Audio walking guides in Kumamoto

10 self-guided walks · 325 minutes of narration · Kumamoto, Japan

Kumamoto, Japan

Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5

These are self-guided audio walks around Kumamoto. You pick a route, put one earbud in, and the guide talks you through it stop by stop — what you are looking at, and why it is there. There is no group to keep up with and no meeting time. 10 walks covering Kumamoto, Minamata, Amakusa, Hitoyoshi, Yamaga, Yatsushiro, Kikuchi, Misumi West Port and more, 325 minutes of narration in total.

Start your free guide

A free account is needed before a guide plays. Hear a minute first if you would rather try it than sign up for it.

Every walk in Kumamoto

Kumamoto: The Castle That Would Not Fall, and the Earthquake That Took It

6 stops · about 29 minutes · starts at Below the great curved wall at the castle approach

Put your hand on this wall and look up along the curve of it, because this is the single best piece of stonework in Japan and the man…

Minamata: The Bay, the Company and Sixty Years of Not Being Believed

6 stops · about 30 minutes · starts at Minamata town centre

A word before we begin, in the same spirit as our Hiroshima and Okinawa guides. This walk is about an industrial poisoning that killed and disabled a large…

Fifty Thousand People Inside a Volcano: The Aso Caldera

6 stops · about 39 minutes · starts at Daikanbō lookout, on the northern rim of the caldera

Stand at the rail and look south, and give yourself a moment, because the view in front of you does not resolve the way a landscape usually does.…

Amakusa: The Islands That Rose, and the Faith That Went Underground

6 stops · about 40 minutes · starts at The Amakusa bridges, crossing from the mainland

You reach Amakusa across water, on a chain of bridges that hop from island to island. There are five of them, they opened in nineteen sixty-six, and until…

Hitoyoshi: Seven Hundred Years of One Family, and a Religion in the Caves

6 stops · about 37 minutes · starts at Hitoyoshi Castle ruins, above the Kuma river

From up here you can see the whole shape of the place, and the shape explains everything else in this guide. A flat basin, a few kilometres across,…

Yamaga: A Kabuki Theatre, Lanterns Made of Nothing but Paper, and Painted Tombs

6 stops · about 34 minutes · starts at The centre of Yamaga, by the old bathhouse

This is a hot spring town, and the origin story involves a deer. The account given here is that a hunter, some time in the distant past, wounded…

Yatsushiro: The Floor of Japan, a Sea of Ghost Lights, and a God That Came by Turtle

6 stops · about 31 minutes · starts at Yatsushiro Station

Flooded fields, dead flat, going to the horizon in every direction with the mountains a long way off. If you glanced at this you would say rice. Get…

Kikuchi: A Gorge Full of Cold Water, and a Family the State Turned Into a Lesson

6 stops · about 29 minutes · starts at Kikuchi Gorge car park

Put your hand in the water and leave it there for a moment. It is cold. Properly cold, in a way that does not feel like a mountain…

Misumi West Port: A World Heritage Harbour That Failed Almost Immediately

6 stops · about 28 minutes · starts at Misumi West Port, the stone quay

Stand at one end and look along it. A wall of cut stone, running in a long curve around the water, with steps down to the sea at…

Tsūjun: The Aqueduct That Fires Water Across a Gorge, and the Three Hundred Stone Bridges Around It

6 stops · about 28 minutes · starts at Tsūjun Bridge, Yamato

A single stone arch across a gorge, around seventy-five metres long and twenty metres high, in dressed grey stone, with a flat top. It is handsome and it…

Questions about walking Kumamoto

What is the best self-guided walking tour in Kumamoto?

It depends how long you have. Kumamoto: The Castle That Would Not Fall, and the Earthquake That Took It (29 minutes, 6 stops) starts at Below the great curved wall at the castle approach and is the one most people begin with. Minamata: The Bay, the Company and Sixty Years of Not Being Believed covers a different part of the city in about 30 minutes. All 10 walks in Kumamoto are listed on this page with their length and starting point.

Do I need to book a walking tour in Kumamoto?

No. Every wanderaudio walk is self-guided, so there is nothing to book and no departure time. You start whenever you arrive, and you can stop halfway and pick it up the next day.

How much do the Kumamoto audio guides cost?

Your first guide is free. You make a free account before it plays, with an email address or a Google login, and no card. After that a single guide is $4.99, a 30-guide pass, spendable on any guides in any cities, is $29.99, and every guide in Japan is $59.99. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.

Are these tours in English?

Yes, all 10 Kumamoto walks are narrated in English. Other languages are not available yet.

Can I do these walks alone?

Yes — that is what they are built for. There is no group and no guide waiting for you, so walking alone works exactly the same as walking with someone. You choose the pace and the order.