Kirk here with something about Kumamoto Square. The URL of the website I took a screenshot of is here:

https://www.kumamon-sq.jp/en/

Here’s a bit of news (translated from the Japanese by the Claude AI service) about it:

Headline: Visiting Japan to meet Kumamon - Visitor center sees 4-fold increase, with majority being foreigners

Text: Kumamoto Prefecture’s PR character “Kumamon” is popular among inbound tourists (foreign visitors to Japan). Among the 30,000 monthly visitors to “Kumamon Square” (Kumamoto City), which was renovated in July 2023, more than half are foreign tourists, mainly from Asia. The number of visitors in fiscal year 2023 has nearly quadrupled compared to fiscal year 2022, and as of the end of March 2024, the cumulative number of visitors reached 3.5 million.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOJC222B90S4A320C2000000/