decorations. He is, quite literally, everywhere around here. Incidentally, the above posters are promoting two big sporting events being hosted by Kumamoto this year, the Rugby World Cup and the 2019 Female Handball Championships. Both pretty big events in these here parts.

Arriving at the bus terminal, we purchased our tickets, dropped our bags in a coin locker, and headed up to Kumamoto Castle. We remembered it as an impressive castle, and were eager to see it with Sumi having use of both her legs.

It is an impressive structure

That was hit hard by an earthquake...

In April of 2016, there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit directly under the city, causing over 50 deaths and roughly 5 billion dollars in damage. The castle sustained structural damage to several of the main buildings roofs and walls. The entire castle is still closed down as they work to repair the damage.

Repairing the castle is expected to take several decades. Because the construction was done hundreds of years ago with no cement or any other kind of fitting, every stone is being numbered, cataloged, and sorted so it can be put together again in the exact same manner as it was initially constructed. They are also taking this opportunity to add an access elevator and other improvements. Parts of the castle will be opened during this time to tourists.

Well, since we couldn't climb the castle steps this time, we saw a "show" instead

The "show"

At first I thought it was a show for kids, as there were several school groups there. As you can see by the picture, it was mostly middle-aged women in the audience. The kids didn't seem very interested, and that's because it was these guys pretending to be some character from history, but far more kakkoii (cool) and doing this choreographed fight/dance thing in between lots of talking about nothing much. Basically, it was their job to strut around looking cute to entertain the middle-aged ladies. It worked, apparently. Even Sumi thought they were cute. Not that I would ever call her middle-aged. Moving on...

The bus ride reminded me that the only thing to ever be afraid of on roads in Japan are buses. On our very first cycling trip in Hokkaido, there was a stretch in Biei with a bunch of tour buses, and that was the most unpleasant riding we had up there. Being in this bus, I could only imagine people and pets scampering out of the way as it careened through the countryside. I was certain we would arrive to find some poor cow hanging on to the front of the bus for dear life. I very determinedly did NOT look out the window when we were moving. Japanese highways often do not have guard rails around sharp turns in mountains. We were driving through the mountains.

We somehow managed to arrive in Amakusa in one piece, without additional livestock, and gratefully got off the bus at the terminal. We chose a hotel very close to the terminal, so a short walk later we arrived at one of the more interesting hotels we've been to.

I...wait....what?

I don't even know where to start. I'm glad they have comfortable sheep and that the beds are cleaned by dolphins (how that is a selling point, I'm not sure), and honestly, the thought of being a Toothbrush Geek is somewhat appealing. But I saw no sign of an Entropy Shower, and I totally looked for one. The soap did, indeed, look a bit tired.

After non-entropy showers and a hearty meal at Joy-Full, a local chain restaurant, we grabbed our luggage from the room, keeping an eye out for Breakfast Owls, and assembled out bikes in the back alley of the hotel. For once, there were no issues. No flat tires, no pedal falling off. The bikes seemed to be in good shape and after a bit of brake adjustment, were ready to go. As my day had started a 9pm the previous night, we collapsed pretty early, ready to hit the road tomorrow.