Thursday, June 26, 2014

Japan’s Artistic Manhole Covers...

Japan is a country full of amazing art - as we all know. Some of it is found in museums and galleries and in their Anime and Manga, while others are right underneath our feet.

I’m talking, of course, about Japan’s peculiar obsession with manhole covers...


Just about anywhere in the country you can find stylized manhole covers, each more beautiful and intricate than the next. According to the Japan Society of Manhole Covers (yes, that’s a real organization) today there are almost 6000 artistic manhole covers throughout Japan. For the past several years photographer S. Morita has traveled around Japan photographing these artistic manhole covers.

Morita has posted hundreds of his manhole cover photo's here to his Flickr account. Please check them out, some of them are absolutely incredible!

4 comments:

tenkenX6 said...

Wow, really cool! I love seeing stuff like this.

Mitch H. said...

So how many people get run over staring at the artwork at their feet in the middle of the street while a hurried delivery driver comes around the corner?

Robert said...

@Mitch - unlike here, hopefully delivery drivers in Japan watch where they are going.

Mitch H. said...

So you're telling me that Minky Momo and other anime full of vehicular homicide have lied to me? (Supernatural stories featuring hapless bishoujo ghosts seem especially fond of death-by-delivery-van as the way to generate cute little unquiet spirits.)