There are so many cool things like this all over Japan, and only a very small percentage of them get completely run-over with international tourists. Even an hour or two outside of Tokyo, many not-so-hidden treasures like this can be found. And there aren't many tourists at these spots.
Take last year's "Lawson with a view of Mount Fuji" thing. The city had to to take all kinds of counter-measures to international tourists flocking there just to take a photo. Meanwhile, there are dozens more Lawsons in the area with epic views of Mount Fuji in the background, and not a tourist in sight.
Yes, I agree, because life would get boring really quickly. People should be able to express themselves (in a civil, legal manner) so that the world can be more colourful and filled with art and beauty.
But also no, I don't agree. Have you seen the impact tourism in Japan has had on the local ecosystem as of late? They've literally banned tourists in some areas because frankly: more tourists act like animals. They litter, act rude and disrespectful, and are just obnoxious. Also, in a lot of cases, they provide little to no financial growth or benefit to the local economy. Look at Venice, for example.
So I think when making something like this, there has to be some degree of forward thinking around how it's going to divert (tourist) traffic to the area and what impact that's going to have on the locals.
Can't really blame click economy when travel is promoted as universal good from local, state and national governments all over the world. Travel used to be few times in a lifetime thing. Now it is like everyone should be traveling few times a year at least.
> Now it is like everyone should be traveling few times a year at least
You and I live in different worlds. I only know one person who travels that often, after he became wealthy from a successful buy out. Overwhelmingly the people around me travel a handful of times in a lifetime.
Don’t underestimate domestic Japanese tourism! To be fair, it feels a bit different, compared to international, as there’s no language barrier and etc.
This is awesomeness happening because copyright can't sabotage it.
sidebar: The opposite of this awesomeness is counterproductive absurdity. The latter is what copyright always devolves to when it is insufficiently restrained.
If you're in Seattle, there's also a large statue of the robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky here. It's standing on the front lawn of a house in the Ballard neighborhood. I had recently seen the movie when I first encountered it, so it was a fun find.
No wonder, people go nuts for stuff like this. The only reason it doesn't have constant lines is that because it's a little out of the way. If it was in Tokyo you'd see lines around the block daily.
It’s not an actual bus stop. The bus stop is part of the installation. It depicts the scene where Totoro takes the cat bus [1]. But I was hoping it had an umbrella too.
It's made of concrete, which now that I think about it must have been the obvious choice, but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that it's not soft and fluffy like in the movie.
This was my initial thought just from reading the headline and was not dissuaded from seeing the permanence of the structure. I'd imagine some fines for your effort as well.
And don't forget the inevitable graffiti. The uncreative will simply spray random words and letters, but the deep thinkers among us may have the wit to draw a penis on it.
Eh, depends where the bus stop is. Around me, the transit busses don't have marked stops, and will stop anywhere on the route, and there's no sidewalk, so landowners can put up art/sculpture at the edge of their parcel or the road easement, if they want. School busses stop at specific places, but many landowners have put up shelters for students to wait underneath. In town, there are bus stops and city managed sidewalk; you can't block the sidewalk, but a landowner could put up art at the edge of the sidewalk. Commercial signs are regulated regardless of where installed, but a sculpture such as this isn't commercial.
Your city may be different, of course, but I wouldn't expect this to cause a problem, if installed by permission of the owner, in most cities. HOAs might throw a fit, they like to do that.
This sculpture isn't particularly tall, but height restrictions are popular. A sculpture that does not appear to be stable, or appears particularly flammable might be reviewable as well. There's no utility connections, so there's no need to review those.
The night the bar I went to shut down, we got some spray paint and wrote messages all over the building. Few weeks later they're having an estate sale. I notice it was painted over. Asked the owner, he said the county got on his ass about it.
All the land around a bus station is typically city-owned, I wouldn't give it a week before a work detail is despatched to remove it.
> we got some spray paint and wrote messages all over the building ... he said the county got on his ass about it.
No surprise, messages in spray paint are generally discouraged. Had you drawn a mural, it may have been treated differently.
> All the land around a bus station is typically city-owned, I wouldn't give it a week before a work detail is despatched to remove it.
When the bus stop is on a gravel road next to a field, as depicted in the article, I doubt the land is city-owned. But yeah, no surprise, the city doesn't want you to dump your stuff on their land, and they'll remove it.
