The Interactive Museum to Visit with Kumamoto Castle
At the foot of Kumamoto Castle, you’ll find an interactive museum called “Kumamoto Castle Museum Wakuwaku-za.”
With exhibits featuring VR footage, projection mapping, and more, visitors can learn about Kumamoto Castle’s history while having fun. It’s a popular spot for tourists visiting alongside Kumamoto Castle.
This article introduces the highlights and how to enjoy Wakuwaku-za.
Kumamoto Castle Museum Wakuwaku-za
Kumamoto Castle Museum Wakuwaku-za is an interactive museum located within Kumamoto Castle grounds where visitors can experience the castle’s history and culture. Situated in Sakura no Baba Josaien in Kumamoto City’s Chuo Ward, it opened in 2011. The museum focuses on Kumamoto’s history and culture, offering visitors an enjoyable learning experience.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Hours | 9:00 am–5:30 pm (Last entry at 5:00 pm) |
| Closed | December 29 |
| Admission | Adults (High school and above): 300 yen / Elementary and Junior High: 100 yen |
| Access | About 23 minutes from Kumamoto Station by "Shiromegurin" loop bus (Adults 200 yen, Children 100 yen) |
| Address | 1 - 1-1 Ninomaru, Chuo - ku, Kumamoto City, Kumamoto 860 - 0008 |
| Phone | 096-288-5600 |
| Website | https://www.sakuranobaba-johsaien.jp/waku-index/ |
Visit with Kumamoto Castle—But Go to Wakuwaku-za First!
If you’re visiting Kumamoto Castle, we recommend visiting Wakuwaku-za as well. And if you do, go to Wakuwaku-za before heading to the castle.
Here’s why:
- Learn about Kumamoto Castle’s highlights before your visit
- Build excitement with entertaining educational content
- Get a great deal with the combo ticket
1. Learn About the Castle’s Highlights Before Your Visit
At the end of Wakuwaku-za’s tour route, you’ll find “Kumamoto Castle VR.”
VR stands for “Virtual Reality”—high-definition CG footage that feels almost like the real thing.
You can watch Kumamoto Castle VR on a massive screen with staff commentary.
The best part of Kumamoto Castle VR is that staff members introduce the castle’s highlights.
For those about to visit Kumamoto Castle, you can learn “what to look for while exploring” beforehand.
For example, they guide you through the South Route to Kumamoto Castle from a walking perspective, pointing out highlights along the way.
Since it’s made with CG, the recreation is highly accurate, and the footage is beautifully detailed.
The Advantage of Using CG
From personal experience, using CG for this footage is actually brilliant.
If they used actual video footage for this guide, it would honestly feel like spoilers. You’d be seeing the actual scenery you’re about to experience at Kumamoto Castle.
But with CG, there’s no such issue. Instead, the images stay in your mind, and when you see the real scenery, you’ll think “So this is what they were talking about!”—creating an even more moving experience.
A Perfectly Designed Visitor Flow
The presentation takes just a few minutes, so after enjoying Wakuwaku-za (this theater is conveniently at the end of the tour route), you can take a break, watch Kumamoto Castle VR to learn the highlights,
then exit directly through the door next to the theater toward the South Route to Kumamoto Castle.
The visitor flow is designed perfectly.
This is one of the reasons why you should visit Wakuwaku-za together with Kumamoto Castle—and go to Wakuwaku-za first.
2. Build Excitement with Educational Entertainment
Besides the “Kumamoto Castle VR” mentioned earlier, Wakuwaku-za offers various exhibits about Kumamoto Castle, including quizzes and games—all highly entertaining.
- Kumamoto Castle Disaster & Restoration Projection Mapping
- Kumamoto Castle Fixed-Point Live Camera
- Footage of the Earthquake Damage
- Stone Wall Stacking Experience
- Historical Figure Quiz Battle
- Seinan War Corner
A Glimpse into Tokusatsu Art
At the entrance of Wakuwaku-za, you’ll find a “Kumamoto Castle Uto Turret Miniature” created by Toshio Miike, who has worked on special effects art for famous films like “Shin Godzilla,” “Attack on Titan,” “Nobou’s Castle,” “Yamato,” the “Godzilla series,” and “Ultraman series.”
