First-ever Pokemon manhole covers installed in downtown Tokyo
Tokyo’s Ueno Park is one of the city’s biggest tourism draws, and it’s actually several attractions in one. In addition to its shady cherry blossom tree-lined pathways and beautiful lotus pond, the park is home to multiple museums and a zoo, and now it’s added even more attractions with a pair of brand-new Pokemon manhole covers.
These are the first-ever Pokemon manhole covers, or Pokefuta, as they’re called in Japanese, to be installed in central Tokyo, and none other than Pikachu himself was on-site for a special ceremony prior to their June 14 installation.
Appearing on the first of the two covers is Tyrunt, the Tyrannosaurus-like Pokemon who Trainers can resurrect from a fossil in the Pokémon. Appropriately, the Tyrunt Pokefuta, which also features Wynaut, is found in Ueno Park near the entrance to the National Museum of Nature and Science, which has an impressive collection of dinosaur fossils itself.
Meanwhile, Ueno’s other Pokemon manhole cover stars Baltoy, whose design is inspired by Japan’s traditional earthenware dogu figures from the late Jomon period (c. 1000 BC), and Bronzor, a mysterious steel/psychic-type found in tombs, according to Pokemon lore.
