[HN Gopher] Japanese grandparents create life-size Totoro with b...
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Japanese grandparents create life-size Totoro with bus stop for
grandkids (2020)
Author : NaOH
Score : 218 points
Date : 2025-07-14 16:09 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (mymodernmet.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (mymodernmet.com)
| vinceguidry wrote:
| Try that here and city regulators will be all over your ass, smh.
| tokai wrote:
| Disney would sue the hell out of you first.
| toast0 wrote:
| Eh, 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 wrote:
| The 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 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| In the US, the land in between the sidewalk and the road
| is city-owned. As is the sidewalk.
| ofalkaed wrote:
| That is not a federal US law, depends on where in the US
| you live and probably mostly city or county level.
| toast0 wrote:
| That'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.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| Not necessarily. The sidewalk can still be owned but
| could be considered an easement, such that the owner
| can't restrict reasonable traffic flow along that
| easement.
| dylan604 wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| And 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 wrote:
| Ah, I see you're a man of taste as well.
| renewiltord wrote:
| You 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...
|
| 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 wrote:
| California hates benches because a homeless person might
| sleep on them. They should have installed something like
| this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_bench
| p_j_w wrote:
| I love that this happened on Miyazaki Prefecture.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| I love that they didn't half-ass it, even if it was just for
| the kids.
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| This 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.
| jacquesclouseau wrote:
| this is so incredibly cute.
|
| i swear tourists better not ruin this
| thrownawaysz wrote:
| Quintessential "Thing, Japan" content
|
| https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thing-japan
| colpabar wrote:
| No 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 wrote:
| Platform 93/4 at King's Cross Station
| cafeinux wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| >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-
| wojt...
|
| 1, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8586edj8ko
| mvdtnz wrote:
| But there are general interest news stories about both of
| your examples. Source: your links.
| autoexec wrote:
| I don't think it matters to many people that this was in
| japan, so much as it does that this is totoro and also that
| it was done by regular people who just wanted to make
| something nice. It'd be just as cool if grandparents in
| Ohio did this, expect they'd inevitably be sued into
| bankruptcy for it by disney.
| jacobgkau wrote:
| Do you realize the linked article isn't talking about an
| actual bus stop? The movie My Neighbor Totoro has a scene
| at a bus stop. These people recreated the bus stop near
| their home/business.
|
| So no, any bus stop that's been decorated is not "the same
| thing outside of Japan." This is specifically about being
| _the bus stop from the movie._
| sho_hn wrote:
| As someone who's triggered by this and has griped about it just
| recently: No, this doesn't qualify, because _Totoro_ is
| actually Japanese content that happens to be popular
| internationally. "Thing, Japan" is if you take something that
| is commonplace outside of Japan as well, and act as if only the
| mystical, wise place that is Japan has it.
| dartharva wrote:
| It'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 wrote:
| Now they need to make a cat bus to stop there.
| hhoover wrote:
| Here it is on Google Street View/Maps
|
| https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQgZg8trKy56qfuG7
| oidar wrote:
| Looks like it turned into a little side business for them.
| konsalexee wrote:
| Those grandparents are the best.
| spandrew wrote:
| A 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 wrote:
| Kyushu is quite far off the beaten tourist path, so I doubt it
| would get a lot of non-domestic traveling.
| muststopmyths wrote:
| I believe you're underestimating the rapacious hunger of the
| click economy
| geodel wrote:
| Can'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 wrote:
| Like eating meat daily. At some point the masses want,
| and get, what was once just for the elite.
| Tade0 wrote:
| Or driving cars for that matter.
| mvdtnz wrote:
| > 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.
| FlyingSnake wrote:
| Isletwald in CH or Hallstatt in Austria were also quite far
| off the beaten path. That didn't stop hordes of tourists from
| overrunning them.
| fitsumbelay wrote:
| possible but more a corner case that additionally takes one
| along the opposite vibe trajectory to the story's
|
| so ... why?
| jacobgkau wrote:
| You can't just tell everyone to not do anything cool because it
| might attract too many tourists. That's a race to the bottom of
| a boring world.
| mttch wrote:
| The 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
| curiousgal wrote:
| I saw the musical in London and it was so good! Highly
| recommend it!
| HocusLocus wrote:
| meeds moar umbrella
| fitsumbelay wrote:
| The epitome of Ikigai - Sheng kiJia Fei
| johnisgood wrote:
| Okay, 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 wrote:
| It'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
| dwaite wrote:
| Miyazaki prefecture? Thats going to be a long route for the
| Nekobasu.
|
| https://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/welcome/#:~:text=Poof%2C%20B...
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(page generated 2025-07-14 23:00 UTC)