Drainspotting: Japanese Manhole Covers

Adapted from Drainspotting: Japanese Manhole Covers (Mark Batty Publisher)
By Remo Camerota

When traveling, we typically look up and around, admiring architecture and skylines, people watching and deciphering menus. Seldom do we look down at our feet. But in Japan, scanning the streets for a colorful and delightful array of manhole covers has become a pastime, for both Japanese people and foreigners looking to experience a distinctly Japanese visual phenomenon: “drainspotting.”

In Japan, modern sewer systems began to appear during the late 19th century, though evidence of sewage systems in the country dates back to over 2,000 years ago. Foreign engineers introduced the Japanese to modern, underground sewer systems with above ground access points called manhoru (manholes). At that time, manhole covers utilized the geometric designs similar to those used in other countries. In the 1980s, as communities outside of Japan’s major cities were slated to receive new sewer systems these public works projects were met with resistance, until one dedicated bureaucrat solved the problem by devising a way to make these mostly invisible systems aesthetically appreciated aboveground: customized manhole covers.

This manhole cover depicts a scene from the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, one of Japan’s oldest folk tales.

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