Kumamoto Castle, a popular tourist destination in southwestern Japan, appears to be floating in a sea of clouds after its host city started generating them on Friday for a limited-time event, giving the castle's famous stone walls a different look.
Through Nov 4, pure white mist, made using water partly taken from the castle's old well, will emerge around the steeply curving stone walls of the main tower of the castle, which is undergoing repair work after a pair of massive earthquakes in 2016, according to the Kumamoto municipal government.
The scene, which features one of the largest artificial sea of clouds in Japan, appears between 9:10 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., and visitors who have paid to enter the castle can view it from a special observation path, set up for people to see the progress in the castle's reconstruction work.
After sunset, the castle's main tower and the clouds will be lit up in blue, in the image of water, according to the municipal government, which had been looking for fresh ways to utilize the old samurai fortress completed in 1607.
It decided on the project after observing an event at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ninnaji Temple in Kyoto, which also utilized an artificial sea of clouds.
"It's an attempt to upgrade the splendor of Kumamoto Castle. I hope many people will see it," said Yasuhiro Iwasa, a municipal government official.
The massive earthquakes in April 2016, measuring the highest reading of 7 on the country's seismic intensity scale, caused roof tiles and decorative ornaments to fall off and other structures in Kumamoto Castle park such as stone walls to crumble or completely collapse.
While the main tower of the castle reopened to the public in 2021, the restoration of the whole castle park is expected to be completed around 2052, 15 years later than initially planned.
