Kama Melon Bus Stop — Yoshitsugu Kogyo, Konagai
Yoshitsugu Kogyo for the former Konagai town · Mortar fruit bus shelter · Kama stop (釜), 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.
At the Kama stop on National Route 207 in Konagai, now part of Isahaya in Nagasaki Prefecture, passengers wait inside a green melon with a stem, a leaf and a doorway. 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, and one of three melons among them. Wikimedia Commons · Ukai Chizu · Wankoto · Expedia Japan · 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
- A melon studied from lifeAccording to the maker, the plasterers studied a real melon and drew it in a sketchbook before building. The colours were first mixed by eye, and the net on the rind was made deliberately coarse so the shape reads as a melon from a distance. The melons have since been repainted. Yoshitsugu Kogyo Reported
- The last of three melonsThree of the 16 shelters are melons: at Hirabaru, Isaki and Kama. Driving the route, Expedia Japan called Kama the last melon to appear. Ukai Chizu · GAZOO · Expedia Japan Checked
- Only on one sideAt Kama the fruit shelter stands only on the side for buses towards Isahaya, alone just past a gentle bend, about 400 metres from the Amidasaki stop; there is no fruit shelter in the opposite lane. The stop is close to the border with Saga Prefecture. Wankoto · Fukuchan’s blog Reported
Check-in guide
- 📍
- The Kama stop (釜) on National Route 207, Konagai-machi, Isahaya, near the border with Saga Prefecture, on the Isahaya-bound side of the road. Wankoto · Fukuchan’s blog · Ukai Chizu Reported
- ⚠️
- There is no car park at this stop, according to Wankoto. Wankoto Reported
- 🌸
- Fukuchan’s blog found hydrangeas flowering beside the stop in June 2023. Fukuchan’s blog Reported
Sightings
- 20186 Mar
STA3816 photo · camera date
- 201819 Aug
Stop guide · Expedia Japan
- 202316 Jun
Blog photos with hydrangeas
- 20241 Apr
Stop list · Ukai Chizu
- 202621 Mar
Stop guide · Wankoto
Every stamp links to its source. Green stamps are dated photographs: the Wikimedia Commons photo of 6 March 2018 and a local blogger’s post of 16 June 2023 about the Kama stop. Amber stamps are guides and lists. Wankoto’s guide of 21 March 2026 includes its own photo of the melon from a visit in mid-December, but does not say which year, so it is not used for the status. The status stamp follows the post of 16 June 2023.
On the record
Alone on the bend
「緩いカーブの先にポツンとあり」
“It stands all alone just past a gentle bend.” The guide’s description of the Kama melon.
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, speaking about the fruit stops in general.
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.
The facts
- Work
- Melon-shaped bus shelter at the Kama stop (釜のメロンバス停), one of Konagai’s fruit bus stops (フルーツバス停). Wikimedia Commons · Wankoto · Ukai Chizu · Expedia Japan Checked
- Medium
- Concrete and mortar, shaped by plasterers over lath-mesh formwork and finished in coloured mortar. Asahi Shimbun · Nissaren · Yoshitsugu Kogyo Checked Size not published. 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 Kama melon itself is not published. Unconfirmed
- Location
- Kama stop, National Route 207, Konagai-machi, Isahaya, Nagasaki Prefecture. Wankoto · Ukai Chizu · Fukuchan’s blog Checked The fruit shelter stands on the Isahaya-bound side only. Wankoto Reported
- Status
- Standing when a local blogger photographed the Kama stop on 16 June 2023; Wankoto’s guide of March 2026 also shows it. Fukuchan’s blog · Wankoto Reported
- Our photo
- STA3816 on Wikimedia Commons, camera date 6 March 2018; the file names it the Kama melon stop (釜のメロンバス停). 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 (12)
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.
- 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 03.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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