Sunpu Castle & Shizuoka city
1 / 7Sunpu Castle & Shizuoka cityPhoto: Wikimedia contributor / CC BY-SA 4.0
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Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Where the retired shogun actually lived. Moats, reconstructed turrets and a proper castle park. The train is about 10 minutes, but door to door it is about an hour each way, so give it a 4–6 hour call.
- Reachable on foot from the berth, so no timetable can strand you.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Perfect" — train out, an hour in the park and garden, train back with a margin. avoid mondays.
- It is not only a photo stop: nearly 90% of japan's plastic models are made within a few kilometres of your ship.
- 9:00–16:30 (last entry 16:00) — paid facilities are closed on mondays (open if it is a national holiday) and 29 december to 3 january..
- 3 hr door to door needs a 5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Why Sunpu Castle & Shizuoka city is famous
Nearly 90% of Japan's plastic models are made within a few kilometres of your ship
Sunpu was where Ieyasu spent both his childhood as a hostage and his retirement as the most powerful man in Japan. The castle he rebuilt here in 1607 burned and was dismantled, but the moats, stone walls and two reconstructed gates survive as a park in the middle of Shizuoka city, eleven minutes by train from the port.
If you have ever built a Tamiya kit, a Gundam, or a scale model tank, there is a very good chance it was designed or made in this city. Shizuoka produces the overwhelming majority of Japan's plastic model kits, and the reason goes back to Edo-period castle and shrine carpentry.
After handing the shogunate to his son Hidetada, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to Sunpu and in 1607 had a castle built there with three moats, according to the city's own history page. The park now sits on that castle site, ringed by moats and stone walls, in the centre of Shizuoka city, about 10 minutes by train from Shimizu.
The rebuilt Tatsumi corner tower and Higashi east gate hold a small museum on how the castle was built and lost; a smaller southwest tower shows the timber structure up close; and the Momijiyama garden next door, a traditional garden with a tea room, serves tea and sweets. The keep's stone base was dug up in an archaeological project from 2016, but that site and its visitor centre closed on 26 December 2025 for new construction, so do not expect to see it.
The catch: this is a quiet history stop, not a spectacle, and most captions will be in Japanese. Everything paid closes at 16:30 and on Mondays, so check the calendar. If you only have a short call, Dream Plaza is the better use of the time.
Skilled woodworkers gather and stay
Shizuoka becomes the national centre
The same firms change material, not skills
Tamiya, Hasegawa, Aoshima, Fujimi, Bandai
If anyone in your family builds models, spend twenty minutes in a Shizuoka hobby shop. Domestic prices, deep back catalogue.
Things worth knowing
- Check the day: the paid facilities are closed on Mondays unless it is a holiday.
- Buy the 3-facility ticket (¥360) at the corner tower; it costs less than buying the three singles (¥450).
- The keep's excavation site and its visitor centre have been closed since 26 December 2025 for new construction, so the stone base will not be open to walk around.
- JR Shimizu to Shizuoka is a ¥240 ride of about 10 minutes, with several trains an hour in a route search; check the board.
- Puramoderuプラモデル — "Plastic model." Shortened to puramo in speech.
- Gunplaガンプラ — Gundam plastic models. Essentially all made here.
Where the 3 hr goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway, about 30 minutes after the ship arrives. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
55 minutes each way is the measured figure for about 55 min each way (shuttle or walk, jr, walk), not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 10 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
How do I get from Shimizu cruise port to Sunpu Castle?
Walk 10 minutes to Dream Plaza and take its free shuttle bus to JR Shimizu Station (or walk about 30 minutes), then the JR Tokaido Line to Shizuoka, about 10 to about 10 minutes and ¥240, then walk about 15 minutes to the park.
How much is Sunpu Castle?
The three-facility ticket is ¥360 for adults and covers the east gate and corner tower, the southwest tower and the Momijiyama garden. Singles are ¥200, ¥100 and ¥150.
Is the Sunpu Castle keep excavation open?
No. The city says the excavation site and its visitor centre closed on 26 December 2025 for new construction work.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
