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

Remember this article about Hachiko, Japan’s most famous dog? Throughout years, the dog has become a real trademark of Shibuya. He’s even being used as a mascot on Hachiko buses that run in the Shibuya area.

The Hachiko Bus runs on 3 lines:

-  Jingumae-Sendagaya | Route & Schedule
-  Honmachi-Sasazuka (Haruno Ogawa Route) | Route & Schedule
-  Ebisu-Daikanyama (Yuyake Koyake Route) | Route & Schedule

The ticket costs a flat price of ¥100.

Even though public transit in Tokyo is usually very crowded, I haven’t really noticed any kind of uncivilized or otherwise problematic behavior. In general, people seem very polite and considerate to one another. Still, Tokyo Metro last year started a campaign with a series of manner posters that remind passengers of good manners in trains and stations. Every month they design a new poster that is displayed on Tokyo’s subway stations. The posters are bilingual in Japanese and English.

This one here reminds you not to exercise on train handles, in case you get such an idea… :D

On the official Tokyo Metro web site you can see more of these posters that were displayed so far.
What do you think about this idea with posters for good manners?

Tokyo is one gigantic salad of intertwined train lines that somehow reminds on a complicated electrical circuit and you won’t really get anywhere without a decent train map! The good news: you can get from one point to another relatively quickly as the trains run on schedule every few minutes and can take you to practically any destination. For example, the main (and always packed) Yamanote line with an average of 3.6 million passengers per day in 200 meter long trains, runs in a loop around central Tokyo with stops every two minutes. (Later I’ll write some more interesting facts about this line).

If you’re visiting Tokyo, I recommend you to arm yourself with a train map (PDF files):

- Tokyo train map (English)
- Tokyo train map (Japanese)

The Tokyo Metro web site also has a lot of useful information.