Those cute little buses you see outside Yokaichi Station and elsewhere in Higashi-Omi, called Chokotto bus, have started collecting used cooking oil from September 1, 2009. Bring an old PET bottle (label detached) of your used cooking oil and give it to the bus driver. In return, you will receive a 100-yen ticket which can be used for your next ride on the bus. One ride costs 200 yen for adults, so it’s a 50% discount.

The collected oil will be converted to biodiesel fuel (called BDF in Japan) which the buses use as fuel. BDF has very clean emissions in its exhaust which may smell like tempura. You can actually breathe in the BDF exhaust from the vehicle’s exhaust pipe without any health risk.