Isaki Strawberry Bus Stop — Yoshitsugu Kogyo, Konagai
Yoshitsugu Kogyo for the former Konagai town · Mortar fruit bus shelter · Isaki stop (井崎), National Route 207 · Konagai, Isahaya, Japan
Photograph by STA3816, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 6 March 2018, camera date. Full photograph shown; resized for display.
On National Route 207 in Konagai, now part of Isahaya in Nagasaki Prefecture, the Isaki bus stop is a giant strawberry with a doorway; across the road from it stands a melon. It is one of 16 fruit-shaped shelters that the former town of Konagai had built to welcome visitors to the 1990 Nagasaki Travel Expo. Asahi Shimbun · Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Nagasaki Tabinet Checked The local builder Yoshitsugu Kogyo made them by hand in concrete and mortar. Asahi Shimbun · Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Nissaren Checked
5 things to know
- Built to welcome expo visitorsThe former town of Konagai, now part of Isahaya, put up fruit-shaped waiting shelters to greet visitors to the 1990 Nagasaki Travel Expo (長崎旅博覧会); the first stop was a mikan orange. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Asahi Shimbun · KTN TV Nagasaki · Nagasaki Tabinet Checked The idea came from the town’s mayor of the day, who wanted visitors to know the local produce. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · KTN TV Nagasaki · Wankoto Checked
- Made by plasterersThe local builder Yoshitsugu Kogyo (吉次工業) made the shelters in concrete and mortar. The company’s own page credits its plasterer Tsuruta Hidetoshi; the Japan plastering federation’s record says the shapes were built up in mortar over lath-mesh formwork and finished in coloured mortar. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Asahi Shimbun · Nissaren · Wankoto Checked
- About 180 seedsAccording to the maker, each seed was cast by pouring mortar into an empty canned-coffee can and then carved to shape, about 180 per strawberry. Even the hairs on the seed tips were modelled; most of those within reach have since been broken off, but the higher ones remain. The leaves were later reshaped from straight to a natural curve. Yoshitsugu Kogyo Reported
- One of four strawberriesThe 16 shelters come in five fruits. Four are strawberries: at Hirabaru, the Konagai branch office, Isaki and Sazanka Kōgen. At Isaki the strawberry and a melon face each other across the road. Ukai Chizu · GAZOO · Asahi Shimbun · Expedia Japan · Wankoto Checked
- Repainted, not replacedExpedia Japan reported in August 2018 that the stops had been repainted bit by bit over two years from 2016; Kyushu Labo wrote in 2019 that they had been repainted a few years earlier and still looked clean. Expedia Japan · Kyushu Labo Reported
Check-in guide
- 📍
- The Isaki stop (井崎) on National Route 207 along the Ariake Sea, two minutes by prefectural bus from Konagai Station. The strawberry stands across the road from the Isaki melon. Asahi Shimbun · Fukuchan’s blog · Wankoto · Expedia Japan Checked
- 🅿️
- A small “Flower Zone” car park near the strawberry is lent to visitors by a local company, Ariake Shōji. Wankoto puts it about 30 metres from the strawberry; the nearest crossing is a little way off. Wankoto · Fukuchan’s blog Reported
- 🌼
- Local volunteers grow flowers in the field behind the stop: rapeseed in spring, sunflowers and cosmos later in the year. Asahi Shimbun · Fukuchan’s blog · Fukuchan’s blog Reported
Sightings
- 20186 Mar
STA3816 photo · camera date
- 201819 Aug
Stop guide · Expedia Japan
- 20191 Feb
Stop guide · Kyushu Labo
- 20204 Feb
Feature · Asahi Shimbun
- 202316 Jun
Blog photos with cosmos
- 202621 Mar
Stop guide · Wankoto
- 202615 May
Blog photos with sunflowers
Every stamp links to its source. Green stamps are dated photographs: the Wikimedia Commons photo of 6 March 2018 and a local blogger’s posts of 16 June 2023 and 15 May 2026, which show the Isaki stop among flowers. Amber stamps are guides and reports with their own photos but no photo date. The status stamp follows the post of 15 May 2026.
On the record
The builder on realism
「技術屋として本物らしさを追求した。入り口ももっと小さくしたかったくらいです」
“As a technician, I went after realism. I would almost have liked to make the entrance even smaller.” Yoshitsugu Ryoji of Yoshitsugu Kogyo, as quoted by the Asahi.
The plasterer
「これだけの仕事をできるようになったよ。」という所を見てもらいたくて、一生懸命やりました。
“I wanted people to see that I had become able to do work like this, so I put everything into it.” Plasterer Tsuruta Hidetoshi, in the company’s interview.
Seeds and dimples
「職人の手により、イチゴの粒や窪みもリアルに再現。」
“By a craftsman’s hand, even the strawberry’s seeds and dimples are reproduced realistically.” From the guide’s stop at Isaki.
