Street by Street

So, honestly, my days here in Kumamoto kind of rotate around the same few places—my apartment where I sleep and work and do laundry, campus where I run between lectures, and downtown, which is where I actually live, if that makes sense. That’s where everything happens. That’s where the city feels real.

Downtown is right under the castle, which is beautiful, and there are these three covered shopping streets—Kamitori, Shimotori, Shinshigai—that are always buzzing with something. Restaurants, tiny bars, bakeries, weird little shops selling things I didn’t know I needed, cafés where I’ve probably spent more money than I’d like to admit. It’s the kind of place that feels different depending on what time you walk through it, what you’re looking for, who you’re with.

And I’ve kind of decided, maybe a little desperately, that I’m going to actually explore all of it while I’m here. Like, I don’t want to leave Kumamoto in a few years and realize I spent the whole time going to the same three places out of comfort or habit. There’s something about being somewhere temporary that makes you acutely aware of how finite it is, you know? So I keep trying new restaurants, new shops, wandering into places that look interesting.

The annoying part is that some restaurants only have ticket machines with Japanese characters, and I genuinely cannot figure out what I’m ordering half the time. It’s humbling. But that’s when having friends around actually saves me—they’ll explain what button does what, and then next time I might actually know. My Japanese is getting there, slowly, but honestly some days I wonder if I’m just moving backwards.

But walking around downtown, talking to people, eating something new, getting a little lost—it feels like the actual point of being here. Kumamoto’s not flashy. It’s not what people think of when they think Japan tourism. But there’s something real about it. Something that makes you want to stay for one more coffee, walk one more block, try one more thing before heading home.