Kumamon Hunting in Kumamoto 🐻 Kyushu, Japan

Kumamon Hunting in Kumamoto 🐻 Kyushu, Japan

today we’re Kuman hunting in Kumamoto kuman’s one of the most popular regional mascots in Japan and they’re everywhere it was so much fun spotting Kuman around the city i couldn’t believe how much there was even this fancy jewelers has Kuman necklaces and rings we got to see their show and I’m so happy I got a fist bump first we’re taking the Shinkansen from Fukuroka to Kumamoto i’ll show you which signs to look out for at the station phil’s favorite Katsuando then we’re taking the tram over to the city center via some arcades to Kuman show which is free to watch then the castle and all the top kuman spots ikim majour let’s go we found a stamp at the station in the section it’s a chunky one and they’ve got special paper that you can stamp if you don’t have a stamp book hopefully that’s the right position it’s got a couch on the top oh it’s the Shinkansen when you’re getting the Shinkhansen it’s very organized at the station where you wait for each carriage can be different depending which train you’re taking so our train is a Sakura and we’re in car 8 if you want to know how many carriages are in your train it’s on this sign you’ll find these signs on the platform you can see the middle one green has car 8 and it’s a Sakura so we need to look for the green number on the platform if you look for these numbers at the edge of the platform there’s the green eight so for the green train this is where you wait for car 8 if you’re waiting for a blue train it would be car six or a yellow train it would be car 10 and they’re all the way along so you know exactly where to wait so you can get right on your train and there are also these lines on the platform that show you where to queue up so everything is very organized we’re on the Shinkansen from Fukuoka Hakata station to Kumamoto it’s quite a quick trip just about 45 minutes so we’re moving hotels and today I’m excited to go Kumamon hunting phil’s got the fanciest cats sando i’ve had this sando about 7 years ago 8 years ago quite a long time and I think about it quite a lot so I’m glad I found it again it cost 1,080 yen so it’s not cheap but it is delicious very well presented comes with a little ice pack to keep it cold inside it’s beautifully gift wrapped m that is a spicy tomato catso sando it’s just delicious wow that is a fat sandwich super thick it is a step above the combini katsu sando and they’ve got this and quite a few others as well um similar idea and they got stuffed quants and things it’s just next to where you got your for breakfast on the Shinkansen i’ve got a veggie bento is from Eva Dining in Hakata station if you go towards the Shinkansen section you’ll find it there there’s some fancy looking food shops and it’s part of that they have a great choice of vegetarian i think it’s vegan as well vegan bentos they all look good i’ve got the baked wheat gluten sounds delicious right i’m not entirely sure what all these things are but it’d be nice to try some new things i’ve got to say baked wheat gluten tastes better than it sounds it’s got quite a sweet sauce there’s lots of sort of Japanese sorts of flavors that I don’t often get on vegetarian food here [Music] bento update this is kanyaku it’s kind of a bit chewy and jelly like the mountains look really cool with the mist around them the views are actually pretty interesting on this journey when you can see them i grabbed this drink from the vending machine on the platform i thought let’s get some nice grape juice to go over my breakfast and it was a real surprise it’s got bits in i wasn’t expecting that it’s like those aloe vera jelly drinks we just arrived at Kumoto station and there’s a giant kuman head in the station i also spotted some Kuman products in the convenience store here we’d barely got out the station and already we’d seen so much Kumamon we checked into our hotel which was an amazing Kuman themed room that’s in a separate video then we set out to explore Kumamoto i don’t know what this building is maybe some kind of office but look how many umbrellas are outside it there’s a map of different fountains in Kumamoto although I’m not sure where the fountain is here that’s a statue no fountain ah there it is just around the corner that’s interesting 100% of the water supplied to Kumamoto is natural ground water and this fountain is natural spring water we better drink some of the tap water it’s the largest groundwater city in Japan and that’s because of Mount Aso in Kumamoto they have trams