The prefecture's first arcade, 1960; today's roof copies the Gare d'Orsay in Paris.
From the 通町筋 tram stop you head north, and the ceiling rises: it is a white, bright arch, copied from the Gare d'Orsay in Paris, the station that is now a museum, and it lets daylight through instead of shutting it out. Underfoot the paving is not asphalt but ipe boards, a South American hardwood. Where the arcade ends, the street carries on uncovered and tree-lined, under the name 上通並木坂.
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.
ℹ️ Public street, open to walk through at any hour; most shops 10:00–20:00. Tram: 通町筋, one minute. Earthquake of 28/07/2026: shops reopened by 30/07/2026 (toshoken.com, updated on 27/08/2026).
🚉 Torichosuji · 1 min walk
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