The One Piece statues of Kumamoto: finding all 10 Straw Hats

Scattered across Kumamoto Prefecture stand ten bronze statues of the Straw Hat Pirates — Luffy in front of the prefectural office, Chopper at the zoo, Usopp outside Aso Station. They exist because of two facts: One Piece creator Eiichirō Oda is from Kumamoto, and in April 2016 the prefecture was hit by devastating earthquakes. The statues are the One Piece Kumamoto Revival Project — the crew "dispatched" to the hardest-hit towns to pull visitors back. This guide lists where every statue is, tells the story behind the project, and lays out a realistic route — plus the Japanese you'll use.

Why the Straw Hats are in Kumamoto

Eiichirō Oda was born and raised in Kumamoto, and after the April 2016 earthquakes — which killed dozens, collapsed homes across the prefecture and badly damaged Kumamoto Castle — he and the publisher backed a recovery campaign under the banner that the Straw Hat crew would help rebuild. Its most visible legacy is the ONE PIECE Kumamoto Revival Project: ten bronze statues of the crew, unveiled one by one between 2018 and 2022, each placed in a city, town or village that suffered in the quakes.

The placements aren't random — each character was matched to a location with intent: navigator Nami, who commands wind and weather, in a village whose hilltop wind turbines were wrecked by the quakes; doctor Chopper at a zoo that had to evacuate its animals; archaeologist Robin at the earthquake-memorial museum on the fault line; shipwright Franky beside a railway that took years to reopen. Visiting them means visiting the recovery itself — which is exactly the point. It's the same "fiction pulls fans into real towns" pattern as Japan's character manholes and anime pilgrimage spots, but with an unusually moving backstory.

All 10 statue locations

The crew, the towns, and when each statue was unveiled. All are outdoors and free; only Robin's sits on museum grounds, so check the site's hours for that one.

The statues are permanent public monuments, so unlike manhole tie-ups they won't move — but bus routes, rental-car availability and nearby facilities do change. The official project site (op-kumamoto.com) has the current access details for each statue.

A realistic route

Ten statues across nine municipalities sounds like a scavenger hunt, and it is — but the geography sorts itself into three clusters:

• Kumamoto City (on foot / tram): Luffy at the prefectural office and Chopper at the zoo are both reachable by city tram and a walk. Pair them with Kumamoto Castle — itself the region's great earthquake-recovery story.
• The Aso caldera loop (car or train): Usopp (Aso Station), Franky (Takamori Station), Robin (Minamiaso) and Nami (Nishihara) ring the volcano. A rental car does the loop comfortably in a day with caldera views the whole way; the JR Hōhi line and Minamiaso Railway cover Usopp and Franky if you're car-free.
• The southern arc (car): Sanji (Mashiki), Brook (Mifune), Zoro (Ōzu) sit east of the city and combine well; Jinbe (Uto) faces the sea to the south-west — a natural sunset finale.

Two full days with a rental car collects all ten without rushing. One day gets you the city pair plus either the Aso loop or the southern arc.

The Japanese you'll actually use

Rural Kumamoto is where a little Japanese pays off most — bus drivers and tourist desks will happily point you to a statue if you can name it:

Want these to stick? The free JLPT battle quiz drills travel and culture vocabulary like this with spaced repetition.

Want the merch, not just the statues?

One Piece goods — including Kumamoto-exclusive statue merchandise — often never leave Japan. If you're collecting from overseas, a proxy-buying service ships them worldwide.