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.