Kumamoto Jo

Catching up now, after a wonderful week of holiday with the Bear.

On Saturday afternoon, I fell asleep at the airport waiting for Luke to arrive, and was woken with a jolt to find his lips almost on mine. Together, we took the bus south to Kumamoto, where we spent an hour looking around before our connection to Aso, where we were to spend the night.

Luckily, we managed to arrive just in time to walk around the castle grounds before they closed, and so were able to see this magnificent fortress. It is the biggest I have yet seen in Japan, with many high outer walls surrounding the central castle in what I thought was an almost maze-like fashion. The sheer size of it was incredible, especially since Luke informed me that it was built in only seven years. Impossible to get a photo that showed how impressive the whole thing was (you'll have to go yourself!), but here is a taster.