Manhole cards

Manhole cards (Japanese: マンホールカード, manhōru kādo) are collectible cards featuring decorated manhole covers. They are produced by the Sewerage Public Relations Platform (GKP) and local authorities in Japan. Each card shows a cover and explains its design. The cards are distributed free of charge as part of a campaign to increase interest in sewerage. The scheme also aims to attract visitors to the places featured on the cards. Distribution began in April 2016. Collectors obtain the cards by visiting the places where they are issued.

History

The cards were devised by Hideto Yamada, who worked in sewerage publicity. His childhood interest in collecting cards and stickers helped shape the project. Another model was the dam card [ja], a collectible card with a photograph and information about a dam.

Yamada presented the cards at the Manhole Summit in Tokyo on 19 March 2016. Sample cards were handed out to attendees. The first series was released on 1 April 2016, with 30 cards from 28 local authorities.

In September 2019, Oricon News reported that more than four million cards had been issued. A GKP representative told the publication that demand had increased around the third series in December 2016, when some places exhausted their supplies on the first day.

The nineteenth series, released in April 2023, included the first overseas edition, featuring a cover in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Cambodian edition was issued under a memorandum of understanding between Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and Cambodia's Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

By the twenty-ninth series in July 2026, GKP listed 1,311 card types from 783 local authorities and four other organisations.

Design

The cards measure 63 mm (2.5 in) wide and 88 mm (3.5 in) high, the same size as standard trading cards. The front shows a photograph of a manhole cover, its location and its geographic coordinates. Pictograms identify subjects depicted on the cover. The back explains the design and includes related pictures, the year when covers of that design were first installed, and the place where the card is distributed. It also carries a drawing of the cover and a QR code linking to a website.

In a 2022 account of the project, Yamada explained that the format and numbering were intended to support collecting by region or theme as well as completing a full set. A single toy manufacturer handled printing to keep the paper and colours consistent across the series.

The background colours identify nine regional groups:

The scheme groups Okinawa with Kyushu and Niigata with Hokuriku. There is also a nationwide colour category. Pictograms cover 32 categories of subjects shown in the designs.

Each card has four collection numbers: one for all cards in the scheme and one each for its region, prefecture and municipality. A separate design code combines the prefectural and municipal codes with a letter and number. Letters distinguish designs within a municipality. Different locations of covers with the same design receive different numbers. A production code on the back records the card's introduction month and year, revision number and printing lot.

Distribution and collecting

Cards are given out at designated places, including municipal offices, sewerage facilities and tourist information centres. The distribution rule is one card per person, handed over in person; cards are not sent by post. Some local authorities also issue English editions, including Tsukuba, Yonago and Kitakyushu.

Collectors may seek cards from a particular area or cards whose pictograms share a theme. Architectural researcher Adriana Caldarone interprets card collecting, themed tourism and urban photography as practices that strengthen the cultural meaning of decorated manhole covers.

A study by Ayaka Ito and Yoshito Kikuchi received responses from 423 issuing organisations in 2022. Asked to identify the main effect of card distribution, 68.6% of 421 respondents chose increased visitor numbers. In a separate question with 421 responses, 34.9% identified resale as the main problem. These responses reflected the issuing organisations' own assessments. The authors also examined recipients' places of residence and concluded that most recipients in the areas studied lived outside the municipality where they collected their cards.

Despite being distributed free of charge, some cards have been resold through online auctions and flea-market services for tens of thousands of yen. In 2019, GKP told Oricon News that resale continued despite restrictions on distribution. GKP asks collectors to refrain from reselling the cards, which it intends as souvenirs and a way to encourage interest in sewerage.

Series

New series are generally issued three times a year.

See also

• Decorative manhole covers

References

External links

• Official GKP project website (in Japanese)