Edit: from the google maps picture, it's not even on a gravel road, it's next to gravel parking for a small building. What municipality is going to give you shit for putting a sculpture next to your parking lot, unless the sculpture is obviously dangerous, offensive, or subverting building codes (if your sculpture is occupiable space, it needs to meet building codes)
That's not generally true. In my current house, I own the land to the middle of the street. There is no sidewalk. The city has an implied easement (I've not found any documentation of it at least) covering the street and any drainage features abutting the street, although there are none on my side of the street. I can't place a sculpture on the road and expect it to remain, although there have been concrete blocks placed to obstruct parking since before I purchased the property, and they haven't been removed, so I could probably put some art there if I really wanted. Some of the lots around me do not extend into the street, and some do. As mentioned, sidewalks are not universal, and certainly not around here ... in town sidewalks are common, but lot boundaries are not consistent --- many lot lines on sidewalked streets don't extend into the sidewalk, but some extend into the sidewalk and the street surface. Regardless, art left on the sidewalk is likely to be removed, as it impairs access and the municipality has rights to maintain access to sidewalk regardless of ownership.
At my last house, I believe my lot went to the curb, although we never had it surveyed, and I didn't measure the width of the street. That wasn't in a city, but it did have a sidewalk; the county established standards for the sidewalk, but as the landowner, I was responsible for maintenance of it. The land between the sidewalk and the street was in my undisputed control, although looking at the county assessor interactive map, the lot line may fall a few feet on the house side of the sidewalk; the plat map shows a 50 foot gap in lots for the street and google maps measurement shows the street is much less than 50 feet.
Not necessarily. The sidewalk can still be owned but could be considered an easement, such that the owner can't restrict reasonable traffic flow along that easement.
Besides, think about it, have these parents completed an Environmental Impact Report? How do we know this is not terrible for the environment? Chesterton's fence. Regulations are written in blood.
As someone who's triggered by this and has griped about it just recently: No, this doesn't qualify, because Totoro is actually Japanese content that happens to be popular internationally. "Thing, Japan" is if you take something that is commonplace outside of Japan as well, and act as if only the mystical, wise place that is Japan has it.
No, the question is 'Where else there are decorated bus stops?' and there are countless examples of that. But no one cares (= no one will make a HN post about it) if you see that in Poland [0] or in the UK [1]. So 'Thing, Japan' + HN has a very strong Japanophilia
I don't think it matters to many people that this was in japan, so much as it does that this is totoro and also that it was done by regular people who just wanted to make something nice. It'd be just as cool if grandparents in Ohio did this, expect they'd inevitably be sued into bankruptcy for it by disney.
Do you realize the linked article isn't talking about an actual bus stop? The movie My Neighbor Totoro has a scene at a bus stop. These people recreated the bus stop near their home/business.
So no, any bus stop that's been decorated is not "the same thing outside of Japan." This is specifically about being the bus stop from the movie.
I concur. This would have been awesome anywhere. The fact that this is in Japan is not surprising, although it's clear that if one were to go check out a lifesize Totoro statue, having in Japan makes it nicer because it's its "natural" environment.
A future where Miyazaki prefecture become littered with grandparent-fueled Ghibli characters and quickly become overrun with tourists...
Or kids at this specific stop are treated to a moment of joy while waiting for their train to come...
Time will tell...
You can't just tell everyone to not do anything cool because it might attract too many tourists. That's a race to the bottom of a boring world.
There are so many cool things like this all over Japan, and only a very small percentage of them get completely run-over with international tourists. Even an hour or two outside of Tokyo, many not-so-hidden treasures like this can be found. And there aren't many tourists at these spots.
Take last year's "Lawson with a view of Mount Fuji" thing. The city had to to take all kinds of counter-measures to international tourists flocking there just to take a photo. Meanwhile, there are dozens more Lawsons in the area with epic views of Mount Fuji in the background, and not a tourist in sight.
Yes and no.
Yes, I agree, because life would get boring really quickly. People should be able to express themselves (in a civil, legal manner) so that the world can be more colourful and filled with art and beauty.
But also no, I don't agree. Have you seen the impact tourism in Japan has had on the local ecosystem as of late? They've literally banned tourists in some areas because frankly: more tourists act like animals. They litter, act rude and disrespectful, and are just obnoxious. Also, in a lot of cases, they provide little to no financial growth or benefit to the local economy. Look at Venice, for example.
So I think when making something like this, there has to be some degree of forward thinking around how it's going to divert (tourist) traffic to the area and what impact that's going to have on the locals.
Kyushu is quite far off the beaten tourist path, so I doubt it would get a lot of non-domestic traveling.