It’s incredibly detailed, with high accuracy down to the finest details.
The fact that such an impressive exhibit greets you right at the entrance shows how well-equipped Wakuwaku-za is.
Arcade-Style Exhibits
One of Wakuwaku-za’s most memorable features is its arcade-style content. These are the type of game machines you’d find in game centers—with buttons, levers, and all that.
You can enjoy quizzes and games in this arcade game format.
The Seinan War Quiz uses buttons to answer questions.
There are games too, not just quizzes. This one is “Save Burning Kumamoto Castle!!”
You control it with a lever and buttons.
You can also take commemorative photos in virtual costumes.
And compete in quizzes against historical figures!
Combining Video and Kamishibai
Any museum has written explanations and video commentary—that’s standard. But Wakuwaku-za’s historical explanations take it a step further.
A “combination of video and kamishibai (picture story show).”
This is the Seinan War explanation corner. Can you see it? In front of the display showing video, there are paper cutouts.
These cutouts actually move—they’re not static. They change according to the scene being explained.
It makes the Seinan War very easy to understand and enjoyable to watch.
Long ago, there was kamishibai—picture story shows where illustrations depicted each scene as the story progressed. An advanced form of kamishibai added moving paper cutouts on top of the illustrations.
This Seinan War explanation is exactly that—video, audio, and paper cutouts move in sync. I was amazed. It’s likely a first-time experience for anyone. If you visit Wakuwaku-za, definitely check out this exhibit.
Kumamoto Castle Disaster & Restoration Projection Mapping
This exhibit uses projection mapping to show how Kumamoto Castle was damaged and how it’s being restored.
It depicts how stone walls crumbled during the earthquake.
And how the collapsed stone walls are being restored.
You can see from a bird’s eye view how many areas collapsed at once and how much damage was done—really conveying the scale of destruction.
Even More Content to Explore
Wakuwaku-za has so much content that it’s impossible to cover everything in one visit.
Stone Wall Stacking Experience
Feudal Lord’s Procession Model (Onnyukoku Ongyoretsu)
This model recreates the procession when the 11th lord of Kumamoto Domain, Hosokawa Yoshiyuki, returned from Edo to Kumamoto. Based on the “Onnyukoku Ongyoretsu-zu” (held by Eisei Bunko), it depicts the procession with the feudal lord’s palanquin at the center.
Fun Before You Even Reach the Castle
With so many creative exhibits, Wakuwaku-za allows you to learn about Kumamoto Castle’s history while having fun.
Experiencing this content will definitely build your excitement for exploring Kumamoto Castle.
3. Great Value with the Combo Ticket
First, let’s check the individual admission fees for Kumamoto Castle and Wakuwaku-za.
| Kumamoto Castle | Wakuwaku - za | |
|---|---|---|
| High School and Above | 800 yen | 300 yen |
| Elementary/Junior High | 300 yen | 100 yen |
Paying separately would cost 1,100 yen for adults and 400 yen for children.
However, with the Wakuwaku-za and Kumamoto Castle combo ticket, you can enter both facilities for:
| Kumamoto Castle & Wakuwaku - za Combo | |
|---|---|
| High School and Above | 850 yen |
| Elementary/Junior High | 300 yen |
Adults save 250 yen and children save 100 yen. Looking at it another way, adults pay just 50 yen more than the castle-only price to include Wakuwaku-za. For children, Wakuwaku-za is essentially free.
Given how fun Wakuwaku-za is, as mentioned above, combined with these savings—there’s no reason not to buy the combo ticket.
Visit Wakuwaku-za first and purchase the combo ticket at the ticket machine.
Make Your Kumamoto Castle Visit Even More Enjoyable—That’s Wakuwaku-za
“Wakuwaku-za” is also written as “湧々座” (meaning “bubbling excitement”). True to its name, you could interpret it as having exciting content that gets your heart racing. But it also fits the meaning of “building excitement for the upcoming Kumamoto Castle visit” and “enjoying the castle more by gaining new perspectives.”
Wakuwaku-za is a well-equipped museum where you can learn about Kumamoto Castle’s history and culture while having fun. When visiting Kumamoto Castle, be sure to stop by. And when you do, visit Wakuwaku-za before heading to the castle.
