Manhole covers featuring characters from a hit series are one creative way to bring more visitors to obscure regions of Japan. But the ones starring Pokemon have really taken off in particular, and now there are 217 covers dispersed across Japan, with new ones being announced throughout the year.

These covers are called ‘Poke Lids’ (Pokefuta in Japanese), and they were first placed in lesser-known areas of Japan to encourage tourism. But the campaign proved so popular that now these designs can be found all over Japan, even in popular areas like central Tokyo and tourist hot spots like Kyoto.

Sometimes a particular Pokemon with some kind of link to the region is chosen to represent that place, and the Pokemon chosen to star in Hokkaido’s designs is Vulpix. Considering Hokkaido's reputation for frosty weather, it’s only appropriate that Vulpix’s ice-type regional form, the Alolan Vulpix, be included too.

There’s eight new additions which were installed this month, bringing Hokkaido’s grand total of Poke Lids to a whopping thirty-four.

Each design features Vulpix or Alolan Vulpix frolicking with another Pokemon in various Hokkaido-inspired settings.

Hokkaido is Japan’s largest prefecture, and all thirty-four of the manhole covers are spread far and wide, so you’ll have to be a particularly intrepid Pokemon trainer to find them all. But if you’re up to the challenge you can find all their locations on the Poke Lids website.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.