Kumamoto Hidden Gems
Built around Mt. Aso, one of the world's largest active calderas, with a formidable castle and the underground springs that feed the city.
6 spots
Climate & Best Season
Hot, humid summers and cool winters inland; the Aso highlands are noticeably cooler. Spring and autumn are best for the caldera.
Famous For (Food)
- Basashi (horse sashimi)
- Karashi renkon
- Kumamoto ramen
- Ikinari dango
Signature Sights
- Kumamoto Castle
- Mt. Aso caldera
- Kurokawa Onsen
- Amakusa islands
Gokanosho
Gokanosho is five settlements — Shiihara, Kurako, Hagi, Nitao and Momiki — scattered through mountains of thirteen hundr…
Tsujun Bridge
The plateau at Yabe had no water. In 1854 the village headman Futa Yasunosuke had this built to get it there: a stone ar…
Okoshiki Coast
The Ariake Sea has one of the largest tidal ranges in Japan, and when it goes out at Okoshiki it leaves several kilometr…
Daikanbo
Daikanbo is a promontory on the northern rim of the Aso caldera at 936 metres, and from it the whole basin is visible at…
Nabegataki Falls
Nabegataki is ten metres high and twenty wide, and the rock behind it is undercut deeply enough that a path runs along t…
Oshitoishi Hill
On a grassland hill at 845 metres on the outer rim of Aso stand several hundred stones, some of them very large, arrange…