Joe Tomei here. Folks may be interested to have a peek at the digitized documents at the Kumamoto Prefectural Library (found at https://www2.library.pref.kumamoto.jp/index.php?page_id=231) As an example of some of the things you might find, here is a listing of all the foreigners passing through Kumamoto in Meiji 29 to Meiji 30 (1869-1870)
Still working my way through this, but it gives you an insight into Japanese bureaucracy, that you have them keeping a list of the names of foreigners who visited 150 years ago.