Local News

During a meeting of the prefectural assembly, Kumamoto Prefecture Gov. Ikuo Kabashima revealed that he would consider a campaign to solicit money from the citizens to help pay for the rebuilding of the JR Kumamoto City station. The new building, for which construction is scheduled to start in FY 2013, will be designed by world-famous architect Tadao Ando. Construction costs were originally estimated at roughly 560 million yen, but this has been revised upward to about two billion yen. The governor said that the campaign would increase citizen interest in the station, and would be a good opportunity to inculcate feelings of familiarity and affection for the new building.