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Japanese grandparents create life-size Totoro with bus stop for grandkids (2020)
- jacquesclouseau 1y agothis is so incredibly cute. i swear tourists better not ruin this
- creamyhorror 1y agoI guess if they ruin it, they're also likely to generate economic life for the area (though the owners are going to hate it). A lot of areas outside the main cities are quietly struggling. A little depressing to see when visiting.
- vinceguidry 1y agoTry that here and city regulators will be all over your ass, smh.
- tokai 1y agoDisney would sue the hell out of you first.
- toast0 1y agoEh, 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.
- vinceguidry 1y agoThe 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.
- toast0 1y ago> 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)
- vinceguidry 1y agoIn the US, the land in between the sidewalk and the road is city-owned. As is the sidewalk.
- ofalkaed 1y agoThat is not a federal US law, depends on where in the US you live and probably mostly city or county level.
- toast0 1y agoThat'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.
- dylan604 1y agoThis 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.
- ANewFormation 1y agoAnd 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.
- cafeinux 1y agoAh, I see you're a man of taste as well.
- renewiltord 1y agoYou 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-with-those-guerilla-benches-that-some-renegades-placed-at-bench-less-muni-stops/ 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.
- autoexec 1y agoCalifornia hates benches because a homeless person might sleep on them. They should have installed something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_bench https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_bench
- p_j_w 1y agoI love that this happened on Miyazaki Prefecture.
- stronglikedan 1y agoI love that they didn't half-ass it, even if it was just for the kids.
- mapotofu 1y agoIf you half ass for kids, you end up with half ass adults. Maybe they understood this.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y agoThis 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.
- ekianjo 1y ago> This is awesomeness happening because copyright can't sabotage it. If this were a Disney character, it would have been destroyed a long time ago.
- ethan_smith 1y agoStudio Ghibli has historically been fairly permissive with non-commercial fan tributes compared to Disney or other animation studios, which is part of why we see these wonderful community expressions flourish in Japan.
- Neywiny 1y agoNot to defend anti-creativity, but it's my understanding that at least in the US you have to defend your copyright and go after violations or I guess a real serious violation could say "but this other person did it and had no consequences so that's unfair"
- spectre3d 1y agoYou’re thinking of trademark law, not copyright.
- onetokeoverthe 1y ago[dead]
- thrownawaysz 1y agoQuintessential "Thing, Japan" content https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thing-japan https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thing-japan
- colpabar 1y agoNo it's not. "thing, japan" implies that the "thing" wouldn't be special outside of japan. Where else is there a totoro bus stop?
- im3w1l 1y agoPlatform 9¾ at King's Cross Station
- cafeinux 1y agoI 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.
- thrownawaysz 1y ago>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-wojtals-art-decorates-bus-shelters-in-warmia-and-mazury/ https://www.whitemad.pl/en/bus-shelters-as-painted-anna-wojt... 1, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8586edj8ko https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8586edj8ko
- dartharva 1y agoIt'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.
- layer8 1y agoNow they need to make a cat bus to stop there.
- hhoover 1y agoHere it is on Google Street View/Maps https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQgZg8trKy56qfuG7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQgZg8trKy56qfuG7
- oidar 1y agoLooks like it turned into a little side business for them.
- bapak 1y agoNo 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.
- LightBug1 1y agoHaha, digging the Kei VW bus ...
- konsalexee 1y agoThose grandparents are the best.
- spandrew 1y agoA 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...
- bobthepanda 1y agoKyushu is quite far off the beaten tourist path, so I doubt it would get a lot of non-domestic traveling.
- muststopmyths 1y agoI believe you’re underestimating the rapacious hunger of the click economy
- geodel 1y agoCan'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.
- teekert 1y agoLike eating meat daily. At some point the masses want, and get, what was once just for the elite.
- Tade0 1y agoOr driving cars for that matter.
- mvdtnz 1y ago> 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.
- mttch 1y agoThe 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 https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/My_Neighbour_Totoro
- curiousgal 1y agoI saw the musical in London and it was so good! Highly recommend it!
- HocusLocus 1y agomeeds moar umbrella
- fitsumbelay 1y agoThe epitome of Ikigai - 生き甲斐
- johnisgood 1y agoOkay, 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?
- antfarm 1y agoIt’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 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vPOgiR5aUWE
- tokioyoyo 1y agoI can’t think of any bus stops near me, in Tokyo, that has a cover or seating. It’s pretty normal.
- johnisgood 1y agoThen I will never go to Tokyo. I have MS. I need to be able to sit.
- tokioyoyo 1y agoFair enough. I believe there is a map for people with disabilities which might have better info. Frankly speaking, I can’t think of any city where all bus stops have chairs and covering.
- johnisgood 1y agoHere in Hungary all major cities have that, in fact, I lived in a very small village with like 100 people, and even that had a damn "container" or whatever and a bench inside, to protect against the rain and to be able to sit down. It has been modernized further by now (yes, for these ~100 people), but what they did then was extremely cheap yet effective, so there is no excuse for lack of benches and shelters at bus stops, really. And you can down-vote me for me not liking Tokio for the fact that their bus stops have no benches, but that is a must-have for someone like me who has disabilities, and many cities in Hungary (and even small towns) have benches and whatever you could call it (container shelter of some sort) to protect against the rain, so don't tell me Hungary is better in this regard than Tokio, or is it? This is surprising to me. Maybe Tokio does not have enough elderly people or people with disabilities? In any case, if shitty villages with a population of 100-500 have benches and a shelter at bus stops in Hungary, surely Tokio could do it too, I wonder why they are not doing it. If you want I could probably find it on Google Maps FWIW. I hope the pictures are old (pre-modernization). Do not mistake my comment for hatred of Tokio, however. It is just a place that I simply cannot visit for such reasons. There is nothing more to it.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- dwaite 1y agoMiyazaki prefecture? Thats going to be a long route for the Nekobasu. https://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/welcome/#:~:text=Poof%2C%20Boing!%20The%20Cat%20Bus https://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/welcome/#:~:text=Poof%2C%20B...
- allenu 1y agoIf 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.
- Ruthalas 1y agoThere is a tradition of placing small tokens or flowers on his palm! At one point the owner had a tumblr where they posted pictures of the offerings it received occasionally.
- sleepybrett 1y agoTry to do that in america and some bureaucrat will have a crew demolish it within a week.
- analog31 1y agoDepends on where you live. In the upper Midwest, it's common to see a roadside booth at the end of a driveway, where kids can keep out of the weather while waiting for the bus. Most are pretty simplistic, but I can't discount the idea of making a fancy one. In my urban neighborhood, there are some houses with interesting or odd art works on their lawns, often what you'd call folk art.
- chris_wot 1y agoMan, if only they would create a working cat bus....
- ygritte 1y agoFantastic, I love it. We should all be doing things like that.
- jxjnskkzxxhx 1y agoHN becoming Reddit.