to get around the city so we’re taking the tram now from the station up to the castle and main city center area the tram is 180 yen per trip or you can get a day pass for 500 yen and that 180 yen is the same price no matter how far you’re going you can use cash or you can use your cir you just swipe in when you get on the tram and swipe off when you get off let the tram see now taking the tram was pretty easy paying for it very easy and there’s a screen inside that tells you which stops coming up next it doesn’t cover the whole of the city but it took us from the station to the main city center we’re staying near the station cuz it’s easier to get the train and we’re going on a day trip tomorrow but if you want to be more in the main city center you want to be slightly further north near the castle Sakuramachi area this is Sakaramachi Shopping Mall and look there’s a giant kummon on the roof at lots of shops and shopping malls they have these bags for your umbrella so if it’s wet you can put it in a bag and it’s not going to drip everywhere all over the shops as it’s a rainy day we spent a bit of time checking out the arcade in Sakura Machi look how spacious it is compared to arcades in the center of Tokyo and of course there’s Gachapon Pizza these are little arcade machines in Gachapon they must be so tiny waffles for your hair and Mossberger there’s crisp and snacks on rings was going for his second one in the Pioneer DJ collection last time he got the light up one this one the mixing desk oh I thought we got lucky it’s the mixing desk what how are you getting such good luck with this series pretty good top choices every time it’s going to get harder next time when they’ve got a table i I want another one of that i want I want this you can’t go wrong you just want all of them these are cakes like in that 2D cafe in Tokyo bill’s getting another one of the Pioneer DJ i have no self-control a full set and I don’t have any ordering going so oh there’s another light up uh you said you wanted another one of them two of that now I can have them like this set up so I’ve got the middle three now I just need these here’s the change machine for the gacha pon and they’ve got cups if you want to get loads of 100 yen coins you can fill that up and this here is a giant machine with a big gatch pon winder to return your old capsules in this park outside Sakuramachi we just spotted a load of steam coming off it’s the hells of Kumamoto could this be the mascot for Kumamoto Castle we’re in a covered shopping street i guess I’m guessing this is called Shinshi this is a whole shop of food vending machines and more specifically is Unagi Yanagawa so it’s just eel vending machines yanagar is a place where we went on a boat ride it’s known as the Venice of Kyushu and eel is their local specialty dish i just got this drink from the vending machine i don’t think it tastes of any of the fruits on the bottle it’s fruits to fruits tea we just couldn’t resist popping into another arcade chips do you get one chip we found this arcade machine where you snip through the string to get the presents and it’s got a pew pew mole car in there presents the gifts we never tried a cutting one before i’ve seen them never tried it so I’m just interested to see what it’s like i cannot think we’re going to win no I really don’t think that’s going to cut through the string but I want to see what it’s like to play so that’s what we do with it here oh I missed it i expect you have to do multiple cuts like this one cut i think the scissors would be quite pathetic probably there’s Kimon up ahead on the big echo karaoke sign we’re in a shortenai in Kumamoto and just look at how many karaoke places there are there’s karaoke can right next to me here that Djangara is a karaoke room and there’s also big echo at the end with the Kuman sign kada yes that’s karaoke as well with the cats we’re on our way to Kuman Square which is Kuman’s headquarters in Kumamoto if you look on the official website it tells you what time Kuman is going to be there he’s going to be there at 2 p.m today so we’re going to go and meet him or see him hopefully and here’s our first glimpse of Kumamoto Castle it’s quite a nice looking castle in black and white here we are at Kuman Square why is Kuman looking so cheeky here kuman Square is just down here and I know this part is where Kumuan comes in and where he goes out and there’s people waiting here already to meet him as he comes in I’m guessing here’s a poster for Kuman’s birthday celebration we’re just too early it’s in about