Could NYC Adopt Tokyo's Creative Approach to Manhole Covers?
What characters and events would the city commemorate with our own artistic covers?
Throughout Japan, including Tokyo, there are decorative “design manhole covers” intended to enhance the streetscape, celebrate culture and heritage, increase the visibility of infrastructure, and give a boost to the economy. They go beyond New York's unique and artistic manhole covers, by adding customized, full color images, sometimes with raised metallic details.
Manhole covers are an Untapped New York favorite, so as a thought experiment, let's look at examples from Tokyo and consider how New York City could do its own twist on this concept.
Godzilla vs. King Kong
Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, an office and entertainment hub where Godzilla has wreaked havoc in multiple films, appointed the legendary creature a tourism ambassador and honorary resident in 2015. To honor his special status, he is depicted on two manhole covers in the area. Those manhole covers are located in front of a building housing a movie theater and other attractions, including a life-size Godzilla head on the building terrace.
In New York, an obvious corollary would be manhole covers for Godzilla's rival, King Kong, at the Empire State Building. This connection between building and ape is already celebrated inside the iconic skyscraper in the second floor exhibition area, but manhole covers outside could bring the relationship to another level, by making it public.
Cutesy Covers
If cinematic monsters are too scary for your taste, Tokyo also offers cute (kawaii in Japanese) templates. For example, check out this adorable one featuring characters from the anime television series Sarazanmai.
This colorful manhole cover is in Taito Ward, where the show is set. A mailbox on a nearby street has similar decorations and has become a magnet for the show’s fans. The manhole cover was placed at a different location to spread foot traffic to benefit local businesses.
A Big Apple equivalent could be a Mickey Mouse manhole cover. Why not place a Mickey manhole cover at Disney's recently completed New York City headquarters, which could boost the neighborhood economy by attracting young and young at heart fans? Plus there's history: Mickey debuted in 1928 at New York's Colony Theater.
Holding Out for a Hero
Nine manhole covers portraying characters from a manga (graphic novel) and anime series called March Comes in Like a Lion are located in Tokyo’s Sendgaya neighborhood where some of the story’s action is set.
Two of the manhole covers show protagonist, Rei Kiriyama. He is an introverted, teenage orphan who overcomes adversity to become an accomplished professional shogi player (shogi is a Japanese game similar to chess) while also coming out of his shell. Other featured characters include his friend, Hinata Kawamoto.
Although Rei doesn’t turn into a crime fighting superhero, there are parallels to Peter Parker/Spider-man and his relationship with Mary Jane Watson. Spider-manhole covers in Peter’s home borough of Queens would seem a comparable tribute to a local hero.
Icons
Manhole covers featuring Pokémon, the Japanese multimedia phenomena, are located across Japan. The ones shown above and below are in Tokyo’s Ueno Park. In case you are wondering, the design manhole covers associated with active commercial brands such as these are donated by their corporate parents.
If New York City were to look for an iconic pop culture franchise to be the lead sponsor for its design manhole covers, wouldn’t an apt choice be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? They travel between their subterranean lair and the above-ground city via manholes.
Turtle covers could be installed around their home base in Lower Manhattan and from Turtle Bay to every corner of the city. Incidentally, the Turtles have been an inspiration for Untapped New York founder Michelle Young’s passion for manhole covers, which have been covered on the Untapped New York sweb magazine and on the The Untapped New York Podcast.
All the World's a Stage, Sidewalks Included
The manhole cover above portrays characters from a famous Kabuki theater play. It is one of a set of four on a street named after the play.
Translating this to New York, Hamilton covers would be at home in Times Square and on Hamilton Terrace in Harlem.
Let's Get Festive
The trio above promote (from left to right) local jazz, dance, and decorative art festivals in Tokyo's Suginami Ward.
New York’s many festivals and parades, such as the West Indian Day Parade, could be honored in the same way.
These are among more than 170 design manhole covers co-sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Sewerage, in part to increase public appreciation of the sewer system. A related initiative includes trading cards, a must-have for Japanese drainspotters.
Is New York Ready for Design Manhole Covers?
Skyscrapers started in Chicago, and Paris first turned an old train viaduct into a park, but New York took these innovations and made them its own. New York is no stranger to art pieces embedded in the ground. Should design manhole covers be next? As Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might answer, “cowabunga, dude!”
What would you vote to put on an NYC manhole cover?