Like Kumamoto Castle, the Shirakawa Komine Castle of Fukushima suffered serious damage to its stone walls after the 2011 quake.
“Shirakawa Komine Castle suffered serious damage in the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and for a long while it was closed to the public due to restoration efforts, but from 2015, it was reopened. However, as of July 2015, it was still undergoing partial construction.”
http://planetyze.com/en/japan/fukushima/shirakawa-komine-castle
Recently, on a local news show, I saw a report about the mayor of Shirakawa City visiting Kumamoto to offer support and advice. On the TV show I heard that the visiting mayor had recommended that the restoration process be made open to the public to the extent possible. This struck me as a great idea because the restoration process seems likely to take a very long time. Making the restoration itself something that visitors (and residents) can learn about and observe may give people a new reason to visit the castle area until the work is done.
Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t find an article documenting this, even in Japanese. I did, however, find this Japanese article about a group of experts recommending an open restoration process:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyushu/news/20160606-OYS1T50026.html
The article says that the experts pointed to the example of the construction of Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in Spain. Though the project is yet to be concluded tourists can observe and learn about the construction process when they visit.
One more Japanese article I found is about how the mayor of Shirakawa promised to send restoration experts (with experience working on Shirakawa Komine Castle) if requested:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160610-00000032-fminpo-l07
My impression was that Kumamoto’s Mayor Onishi was in favor of the idea of a restoration process that is open to the public, at least partially. I hope it gets underway soon.
– Kirk
