Famed British bus to find new home in Shimonoseki

LONDON (Kyodo) The residents of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, might soon be driven to thinking they are in the heart of central London.

The coastal city will take possession of a distinctive red double-decker Routemaster bus that used to travel the streets of London and is considered a design icon.

The Routemaster will be used to transport tourists around the city, which already has strong associations with Britain as the home of Japan's oldest surviving consulate, which was built for Britain in 1906 and has just celebrated its centenary.

The buses -- which have an open platform at the rear to allow people to jump on and off, and are staffed with a conductor -- were withdrawn from service in London in November due to their age, cost and accessibility.

Koichi Kawai, a former Shimonoseki official and now a diplomat in London, persuaded Transport for London, or TFL, which oversees the capital's public transportation system, to donate one of the Routemasters to Japan.

TFL has decided to give Routemasters to The Hague in the Netherlands and Barbados, while there are also plans to send the buses to Paris, Moscow and Jamaica, with expectations that the initiative will boost tourism.

The Routemaster donated to Shimonoseki in December is still in London as officials are working to ensure it will be able to comply with Japanese traffic regulations. Kawai said he is confident there will be no problems.

"The mayor of Shimonoseki, Kiyoshi Ejima, has always had a wish to have a Routemaster," Kawai said. "I learned about TFL's program to donate old Routemasters and the mayor asked me to enter into discussions."

A few Routemasters, in operation since 1956, still run on routes popular with tourists even after their removal. Those few buses have been repainted to look the way they did in the 1960s, down to the "London Transport" logo and original cream stripe across the side.

TFL has replaced the rest of the Routemaster fleet with a combination of modern single and double-deckers. Many Londoners and tourists from abroad were sad to see the old buses, with their distinctive curved exterior, disappear.