A distinctive red double-decker bus from London on loan to the city of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, was unveiled to the press Wednesday ahead of the start possibly this spring of its scheduled service. Shimonoseki will be the first Japanese city operating a Routemaster bus on a regular basis. Aimed at promoting tourism, service by the vehicle will be limited to Saturdays, Sundays and holidays on a coastal route from JR Shimonoseki Station. Shimonoseki requested in 2006 that the London public transportation authority lease a Routemaster bus on the occasion of the centenary of the opening of the city's former British Consulate building. Besides Shimonoseki, five other cities, including Paris and Moscow, have also leased Routemasters free of charge after London switched to new models. The Shimonoseki government spent around