In Japan, when you want to get off a bus, you press a little button with the words “will stop next” on it. The button lights up, a beep goes off, and a robotic woman’s voice says: “We will stop next.” Mr. Bus is a quirky guy who dedicates all his free time to collecting these bus buzzers. He started 25 years ago and now has over 200 different ones, some of which he has wired into this giant billboard so he can light them up. He finds them at bus depots and by scavenging through discarded vehicles at dumpsters.
“It’s a very Japanese thing, the polite exchange between passenger saying ‘I pushed it’ and the bus buzzer saying ‘I have received your request,'” he says. “It’s such a thoughtful invention.”
Mr. Bus’ web site (via The Almanac of Weird Hobbies)
( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)