Exploring Kumamoto on a day

Hello folks,

We have a full day at Kumamoto and will be staying at Toyoko Inn Kumamoto eki-mae. We will a have a rental car with us on that day. We are visiting Kumamoto on a Sunday mid November this year. Questions:

1. How long does it take to casually explore Kumamoto Castle (considering some parts are still closed due to earthquake renovation) and Suizenji Park?

2. Any suggestions on where to park for each place above?

3. After visiting those two places, plus lunch time, do you think we could still fit in a visit to Musashizuka Park, I'm a bit of a historical/fantasy geek, and I want to see Miyamoto Musashi's grave site.

4. Alternatively, is it even possible to visit all the One Piece bronze statues?

Much appreciated =)

You should be able to visit the places you mention without a lot of trouble at all. The castle would take the most time - depends a lot on your pace of course, but 1-1½ hours will likely be enough. The garden at Suizenji is really beautiful, and after visiting several dozen gardens across Japan, I can say there really is no other place like it. It is not large though, and does not take that much time.
https://goo.gl/RwpnU8

As for Musashizuka Park, it is open 24/7, so not a problem either, and how long does it take to visit a grave site? Parking is available around the places you mention as well. For the One Piece bronze statues, I can't really say - haven't had any real interest in them.

I've no idea why you only have one day in Kumamoto and are trying to squeeze in so many things into that day but you must have your reasons. Suizenji Park opens at 8:30am and the Castle at 9:00 so I'd go to the park first, given your tight schedule. Since you're driving I'd allow extra time for Sunday traffic cos the road from the Park to the Castle might be a bit jammed as it passes through the city center.

Maybe an hour at each spot, plus an extra hour or so fumbling about looking for parking spots/toilet breaks etc and you'll be at about 11:30am-12:00pm, assuming you wake up on time.

The One Piece statues are as far as Uto in the south and up to Aso / Takamori in the north, which can be a bit of a drive. The remaining are scattered around the greater city area like Mifune, Ozu etc... can you visit all of them in a day while doing the Park and the Castle? In November? Well, that depends on when your " day " ends. If your "day" ends at 7:00pm for dinner then I'd have to say no. If it ends at midnight or later, yeah sure why not? But take note that you'll be seeing some of them (probably more than half) without sunlight as it's October now and it gets dark by 6pm.

Thank you very much, Ken & King of the World for the info on the timing and reminder of the traffic jam on a Sunday. Yes, I do realise it will be dark by 6pm, and after looking at all the One Piece statues on Google Maps, they are too spread out.

We'll stick to just the Castle, Suizenji Park and potentially fitting in Musashizuka Park.

We actually have two nights at Kumamoto, but we'll be coming from Takachiho Gorge on the first day. We reckon we might still be exploring Takachiho that first day, and will likely arrive at Kumamoto around 4-5pm. So not much we can fit in on the first day, as you mentioned, it gets dark by 6pm.

So the next day is really the only day we have. And the day after, we will be crossing over to Shimabara before driving to Nagasaki.

Are there any other places you'd recommend in Kumamoto that we should consider?

We love a mixture of outdoor, scenic, food, history and culture. We were looking for a beef restaurant and found one called Matsuoka Wagyu Beef, and there is Nami bronze statue nearby.

While looking at Suizenji Park, I then noticed Luffy and Chopper statues were relatively nearby too, so that piqued my interest to hunt down the rest of the crew. But we'll probably skip One Piece statues, so are not rushed.

I would very much recommend the contemporary art museum. It is small, but perfectly formed, and you will get to experience fascinating work by three leading artists. It's central, and will only take you 30 mins or so.

Thank you for the suggestion Winter, is it just called Kumamoto Contemporary Art Museum? I assume there will be carpark at the vicinity? We just found out that the hotel we're staying has a curfew, so we can't park at the hotel between 9am - 6pm.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EDHMPzFZQ44aJgSF6

that's the contemporary art museum


https://maps.app.goo.gl/BHCjpyXE9u2DWRww6

there's an underground parking spot called Bipuresu literally the first left turn after, you turn into Nikko Hotel and the parking is on the right.


If that's full there's another new-ish parking spot around the back near Hotel Castle run by Times Parking.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/TmVmMjPEbcFqj55CA

Swing by the Musical instrument shop if you have time, it's a great place.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Xo7Q96YgKm7Brxnt5

The Luffy statue is located in front of Kumamoto's Prefectural Office and is surrounded by gingko trees. If the colors have changed to yellow, it is a very pretty place to visit and the golden statue surrounded by yellow gingko is quite beautiful.

The Musashi grave can be visited before the castle or garden open, so your plan should be easy to do, especially with a car.

Perfect, we will consider going to Musashizuka Park first pending timing. We might be a bit early for the ginkgo trees to turn yellow, but you never know.

Thank you all for the very helpful insights around places to see, carpark and the Contemporary Art Museum idea!