a Kuman lantern display nice happy birthday Kuman oh we better get our spot today’s kum on stage 2 p.m wow it’s so busy already there’s a lot of people here there’s so many kuman things during the week they have one show a day and at the weekend they have three shows a day today is a Thursday and there’s more people here than I expected and only a couple of kids everyone loves Kuman it’s still 20 minutes till the show starts and there’s loads of people waiting here it feels like it’s about to begin but there’s still 20 minutes to go excitement filled the air as we waited for Kuaban to appear [Applause] [Music] [Music] kuman’s assistants were also the stars of the show for being so full of energy i loved them honestly I didn’t really know what was going on for most of the show as it was all in Japanese there seemed to be a Q&A where someone asked how long Kumamon’s legs are and Kumamon performed some dances to their theme songs it was a lot of fun if you suspend your disbelief and all sense of reality it was truly delightful and wonderful that such a simple thing can bring joy to all these people for just a few moments of their day [Applause] it was as if Kuman was the most popular celebrity of the moment and when you’re in Kumamoto they may as well be you can’t help but fall under their spell kummon’s mischievous and fun and so full of energy it wasn’t just the kids who had smiles on their faces throughout the entire show as soon as the show finished everyone rushed to buy all the Kuman merch as souvenirs including us and we explored the rest of Kuman Square of course there are lots of clear files always popular in Japan look it’s a tunnel of Kuman that goes on forever wow these are a collab with Kumaman and New Japan Pro Wrestling there’s t-shirts and towels they’re too fancy too fancy for me and these are nice some quality wear all the places Kummon’s been around the world cambridge i think that’s America cambridge oh yeah usa was that London london jabalaga Square wow big audience oh it was the Matsuri ah Japan Matsuri says Kumamon plasters cute can you post a letter to Kuman kim Kuman already sent me a New Year’s card if you send a New Year’s card to a Japanese mascot they might just send you one back there’s a video on my channel about how to do it i’m going to get some washi tape which one should I pick there’s a machine to make your own custom rubber stamps we got two including one to commemorate Phil’s game from his mascot agency [Music] there’s a map here of all the places Kuman’s been around the world as you’d expect he’s been to most places in Japan there’s Kuman with Shimano who also sent me a New Year’s card hello Shimano and Kuman has been to England there he is with London Bridge or Tower Bridge it’s Tower Bridge isn’t it here you can take your picture with a nice fairy flash one okay yay [Music] [Laughter] that was delightful i think we spent ages in there in the end looking around the shops and making our stamps and watching the show so if you want to come here look it up on Google Maps you need to go to Kummon Square it’s a shop the whole time and they had u fun games on the stage in the middle on the screen all the time or if you want to see the Kuman show go on the website and look up what time it is and you do need to get here at least half an hour early more like 40 minutes to get a good spot because it does get really busy the crowd was several people deep so if you’re at the back you might not be able to see that well kumamon Village is a shop with Kumamon merch and Kumamon Square is this one with the show i’m happy I got a fist bump from Kuman at the end here’s what it looks like on the outside there’s not a lot of signs but if you look up there’s the Kumamon Square sign it’s at this big crossroads it’s just opposite Sudo Cho tram stop hello Kumamon thumbs up we’ve just gone into Kumamoto Food Store Village there’s lots of small bars and izakaya and small food stores in here it’s nice with the lights it’s the afternoon so most of them are closed at the moment this is a regional specialtity of Kumamoto meat or sashimi oh this is it it’s sake vending machines they’re 100 yen each so you can try different types of sake i would have no idea what each of these is we picked the rainbow one the descriptions are all in Japanese we’re using Google Translate to try and understand what’s what there’s a change machine here so you can get some coins [Music] let’s get a glass we can have this one as well yes in there so it’s one one measure I guess [Music] and are you going with that one