A bench in the shape of glasses on a sidewalk
14:43 JST, July 6, 2024
SABAE, Fukui — Known as the City of Eyeglasses, Sabae, Fukui Prefecture is going all out to fill the city, Japan’s largest source of frames, with eyewear designs.
Objects and plates in the shape of glasses are not the only decorations you encounter on the streets. In all sorts of places, such as on benches and posts, you can find designs of glasses. This makes the city a photo hotspot for social media users.
Traffic mirrors in the shape of glasses.
On both sides of the approximately 1,500-meter-long “Megane (Glasses) Street” are objects with glasses of all sizes. It is a sight that attracts many people looking for photos for their social media accounts. Developed by the Sabae municipal government, the street connects Sabae Station on the Hapi-Line Fukui Line, which is operated by a third sector company, with the Sun Dome Fukui multi-purpose indoor facility, a venue used for various events.
Left: Glasses engraved in the steps of the underpass. Right: A pole with glasses
Along a stretch of about 900 meters between the station and the Megane Museum there are also stairs with glass patterns engraved in them and benches and plantings in the shape of glasses. Even posts at a crossroads wear glasses with a silver frame.
“Private companies started doing a lot of [the designs] “They started voluntarily and they increased before we even noticed,” said an official from the Sabae municipal government.
