With a yellow beak like that I first thought this quirky station building in Japan was designed to look like a duck or maybe a penguin but it seems my powers of observation on this occasion were wide of the mark.

As the title of the post suggests, this building actually looks like one of the country’s most famous mythical folkloric creatures. Such bipedal, turtle-like aquatic goblins are known as Kappa. If you’ve ever been to Kappa Zushi you may have noticed the creature on their logo and signage. Also, one of the most popular sushi rolls is kappamaki; a cucumber sushi roll which is available in all sushi places, and not just the aforementioned conveyor-belt sushi chain.

After a quick trip up to Usa city very early morning at the end of June last year, I was back in Oita just after 8:00 am just in time to take a special limited express train (at a cost of just over 4000 yen) west towards Saga Prefecture but I would be alighting a little earlier to spend time at Tanushimaru station, located on the Kyudai Main Line in Kurume city in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Legend has it that kappas first settled in Kumamoto Prefecture but ended up moving to the Chugoku River which had an abundance of food and clean water, and lies about three kilometres north of the station.

They are the symbol of the area and, unbeknownst to me at the time, various statues of them are dotted around the area nearby. Had I been aware at the time I may not have bothered tracking them down anyway as it was absolutely hammering it down with rain during my 45 minutes at this station.

The station building was renovated in 1992 with students from a local technical high school designing it in the style of a kappa lying down.

The cute faced building very much fits in with Japan’s kawaii culture, and it also doubles up as a tourist information centre.

Kappa-related local specialities are on display and for sale. The interior itself is a nice wooden structure and there’s a pun-tastic Kappateria inside so it’s a nice place to relax for those stopping by just to see the station building.

There is supposedly a second floor (makes sense when you see where the eyes/windows of the creature/building are) but it didn’t appear to be open when I was there. I have since heard that it is a Kappa Museum exhibiting materials related to the folkloric legend.

An information board in the station tells how August 8th is an important date. Not only is it the birthday of yours truly but it is also Tanushimaru Kappa Day. This is something to do with the number 8 being considered lucky due to the way it broadens gradually thus representing the idea of growing prosperous.

What I didn’t notice until departing for Saga Prefecture was that there was also a sizeable Kappa statue on the platform. I had been too busy looking across at the main building on arrival that I hadn’t taken in what was behind me.

Along with the stations that looks like a turtle and a goggle-eyed dogū, this was another one that was well worth the detour and time spent there to basically just get a photo! Oh and a blog post too!

Click here to read ‘USA Is Actually Closer To Tokyo Than You May Think!’

Click here to read ‘A Turtle-y Awesome Looking Station In Okayama Prefecture’

Click here to read ‘These Train Stations Have To Be Some Of The Most Interesting Looking Ones In All Of Japan’

Click here to read ‘On The Hunt For Another Temple Dedicated To Japanese Turtle-Like Humanoids’