17 April 2025
Everywhere has a castle and a garden
Suizenji garden and Kumamoto castle
Today I went to the things most people go to see in Kumamoto, Suizenji Koen and the local partially destroyed by recent earthquake but largely re-created once again re-creation of the Kumamoto castle.
The good news about the garden, $4 entry, and in my opinion, nicer than the $16 garden in Kagoshima.
The garden area is just the tip of an entire network of parks, gardens, zoos, wetlands, lakes and other things I have forgotten, but I did not have time to go looks at them, they are all accessible from the tram.
The castle is $8, and really fake as you shall see, so the interesting thing about it is probably it's fakeness and earthquake damage more so than its castleness. It probably should have been $4 entry too.
There are not really any gardens around the castle either, so spend time looking at the diorama and calligraphy on the inside, or ride the lift up and down a few times.
Suizenji garden/koen has an exit through the gift shop street at it's entry/exit. You can buy a special ice cream, I presume.
Behold, grass, a lake, clouds, yep it is a garden.
The mounds remind me of the burial mounds at Gyeongju in Korea, but these are not burial mounds.
A lot of grass.
I enjoyed pondering the lakes many tiny islands.
Presumably these guys fought to the death while levitating between the tiny islands.
The main mound is called, you guessed it, little Mount Fuji.
No need to go to Kyoto.
There are a few bridges to cross.
Bonus view.
The garden shrine provides a Torii gate positioned well to frame the garden, almost as though they did that on purpose.
Last one. With other people.
The castle is right in the centre of town, so a short tram ride back from the garden. Here is its impressive wall and moat.
Here you can see parts of the old wall have been covered in cement, possibly due to the earthquake.
This walkway is the bulk of the experience, and is newly built after the earthquake while they repair the walls.
Here is the most visible bit of earthquake damage. The entire building is sagging.
First view of the actual castle.
You cannot go down there, you can only go on the elevated walkway.
Surprisingly, you then walk under the castle, I am wondering if this is all new.
Best I can do for a clear shot of the castle.
This is interesting, the entire castle is resting on hydraulic springs. I presume they lifted it up to install these recently.
There are 4 levels to explore, the diorama is always the best, because it shows you what you were just looking at for real 5 minutes ago outside.
View one from the top, and unfortunately Kumamoto has committed the worst of all sins, glass windows, thus partially ruining the view.
View 2 of 2, it was brighter outside than the view through glass would have you believe.
So that is how a tourist should spend a few hours in Kumamoto, or any Japanese city really.