Kamitōri Arcade (上通アーケード) 上通アーケード
The prefecture's first arcade, 1960; today's roof copies the Gare d'Orsay in Paris.
The district burned down in 1877, during the Satsuma Rebellion, the last war of the samurai. The prefectural offices and the teacher-training school were built where the warriors' houses had stood, and the area became a district of schools and administration: the first shops were bookshops and tailors for the officials and the students, which is why there are still more bookshops and galleries here than elsewhere in the city. In 1960 the first canopy in Kumamoto Prefecture was put up here; the tall arcade of today dates from 1998. It was also the first shopping street in Japan to adopt Edy electronic money across the whole street.
Kumamoto
Suidocho, Torichosuji