I believe you’re underestimating the rapacious hunger of the click economy
Can't really blame click economy when travel is promoted as universal good from local, state and national governments all over the world. Travel used to be few times in a lifetime thing. Now it is like everyone should be traveling few times a year at least.
> Now it is like everyone should be traveling few times a year at least
You and I live in different worlds. I only know one person who travels that often, after he became wealthy from a successful buy out. Overwhelmingly the people around me travel a handful of times in a lifetime.
Like eating meat daily. At some point the masses want, and get, what was once just for the elite.
Or driving cars for that matter.
Don’t underestimate domestic Japanese tourism! To be fair, it feels a bit different, compared to international, as there’s no language barrier and etc.
Isletwald in CH or Hallstatt in Austria were also quite far off the beaten path. That didn’t stop hordes of tourists from overrunning them.
possible but more a corner case that additionally takes one along the opposite vibe trajectory to the story's
so ... why?
The my neighbour Totoro theatre show has a 18ft soft moving puppet built by Jim Henson’s Creature shop. It’s incredible how they pulled it off.
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/My_Neighbour_Totoro
I saw the musical in London and it was so good! Highly recommend it!
This is awesomeness happening because copyright can't sabotage it.
sidebar: The opposite of this awesomeness is counterproductive absurdity. The latter is what copyright always devolves to when it is insufficiently restrained.
If you're in Seattle, there's also a large statue of the robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky here. It's standing on the front lawn of a house in the Ballard neighborhood. I had recently seen the movie when I first encountered it, so it was a fun find.
I love that this happened on Miyazaki Prefecture.
I love that they didn't half-ass it, even if it was just for the kids.
Miyazaki prefecture? Thats going to be a long route for the Nekobasu.
https://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/welcome/#:~:text=Poof%2C%20B...
Here it is on Google Street View/Maps
https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQgZg8trKy56qfuG7
Looks like it turned into a little side business for them.
No wonder, people go nuts for stuff like this. The only reason it doesn't have constant lines is that because it's a little out of the way. If it was in Tokyo you'd see lines around the block daily.
Okay, it looks nice and it is great that they are doing this, but what if it rains, and where do I sit, on the floor?
It’s not an actual bus stop. The bus stop is part of the installation. It depicts the scene where Totoro takes the cat bus [1]. But I was hoping it had an umbrella too.
[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vPOgiR5aUWE
I can’t think of any bus stops near me, in Tokyo, that has a cover or seating. It’s pretty normal.
this is so incredibly cute.
i swear tourists better not ruin this
Try to do that in america and some bureaucrat will have a crew demolish it within a week.
It's made of concrete, which now that I think about it must have been the obvious choice, but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that it's not soft and fluffy like in the movie.
The epitome of Ikigai - 生き甲斐
Those grandparents are the best.
meeds moar umbrella
Now they need to make a cat bus to stop there.
Try that here and city regulators will be all over your ass, smh.
Disney would sue the hell out of you first.
This was my initial thought just from reading the headline and was not dissuaded from seeing the permanence of the structure. I'd imagine some fines for your effort as well.
And don't forget the inevitable graffiti. The uncreative will simply spray random words and letters, but the deep thinkers among us may have the wit to draw a penis on it.
Ah, I see you're a man of taste as well.
Eh, depends where the bus stop is. Around me, the transit busses don't have marked stops, and will stop anywhere on the route, and there's no sidewalk, so landowners can put up art/sculpture at the edge of their parcel or the road easement, if they want. School busses stop at specific places, but many landowners have put up shelters for students to wait underneath. In town, there are bus stops and city managed sidewalk; you can't block the sidewalk, but a landowner could put up art at the edge of the sidewalk. Commercial signs are regulated regardless of where installed, but a sculpture such as this isn't commercial.
Your city may be different, of course, but I wouldn't expect this to cause a problem, if installed by permission of the owner, in most cities. HOAs might throw a fit, they like to do that.
This sculpture isn't particularly tall, but height restrictions are popular. A sculpture that does not appear to be stable, or appears particularly flammable might be reviewable as well. There's no utility connections, so there's no need to review those.
The night the bar I went to shut down, we got some spray paint and wrote messages all over the building. Few weeks later they're having an estate sale. I notice it was painted over. Asked the owner, he said the county got on his ass about it.
All the land around a bus station is typically city-owned, I wouldn't give it a week before a work detail is despatched to remove it.
> we got some spray paint and wrote messages all over the building ... he said the county got on his ass about it.
