Bus stops don’t have to be boring! In the Japanese town of Konagai, part of Isahaya City in Nagasaki Prefecture, along the road you’ll find some juicy bus stops, built in the shape of strawberries, melons, watermelons, oranges and tomatoes. There are a total of 16 stops that look like this:

The five different types of bus stops. Photo source: http://www.city.isahaya.nagasaki.jp/topics/burari/no004/burari.htm

A total of 16 stops along Route 207 (map from the Isahaya City web site).

What’s the story behind this? The stops were built for the Travel Expo show in 1990 with the intent to serve as an attractive gateway for travelers entering the Nagasaki Prefecture. According to the Isahaya City web site, the creators got the idea for these unusual shapes from the famous story of Cinderella where the carriage turns into a pumpkin.

For all lovers of healthy food, here are a few more photos:

A strawberry...

...watermelon...

...melon...

...orange...

...and tomato.

Photo source: http://ameblo.jp/love2strawberry/entry-10094286716.html

Isahaya City official web site: http://www.city.isahaya.nagasaki.jp/topics/burari/no004/burari.htm

A few days ago, a Japanese dollmaker Kyugetsu unveiled a shockingly realistic hina doll that resembles Japanese figure skater Mao Asada. The company said they wanted to show support for her efforts in figure skating competitions during the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Hina dolls are traditional Japanese figurines, meant to celebrate the annual Hina Matsuri (Girl’s Day festival) which is held on the 3rd of March every year.

Let’s compare the doll with the real Mao!

Mao Asada as hina doll (left).

A news report about the Mao Asada hina doll:

If you’re curious what would it look like on another planet (or in the apocalyptic world after the global financial crisis), step into the Onioshidashi volcanic park in Japan!

Onioshidashi-en (鬼押出し園) is a huge natural park in Gunma Prefecture that was created after the catastrophic eruption of the Mt. Asama volcano on August 5, 1783. On that fateful day, a 7 km (4.3 miles) wide stream of flaming lava from the volcano — which, mind you, is still active today — swallowed the entire surrounding area and wiped a nearby village of Kanbara off the map. It is said that the ashes reached as far away as Europe.

The Kannon-do temple stands among molten volcanic rocks that cover the entire area. Mt. Asama is seen in the background.

The volcano last erupted in 1973 and the steam has been coming out ever since. For security reasons, hiking is prohibited within a 4 km (2.5 mile) circle around the crater.

The Onioshidashi-en park which is 12 km (7.5 miles) long, 3 km (1.9 miles) wide and located something over 1300 meters (4265 ft) above sea level, is considered one of the three greatest volcanic sights in the world. Nowadays, brave tourists can hike on a 2.7 km (1.6 mile) long trail that meanders through the sea of molten lava and offers a spectacular panoramic view of this very unusual landscape.

How to get there? Regular buses Seibu Kogen can take you to Onioshidashi-en from Naka-Karuizawa Station (about 35 minutes) or from Karuizawa Station (about 50 minutes) which is also connected to a JR line. Near the entrance they have plenty of souvenir shops, resting places and a restaurant. The park is open daily from 8 AM to 5 PM and is closed in winter months.

Want to see more? I invite you to take a look at the rest of the photos I took at Onioshidashi. Fantastic scenery!

Gallery: Onioshidashi Volcanic Park
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Where in Japan is Onioshidashi:

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Address: 1053 Kanbara, Tsumagoi-mura, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma-ken, Japan

Soccer is quite popular in Japan and sometimes they play it with binoculars. Let’s see what that looks like (from an 80’s Japanese TV show):

A few days ago I came across a graph by the National Geographic that showed the cost of health care per person in different countries. What’s the cost of health care in Japan? Here is the graph (find the original article on this link):

The source of data is OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). The author of the graph mentions that not all OECD countries are included for better readability as some data would otherwise overlap. If you’re interested in the rest of the countries, see this spreadsheet.

The graphs shows that Japan — which belongs to countries with highest quality medical care — comes below average with $2,581 spent per person for medical care (year 2007) and ranks the highest in average life expectancy among listed countries.  The U.S. stands out with the highest spending at $7,290 per person and is the only listed country — besides Mexico — that does not offer universal health coverage.

People in Japan also visit a doctor on average 12 times or more pear year. Why so often? Naoki Ikegami, chairman of the Keio University Department of Health Policy and Management in an interview for PBS about healthcare in Japan says that these visits tend to be very short (as little as 5 minutes for repeat consultations) and are common for the elderly with chronic illnesses who want to assure themselves about the state of their health. The low costs also make it possible for people to visit doctors more often.

Ikegami adds that the “main goal of a public health insurance is to prevent people from going broke.”

How is Tokyo prepared for an event of a major earthquake or some other natural disaster? For an answer, we need to go underground!

In the video, a city official opens a trapdoor on the sidewalk and descends 20 meters deep down the stairway to huge underground warehouse that stocks emergency supplies meant for the public in an event of a natural disaster.

In this hidden area the size of 1480 square meters (15,930 sq ft) that would make James Bond especially happy, they keep stocks of emergency medical supplies, food, 5000 blankets, 8000 rugs, 4000 candles, 300 cooking pots, 200 t-shirts and various other items. They also built a system of conveyor belts that can transport the supplies up to the street level.

For this city of 13 million people, 300 cooking pots certainly won’t be enough. It is known that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government maintains a number of such warehouses along unnamed stations at the Oedo line which circles around Tokyo in a 40 km loop. Where exactly are these warehouses is kept secret in order to prevent too many people from gathering at the locations after a major disaster. At the end of video, the TV crew exits at one of such stations.