Japanese cities and towns across the country have their own manhole designs. Each one is unique and reflects the local culture, history or beauty. Fittingly, the country now has Pokémon manholes.
Earlier this year, the city of Ibusuki unveiled a series of Eevee-themed manholes. Here’s what the city’s typical manholes looked like:
They’re pretty nice! But check out the Eevee ones:
Why does this city have Eevee manholes? Ibusuki sounds like “Eevee suki” or “Eevee likes.”
The Pokémon manholes are designed to make connections with the local area either visually or through other thematic ways. For example, Rock-type Pokémon Geodude, Tyrunt, and Onix have their own manholes in Iwate Prefecture as “iwa” (岩) refers to rocks.
According to Time Out Tokyo, this is part of a project called Pokémon Local Acts, which tries to drum up local tourism. Manhole-spotting is a popular pastime when traveling within Japan, and folks enjoy checking out the different manholes across the country while traveling.
Plus, they double as Pokéstops in Pokémon Go, so they’re more than just manholes!
They’re photo ops, too.