Ume Branches on Manhole Cover in Fuchu

 

Yokohama Manhole Cover

Mammoth Manhole Covers

The manhole covers had mammoths on them. (Nojiri area)

Details of Jindai Botanical Garden

Can you tell what time it is?

A modern drinking fountain. On the other side is a faucet where you can wash your hands. See the wet grate on the ground? That is the drain.

The blossoms on this manhole cover are sakura. The leaves are gingko. There is also a bird on it. Click to enlarge.

On the City Street

When we went into the city the other day, we parked the car on the street. Here are some of the things I saw while I waited for Papa. He ran an arrand. Above is a sign on the street. It asks us not to feed the pigeons. It goes on to warn us about the dangers of pigeons; salmonella, mites, allergies, etc.

(The crowd in the background is waiting to cross the street.)


I turned around and saw this sign on the sidewalk. It was near the pigeon sign. This sign asks us not to walk and smoke. It is against the law. I had seen commercials on TV advising us not to smoke on the street. I had never seen signs like these.

On the way home from our little train station yesterday, I saw a big sign like this one had recently been painted on our sidewalk. There was a stream of people going down the narrow sidewalk, so I couldn't stop to take a picture.


This is the parking meter. For 300 yen, we could park for 30 minutes. We didn't stay that long.


This is one of the manhole covers for this area. The design is a sakura or cherry blossom.

World Heritage Site: Around Ainokura

The porch tile on the front of this house had been replaced, but the old step had been kept.




This mill was on a porch near the front door.




This is a pump for one of the houses. It made a low purring sound.




A manhole in the village.

The Streets of a Small Town in Niigata Prefecture

Our destination was a friend's house in a small town in Niigata Prefecture (district) in northern Japan. There is a lot of snow in the area during the winter. The streets and some of the houses have a water system that melts the snow so it doesn't have to be shoveled. These water spouts are along most of the streets here. We have visited the area during the winter and I remember seeing water gurgling out of these spouts along the center of the road.




All that water from melted snow has to go somewhere. Here is a gutter for drainage along the edge of the street. It is covered with concrete slabs with slits in them.




I have always wanted to go around Tokyo to all the different districts and take pictures of the manhole covers. They are all different. Some are very elaborate. Here is a manhole cover from Niigata Prefecture. It is a very nice one. There are mountains and azaleas and a watermelon. A charcoal rubbing would be a nice souvenir. The streets in this town aren't so busy, but there are some manholes on the sidewalk that would make it easier and safer to do.