History
Suidōchō tram stop opened on 1 August 1924 on the Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau line, numbered 12 today. The Route 4 section serving the stop (Kami-Kumamoto-ekimae – Fujisaki-gū-mae – Suidōchō – Taiikukan-mae) was abolished on 1 May 1970 and Route 1 (Tasakibashi – Suidōchō – Fujisaki-gū-mae – Koikabashi) followed on 1 March 1972; until then a signal tower stood at the intersection. A derailment on 31 December 2024 closed the section between Karashimachō and Suidōchō for three days, and short closures of the same section followed in January, March and June 2025 because of repair work, a collision and detected rail damage. The two opposing platforms with crossings and a turn-back siding on the Tōrichōsuji side make it the eastern terminus of the inner-city tram-shuttle area; the stop has been wheelchair-accessible since rebuilding.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-25.
Notes
Until 1972 Suidōchō had a second pair of platforms on National Route 3 in front of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Kumamoto Church, serving the Tsuboi Line and the Suidōchō – Koikabashi/Jōgyōji branch that was abolished that year — giving the stop a total of four platforms.