Kumamoto strives to attract visitors 4 years after earthquakes

Improvements at Yatsushiro Port had led to a spike in visitors from China and Korea - but then the quakes and Coronavirus. Not all a bad thing, IMO: Kumamoto has learned to move away from being castle-centric to emphasize its many other qualities.

I brought the Belgian national football team to Kumamoto in 2002 for the worldcup football. With much help and sponsorship from Tokyo Elektron. It took me 3 years of negotiations. Kumamoto pref paid my company, and I dropped the last instalment as a gift to them. They dropped me in return. I still think the facilities were the best in Japan, TEL was fantastic. But as soon as my work was done, Kumamoto wanted to take the credit and instead of a promised statue ( of course just matter of speaking ) I got dropped.

i am glad and proud I could do this job for Kumamoto as people there are genuine and a great place but very sad I got treated like this.

I can do a lot more for them but it will require apologies first.

@Laguna, I hope you're right. I was in Kumamoto when both quakes hit, and I had to stay a bit longer than planned. It even kept me away from my best friend's father's funeral, in Sendai. Not a great year, that one.

Now, and sadly, thanks to the coronavirus threat, I've cancelled my trip for hanami, and will re-book for autumn, hoping that by then the authorities have it under better control. It's bad enough spending a few months in Japan every year and looking at half the population wearing masks, even when times are normal. Sheesh!

Laguana: Are you sure? I’m researching for a trip there next month and mostly everything I’ve come across is for the castle or Aso, which also isn’t the best place to be due to activity. I hope I’ve just somehow missed what else is being promoted.

It's unfortunate that people might be staying away due to earthquakes. Japan belongs to the Rim of Fire and these natural phenomena are going to occur. If afraid of Kumamoto, be also afraid of California, Alaska, Hawaii, South Korea, all of Japan, and other tourist attractions in that Rim.

I’m researching for a trip there next month and mostly everything I’ve come across is for the castle or Aso, which also isn’t the best place to be due to activity. I hope I’ve just somehow missed what else is being promoted.

I visit often, and have only been to the castle once. It's a great place to go. Aso is fine, there is nothing to be afraid of. When it's active, you are kept away from the rim of the crater is all. Great and varied nature, good restaurants and great onsens (try Kurokawa for one). For the mountains, head to Aso area. For fantastic oceanside scenery and great fish, and interesting history go the Amakusa. Despite being a world heritage site, there are still few visitors. Aso Farmland is great if you have kids, worth staying a night in their surreal dome village. If you have a car, it's great to just explore the prefecture. Always wonderful places to discover for sightseeing or food.

Even if you can't get close to the Aso crater, the drive up there and the surrounding scenery is lovely. Well worth a drive in spring or autumn.

As the previous two posters say, perhaps they should be promoting car rentals for people to get out and explore, not trying to wow people with "local produce from tomatoes and strawberries to eggplants and dried seaweed for participants to try."

I have never gone somewhere on holiday to eat tomatoes and aubergines.

kumamoto is really great for a relaxing holiday of 2 to 4 days.

completely agree with the other posters here. Every city and prefecture have great food and drinks, not a reason to visit just an expected plus in Japan.

It’s a pity all these places dont know how to promote themselves, keep trowing money at JTB , Dentsu with no result but don’t hire foreign expertise.

Robert Maes...so true!