Street Arts of Japan：manhole cover arts "ASSESS"

 

Walking through the bustling streets of Japan, people often look up at the colourful signs, but few notice the many different forms of artwork on some manhole covers.

When tourists walk in the streets of different cities in Japan, they can see various manhole cover art works, and on these manhole covers, they can see the different cultures represented by each city. When visitors walk the streets of Tokyo, For instance, they can see many manhole covers with graffiti of Mount Fuji. When they walk the streets of Nara, they can see the Nara animal, the deer, on the manhole cover.

In the eyes of Japanese artists, manhole cover arts are street artworks with the most cultural and practical functions. A manhole cover, which usually lasts for about 20 years, it's the city's calling card, allowing visitors to know where they are as they walk down the street and get a sense of the local character at a glance. So far, there are more than 6,000 designs on manhole cover, and there are art exhibitions about manhole cover in Japan. At the same time, the Japanese government also opened a "manhole cover tour" bus tour, so that foreign tourists can systematically understand the importance of Manhole cover art to Japan. In short, the popularity of manhole covers arts in Japan is due to the efforts of the artists and the government, as well as visitors' understanding of urban management in Japan.