The facts
- Work
- Strawberry-shaped bus shelter at the Isaki stop (井崎のイチゴバス停), one of Konagai’s fruit bus stops (フルーツバス停). Wikimedia Commons · Asahi Shimbun · Wankoto · Ukai Chizu Checked
- Medium
- Concrete and mortar, shaped by plasterers over lath-mesh formwork and finished in coloured mortar. Asahi Shimbun · Nissaren · Yoshitsugu Kogyo Checked The Asahi gives 3.8 × 3.3 × 3.5 metres for “the waiting shelter at Isaki” without saying whether it means the strawberry or the melon. Asahi Shimbun Unconfirmed
- Makers
- Built by Yoshitsugu Kogyo (吉次工業) of Isahaya, with the plasterer Tsuruta Hidetoshi. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Wankoto · Asahi Shimbun · Nissaren Checked The maker writes his name 鶴田秀俊; Wankoto writes 鶴田英敏. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Wankoto Conflicting This file follows the maker’s spelling, because it comes from his own employer’s interview with him. The plastering federation credits the design to Yoshitsugu Kogyo with Time Sekkei (タイム設計事務所). Nissaren Reported
- Commissioner
- The former town of Konagai. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Asahi Shimbun · KTN TV Nagasaki Checked The idea came from its mayor at the time. Yoshitsugu Kogyo · KTN TV Nagasaki · Wankoto Checked
- Date
- Made for the 1990 Nagasaki Travel Expo; the first stop, a mikan, went up at the end of fiscal 1989. Asahi Shimbun · Yoshitsugu Kogyo · Nagasaki Tabinet · KTN TV Nagasaki Checked Some guides date all the stops to 1990, while the Asahi says more were added over about ten years. GAZOO · Asahi Shimbun Conflicting This file leans to the Asahi, which interviewed the builder and gives the more detailed account; the guides’ 1990 is the year of the expo. The year of the Isaki strawberry itself is not published. Unconfirmed
- Location
- Isaki stop, National Route 207, Konagai-machi, Isahaya, Nagasaki Prefecture. Asahi Shimbun · Fukuchan’s blog · Wankoto Checked
- Status
- Standing: a local blogger photographed the Isaki stop on 15 May 2026. Fukuchan’s blog Reported
- Our photo
- STA3816 on Wikimedia Commons, camera date 6 March 2018; the file names it the Isaki strawberry stop (井崎のイチゴバス停). Wikimedia Commons Checked
Related
- I Wouldn’t Mind Missing the Bus (8 Photos): the Street Art Utopia collection with this photo, 17 October 2026
All sources (13)
The maker and records
- Yoshitsugu Kogyo: “諫早フルーツバス停誕生秘話”, the builder’s own page, published 2 May 2024, updated 18 August 2024. Origin, the melon and strawberry details, interview with chairman Yoshitsugu Ryoji and plasterer Tsuruta Hidetoshi.
- Nissaren (日本左官業組合連合会): フルーツバス停, record of the Japan Federation of Plastering Contractors. Design, construction and plastering credits; mortar technique.
- Nagasaki Tabinet: フルーツバス停, Nagasaki Prefecture’s official tourism site. Expo origin, 16 stops in five designs, Route 207.
News and guides
- Asahi Shimbun (Asahi Mullion), Artrip column: “フルーツバス停 吉次（よしつぐ）工業 作”, Komori Fumi, 4 February 2020. The Isaki stop with its strawberry and melon, concrete and mortar, the first mikan stop at the end of fiscal 1989, about ten years of additions, Yoshitsugu Ryoji’s quote.
- KTN TV Nagasaki: “ひろすけじるし 長崎遺産” no. 41, Konagai fruit bus stops, updated 1 March 2022. 1990 expo, the mayor’s idea, five kinds and 16 stops.
- GAZOO (Toyota): “まるでおとぎの国！キュートなフルーツたちがバス停に変身”, 19 November 2017. Number of stops per fruit and their roads.
- Expedia Japan Stories: fruit bus stop guide, Asai Mayumi, 19 August 2018. Order of the stops along the road, the 2016–2018 repainting, Yoshitsugu Kogyo as builder.
- Kyushu Labo: fruit bus stop guide, 1 February 2019. Sculpted seeds, recent repainting.
- Ukai Chizu (迂回地図): “ときめきフルーツバス停通り” map, 1 April 2024, updated 27 April 2024. List of stops by fruit.
- Wankoto: “小長井のフルーツバス停全5種を巡る！”, published 21 March 2026, updated 4 October 2026; visit in mid-December, year not stated. Stop-by-stop guide naming the plasterer Tsuruta.
- Fukuchan’s blog: “諫早・映えスポット「フルーツバス停」は花盛り！”, 16 June 2023. Isaki strawberry stop with cosmos and sunflowers; the Kama stop with hydrangeas.
- Fukuchan’s blog: “ひまわり満開！夏色の井崎フルーツバス停”, 15 May 2026. The Isaki stop in a field of sunflowers.
Dated photographs
- STA3816: Fruit Shaped Bus Stops in Konagai 05.jpg, camera date 6 March 2018, own work, CC BY-SA 4.0. The hero; the share image places it on a blurred background at 16:9.
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