yeah i’m going to have this one at the end it says one oh there we are campai you need 2 4 6 8 10 12 1,400 yen to try them all it’s not bad so that’s called Kumamoto Food Store Village and the castle is just down there so it’s really close i’ve got a hot Yuzi lemon from the vending machine it’s nice and warm i should remember not to open it straight away this time keep my hands warm for a while and we’re looking for a way into Kumamoto Castle this is just an Inari shrine on the edge we’re just coming up to the castle and this is an area with food and snacks called something Josen we’ve got a few kummons here including some cumin tayyaki here’s the kuman ningo yaki it’s like a tayyaki I think and there’s different flavors red bean paste chocolate apple custard cream cheese and sweet potato here’s my kum one ningo yaki ningo means doll and yaki is grilled or fried like tayyaki feels got sweet potato and I’ve got traditional red bean paste and gore it feels quite soft is it going to be mashed sweet potato i wonder yeah i mean I I was going to get cheese but I know what that is i don’t know what this is is a new thing find out yeah yellow i didn’t expect it to be yellow no i thought it might be kind of a mash it quite nice it doesn’t have a lot of flavor i think this one tastes quite potatoey it’s not that sweet but that’s quite common for snacks in Japan sorry Kumamon a bit off your head the red bean paste in mine is sort of as you’d expect it’s got the the beanie sweet flavor but not too sweet the pancake is actually quite cakey sometimes tayyaki are crispy and sometimes they’re soft both are nice very soft this opposite is ikinari dango which is a local specialtity here in Kumamoto it’s got mchi on the outside a layer of sweet potato and a layer of red bean paste we’re going up to Kumamoto Castle it’s always a bit tricky filming in the rain it said it was going to rain all day but it hasn’t really until this point if you want to go inside the castle it does close quite early the last entry is at 4:30 and it’s about 4:30 now so we’re just going to walk around and see the outside someone outside just told us that if you go to Kato Shrine you can you get quite a good view of it quite close so that’s what we’re walking around to now this red line will take us round to the shrine for the view of the castle it’s quite helpful we won’t get lost kumamoto Castle was quite badly ruined in the earthquake they had several years ago so it’ll be interesting to see what point it’s at now because they have been rebuilding it over there you can see the main castle looks like it’s got a tent over it where they’re doing the renovations i didn’t expect that you can see some damage to the walls down there and over here as well we have been quite lucky that in the past we haven’t had too much rain while we’ve been in Japan and this is the first full rainy day we’ve really had for a long time it can rain any time of year in Japan it’s not always that heavy it obviously rains more during the rainy season which is why I avoid going there that’s mid June to mid July this our third time in February March and both other times it’s been really hot yes we were so lucky last year it was t-shirt weather some days and it’s been a lot colder this year so I think it can go either way this time of year one of those Februaries we went from Tokyo where we were in t-shirts a couple of days to Sappro where it’s the snow festival and you can always get an umbrella from the convenience store this one was 700 yen i like how they’re clear and they let the light through it’s less depressing than using a black umbrella that’s good there’s a picture of what it looked like before the earthquake and it’s just the stones left now and looks like there’s quite a lot of construction through there here’s some more before and after pictures showing the destruction caused by the earthquake it’s sad to see it all broken down and crumbling that’s the gate we just looked at isn’t it so yeah it looks like they’ve probably taken the top off it so they can do the repairs which I guess you kind of have to here you can see all the roof tiles ready for rebuilding look at this tiny shrine in the tree it’s like a shrine for squirrels it definitely isn’t that look it’s a Kum Daruma i love Daruma if you’re here earlier in the day you can get combination tickets for Kuma Castle and Kumar Castle Museum waku Wakuza just the castle is 800 yen just the museum is 300 yen or you can get both for 850 yen looks like they got quite a lot of Kuman stuff in the shop let’s have a