Artistic manhole covers can be found in more than 95 percent of the Japanese municipalities, all of them having their own original design, and some of them have several different models.

In Sakata, in the Yamagata Prefecture, I discovered three models, the one in today’s photo presenting the Sankyo Warehouses, which are the main tourist attraction of the city, and the kokai-bune boats that were used to transport the rice bales from the big maritime boats to the storehouses.

Manhole Cover, Sakata, Yamagata

EXIF Info:

Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Matchmaking Maneki Neko of Imado shrine