Japanese Cute Road Work Barriers

One thing we noticed on our driving holiday were super cute road barriers, which Ben would graciously pull over and let me take photos of :) Now mind you not all construction sites had these but when they did it made my day that little bit brighter. From the reading I did here, the theories behind the cute barriers are firstly that they are calming and reduce road rage and secondly they help prevent accidents occurring in road work zones as people will (hopefully!) naturally avoid hitting the cute characters and animals. Whatever the reason though it's just another reason to love Japan!!!

Which one if your favourite? I'm tempted to say the hello kitties but then the bunny and penguin are pretty darn special!

read more "Japanese Cute Road Work Barriers"

Kawaii Japanese Graphics

For my first photo post I'm sharing all the kawaii graphics I encountered (well took photos of :P) on our trip. Japan is definitely the land of inspiration for me and I can't help but marvel at their love for all things Kawaii which pops up in their packaging, ads, mascots and everything in between :) Enjoy!

read more "Kawaii Japanese Graphics"

Japan Road Trip - Fruit Bus Stops

I've been dying to share this post with you because....FRUIT BUS STOPS!!!! Super credit goes to Ben for agreeing to this drive, it was definitely out of the way but made me deliriously happy. The bus stops live in Konagai, in Nagasaki prefecture which was to be our last destination before turning around and heading back to Tokyo. On a side note the brides to Nagasaki made me super scared to cross - so high! I've also got a handful of posts to go before we wrap up our holiday in Tokyo, actually so many posts to go so fear not if you love Japan :)

I ended up counting 14 fruit bus stops in total; 3 strawberries, 3 melons (rock melons in australia), 3 oranges, 3 watermelons and 2 tomatoes. They all exist along one road, so it's really easy to travel down and see them all - bit harder to stop but since a lot of Japanese like to just pull up anywhere (in our experience at least) it wasn't too much of a hassle :) Some stops had another fruit on the opposite side (making sense since they are working bus stops) whilst others stood on their lonesome and all fairly evenly paced apart.  In between the fruit bus stops I did spy some good old regular shelters as well but the fruits you have to say, overpower them :P  The town itself, is on the sea so it made the drive really picturesque and I would definitely recommend if you love the idea of giant fruit bus stops!

read more "Japan Road Trip - Fruit Bus Stops"