Japanese bus bell enthusiast takes collection on tour

The free exhibition tours venues across Japan

A Japanese bus enthusiast has taken his collection of "next stop" buttons on tour to allow people to satisfy their urge to ring bells to their hearts' content.

The exhibition is the brainchild of 52-year-old Yokohama resident Takeshi Ishida, who has a collection of more than 600 buttons from old buses, and has selected 130 to tour around Japan, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports. The buttons are mounted on a wooden frame, and both adults and children queue to press them to "satisfy their souls, delivering good memories and happiness to them", Mr Ishida says.

A bus enthusiast since his school days, Mr Ishida has collected the buttons - sounded by passengers who wish to alight at the next stop - for more than three decades. He says that expanding his collection is easier these days as bus companies now sell parts of broken-up buses to collectors, while the internet has enabled him to buy from other hobbyists. "I would say that an urge to press buttons on a bus for the next stop is a part of our culture deeply embedded in our psyche," he claims.

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