No surprise, messages in spray paint are generally discouraged. Had you drawn a mural, it may have been treated differently.
> All the land around a bus station is typically city-owned, I wouldn't give it a week before a work detail is despatched to remove it.
When the bus stop is on a gravel road next to a field, as depicted in the article, I doubt the land is city-owned. But yeah, no surprise, the city doesn't want you to dump your stuff on their land, and they'll remove it.
Edit: from the google maps picture, it's not even on a gravel road, it's next to gravel parking for a small building. What municipality is going to give you shit for putting a sculpture next to your parking lot, unless the sculpture is obviously dangerous, offensive, or subverting building codes (if your sculpture is occupiable space, it needs to meet building codes)
In the US, the land in between the sidewalk and the road is city-owned. As is the sidewalk.
That's not generally true. In my current house, I own the land to the middle of the street. There is no sidewalk. The city has an implied easement (I've not found any documentation of it at least) covering the street and any drainage features abutting the street, although there are none on my side of the street. I can't place a sculpture on the road and expect it to remain, although there have been concrete blocks placed to obstruct parking since before I purchased the property, and they haven't been removed, so I could probably put some art there if I really wanted. Some of the lots around me do not extend into the street, and some do. As mentioned, sidewalks are not universal, and certainly not around here ... in town sidewalks are common, but lot boundaries are not consistent --- many lot lines on sidewalked streets don't extend into the sidewalk, but some extend into the sidewalk and the street surface. Regardless, art left on the sidewalk is likely to be removed, as it impairs access and the municipality has rights to maintain access to sidewalk regardless of ownership.
At my last house, I believe my lot went to the curb, although we never had it surveyed, and I didn't measure the width of the street. That wasn't in a city, but it did have a sidewalk; the county established standards for the sidewalk, but as the landowner, I was responsible for maintenance of it. The land between the sidewalk and the street was in my undisputed control, although looking at the county assessor interactive map, the lot line may fall a few feet on the house side of the sidewalk; the plat map shows a 50 foot gap in lots for the street and google maps measurement shows the street is much less than 50 feet.
Not necessarily. The sidewalk can still be owned but could be considered an easement, such that the owner can't restrict reasonable traffic flow along that easement.
That is not a federal US law, depends on where in the US you live and probably mostly city or county level.
You are absolutely correct. In fact, SF and Berkeley were both mad about the "guerrilla benches" where people were putting benches were bus stops were: https://sfist.com/2025/07/07/sf-city-hall-not-at-all-pleased...
Besides, think about it, have these parents completed an Environmental Impact Report? How do we know this is not terrible for the environment? Chesterton's fence. Regulations are written in blood.
California hates benches because a homeless person might sleep on them. They should have installed something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_bench
[dead]
Quintessential "Thing, Japan" content
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thing-japan
As someone who's triggered by this and has griped about it just recently: No, this doesn't qualify, because Totoro is actually Japanese content that happens to be popular internationally. "Thing, Japan" is if you take something that is commonplace outside of Japan as well, and act as if only the mystical, wise place that is Japan has it.
No it's not. "thing, japan" implies that the "thing" wouldn't be special outside of japan. Where else is there a totoro bus stop?
>Where else is there a totoro bus stop?
No, the question is 'Where else there are decorated bus stops?' and there are countless examples of that. But no one cares (= no one will make a HN post about it) if you see that in Poland [0] or in the UK [1]. So 'Thing, Japan' + HN has a very strong Japanophilia
0, https://www.whitemad.pl/en/bus-shelters-as-painted-anna-wojt...
1, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8586edj8ko
I don't think it matters to many people that this was in japan, so much as it does that this is totoro and also that it was done by regular people who just wanted to make something nice. It'd be just as cool if grandparents in Ohio did this, expect they'd inevitably be sued into bankruptcy for it by disney.
Do you realize the linked article isn't talking about an actual bus stop? The movie My Neighbor Totoro has a scene at a bus stop. These people recreated the bus stop near their home/business.
So no, any bus stop that's been decorated is not "the same thing outside of Japan." This is specifically about being the bus stop from the movie.
But there are general interest news stories about both of your examples. Source: your links.
It seems quite common. I happened to drive past one in Taiwan. It's still special so I don't think that meme applies.
I concur. This would have been awesome anywhere. The fact that this is in Japan is not surprising, although it's clear that if one were to go check out a lifesize Totoro statue, having in Japan makes it nicer because it's its "natural" environment.
Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station