Shimotōri Arcade (下通アーケード) 下通アーケード
511 m under cover and 15 m high; in 2018, 32,000 people passed through on weekdays and 50,000 on holidays.
It is the largest shopping arcade in the prefecture. The street burned down entirely in the 1945 bombing raids and was hit again by the 1953 flood; in the rebuilding the roadway was widened from nine to fifteen metres, and a partial canopy went up on each side. The fully covered arcade, today's 511 metres, was built in sections by the shopkeepers' associations between January 1969 and January 1971, and the street became pedestrianised. LED lighting arrived in 2006, and in 2009 a renovation added trees, panels that filter out ultraviolet rays and water misters against the heat. The street branches out into a grid of smaller streets (銀座通り, 西銀座, 栄通り) that in the evening are the nightlife district.
Kumamoto
Torichosuji, Suidocho, Kumamoto Castle / City Hall
