On our trip to Kumamoto we visited the castle. The castle is famous across Japan as 300 hundred years old and mostly original. However, it was badly damaged during the 2016 earthquake. It is going to take generations to re-build, and now stands as a sad and poignant reminder of the impact of natural disasters.

The castle stands surrounded with decking and building work. You can catch a glimpse of damaged roof and see many stranded rocks that collapsed during the earthquake. You can still visit a shrine by the castle to give your thanks, which fortunately was not damaged during the quake.

I hope to come back again in the future, once the castle is back to its glorious former beauty!