look [Music] there’s Kuman above a mystery door we’re at Kuman Village which is inside Sakuramachi Shopping Mall it’s another Kuman shop welcome to Kuman looking very smart in his bow tie i like these little mini ones that’s just normal Vaseline but in a Kuman box the collab One Piece and Kumamon you know how I said I wanted a robot vacuum cleaner and you said it’s a waste of money yes i didn’t expect to see that i thought they’d have badges stationary i didn’t think they’d have a robot vacuum cleaner is this a Kuman bowling ball you definitely get a strike every time a Kuman and their friends the Shimano who sent me a New Year’s card this big Kuman is 66,000 yen i thought we’d already seen every possible type of Kumamon merchandise but there was even more in this shop of course the purpose of Kumamon like every other regional mascot is to promote tourism and bring money into the region this was especially important in Kumamoto after the earthquake in 2016 and I think Kuman’s doing a pretty good job heband what’s this oh hand sanitizer it’s a Kuman back scratcher i think Puman himself would need a much bigger one he can’t reach his back oh it’s extendable oh good cuz Kuman’s Kuman’s only got short arms i think the nail clippers are quite ridiculous though oh that’s the large size nail clippers and these are the small nail clippers i can’t believe there’s two sizes of Kuman nail clippers i did the lottery at Kuman Village it’s 1,200 yen and it said that everyone wins a prize which I thought meant you’d probably get a clear file or something but no everyone gets one of the Kuman plushies and I’m glad I got the smallest one because the bigger ones would take up quite a lot of room in the suitcase i got one four that’s what you wanted it’s a small one oh good there’s a stage here too it says Kuman is sometimes here between 1 and 1:30 i wonder if Kuman did the show here at 1:00 then ran over to Kuman Square and did the 2 p.m show we’ve looked up the QR code and it looks like it’s only on Sundays between 1 and 1:30 you can see Kuman here we bought a couple of things in the shop and they gave us these cookies as a free gift that was nice of them i really wanted to go to this park with giant sculptures of Kumaman called Kuman Port Yatsi Shiro unfortunately it takes quite a long time to get there on public transport even if you’re driving it’s just over an hour so I couldn’t justify the trip but doesn’t it look amazing i think if you’re on a cruise around Japan that’s where the big cruise ships dock i hope you enjoyed this day in Kumamoto it’s a small chilled city with enough to keep you occupied for the day without being too hectic we used it as a base for our day trip to the Unzen Hills and Shimabada which is in a separate video that was a highlight of the trip for me you can also go on a day trip to Mount Aso and the national park there and onen towns around Kyushu there’s also this Japanese garden called Sui Zenji that’s really popular it’s so quick to get around this side of Kyushu on the Shinkansen line it’s just under an hour to Kagashima to see Sakurajima an active volcano and about 40 minutes to Fukuroka have a look at my playlist of things to do in Kyushu i really love it there and I’ll see you next week with more Japan videos every Thursday [Music]

A fun day in Kumamoto, Japan, looking for Kumamon, visiting the castle and trying sake vending machines!

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It was so much fun hunting for Kumamon in Kumamoto. Kumamon’s the local character mascot, and they’re everywhere! The best spots are Kumamon Square, where you can see their show (for free!) and Kumamon Village, a shop in Sakura Machi shopping mall. At the start of the video, we take the shinkansen from Fukuoka to Kumamoto, which is only about 45 minutes. Then we take the tram into the city centre and check out the arcades. We found sake vending machines at Kumamoto Food Stall Village – a cheap way to try different types of sake for only 100 yen a glass. Then we looked round the outside of the castle, which is being rebuilt after the 2016 earthquake. There are so many interesting places in Kyushu, and Kumamoto’s an easily accessible city, with enough to do for a fun day out.

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00:00 Intro
00:41 Shinkansen to Kumamoto
04:00 Arriving in Kumamoto
05:43 Sakura-machi mall
9:09 Kumamon Square
14:56 Kumamoto Food Stall Village
16:38 Kumamoto Castle
21:08 Kumamon Village
23:42 More things to do in Kumamoto

#kumamoto #kumamon #japan #japantravel #kyushu