Konagai's Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops – Isahaya, Japan - Atlas Obscura
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Konagai's Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops

Isahaya, Japan

This town near Nagasaki is flecked with fruit-flavored bus stops. 

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In the town of Konagai bus stops come in different flavors, including strawberry. John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images
In the town of Konagai bus stops come in different flavors, including strawberry. John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images
Bus stops with fruit forms in the former Konagai town, now a part of Isahaya city, Nagasaki, Japan STA3816/CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
Melon bus stop emeasley (Atlas Obscura User) (Used with Permission)
Tomato bus stop emeasley (Atlas Obscura User) (Used with Permission)
Orange bus stop emeasley (Atlas Obscura User) (Used with Permission)
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If you can’t travel inside a giant peach like James, might as well at least wait for a bus in a giant melon. Or strawberry, or orange, or tomato.

The town of Konagai, in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, has fourteen yummy, fruity bus stops, originally designed and built for a 1990 expo in Osaka, 450 miles away. Travel was the expo theme, and it was hugely successful. So successful that other towns and cities jumped on the fruitcart and had expos of their own.

The fruit-shaped bus shelters made their way from the original Osaka expo down to Konagai, where they helped draw crowds to the coastal town on the Ariake Sea. They’ve stayed in service there ever since, lining the main road through town, keeping travelers dry. They still look pretty good after 25 years. Hardly a brown spot on any of them.

Know Before You Go

The small town of Konagai is about 10 miles from the center of Isahaya. There are 14 bus stops running along Highway 207 through the town.

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