Located in Nagasaki‘s little town Konagai, these quirky fruit-shaped bus stops were originally built to attract the attention of visitors arriving from different locations for the 1990 Travel Expo in Osaka. The Expo’s theme was ”Travel” and it ran for six months and attracted over 20 million visitors. It was so successful that the neighboring cities wanted to do their own smaller fairs as well and Konagai was one of them. The expo of Konagai was named ”Nagasaki Journey” and these sixteen bus stops were part of it. Since then they became the symbols of the region.
The fruit-shaped bus stops come in 5 flavors: watermelon, strawberry, orange, tomato, and melon.
There are now 16 of them peppered along the road Highway 207 in Isahaya, the city where Konagai is located. In time, the bus stops became tourist attraction spots. These stops are also a nod to the climate of the region where various fruits are cultivated every year. Although they are more than 30 years old, they are well-maintained and still in use.
This street in particular is known as ”Tokimeki Fruit-shaped Bus Stop Avenue”
