One of the things that I love most about Japanese culture, is the sense of aesthetics. Beauty in its broadest sense is greatly appreciated in Japan. This emphasis on beauty is apparent in many aspects of daily life. While in the West, emphasis often lies on functionality only, in Japan an effort is made to combine functionality and beauty when designing mundane items of all kinds.
A perfect example of beauty in mundane items, is the design of manhole covers in Japan. Anywhere you turn in Japan, you can find gorgeous manhole covers. The variety is endless. Over time, I made a sport of photographing as many of them as I could. I hope to share some of them with you from to time.
For comparison purposes: below you will find a Belgian manhole cover.
The Japans 
Please check this: http://shizuokatourism.com/?s=Manhole+covers
I see you like manhole covers too! 🙂
Sure do! LOL
Absolutely splendid! Come to Shizuoka and you will never raise your eyes! LOL
They wrote about this last year in a newspaper back home in Ireland. My cousin sent me the article and ever since I have been observing manholes and taking photos. Someday I will put them all in a post!
I really like your blog!
It’s fun to discover beauty in such small things, don’t you think? I look forward to seeing your manhole cover photo collection! 🙂
oh you found a colored version of Ise, very cool.
Sometimes you can find different versions of the same manhole cover, in different colors. It’s fun to walk around a town and try to find as many different ones as you can.
Fascinating!
🙂
There are some amazing ones out there. I saw a cute one in Okayama recently of the famous Peach Boy!
I looked it up, very cute!
Very cool! I hadn’t noticed that in our travels through Japan!
There is just so much to see and experience in Japan! Truly an endless discovery.
My favorite manhole covers are the ones from Osaka. They have Osaka-jo on them and they are gorgeous!
I haven’t had the opportunity to see those yet. They sound wonderful though!
I saw some really ornate ones while visiting Germany too! I distinctly remember Köln having the cathedral on some of their man hole covers.
I updated the post after reading your comment. I should be careful not to generalize Belgian things for all the West. Turns out it’s just Belgian covers that are ugly ^_^
I can honestly say that in the town I live in, in California, the man hole covers are not pretty at all. :p
Thanks, I feel reassured （＾ｖ＾)
I thought it was the opposite! I haven’t quite seen beautiful manholes in Japan but thought that they were beautiful in the Czech Republic. I guess I haven’t traveled enough in my own country…
I can relate, I am the same when it comes to Belgium. That’s why I like hanging out with foreigners. They help me to get to know my own country.
I wasn’t sure about Tokyo, so I checked my pictures. Turns out I also snapped a manhole cover shot in Tokyo, of a cover with a floral design.