Fukui Station: Where Dinosaurs Keep Multiplying

The idea was that the animals in the mural would seem to emerge into the plaza. What looked like a dinosaur escape was, in fact, the intended design.

One exit had a giant predator. The other had childcare.

Beyond the large models, the prehistoric world began appearing in the smaller things that normally make a station easy to ignore. Lamp posts carried signs. Benches acquired occupants. A road-safety sign of the kind that usually shows a child running into the street had cast a dinosaur in the role.

The east-side spaces were arranged around land, air and sea, extending the welcome to flying reptiles and marine creatures as well. An ordinary station needs somewhere to sit. Here, that could mean sitting beneath the tracks in a blue-lit prehistoric sea.

On another bench sat a small dinosaur in a white coat and red bow tie, holding an egg with a baby pteranodon halfway out of it.

According to the city, this youngster dreams of becoming a dinosaur scientist. The animals were now supplying their own researchers.

Installed in 2023 at Echizen Railway Fukui Station, Jurassic Echizen combines the animals with Eiheiji, Tojinbo, Maruoka Castle, Sabae’s eyewear and the railway itself.

There was Tojinbo, one of the places I had actually come to see. Even here, it had to share the view with dinosaurs.

Then came the LEGO.

LEGO Certified Professional Junpei Mitsui built this Fukuiraptor from roughly 70,000 pieces, spending about 600 hours on it ahead of the Shinkansen opening.

Residents across Fukui donated bricks to the wider project, and children used some of those donations to build the smaller objects and buildings displayed around its feet.

By this point, even the local children were helping to increase the population.