Decorated drain cover

     

Have you heard the expression to laugh like a drain? It’s not a phrase I actually use, but I do like the mental picture that it conjurers. For those interested in this type of thing, I suspect it has its origins in British English.

How about the song Singing in the Drain? Or the movie Drainman? Surely, you’ll not have forgotten Dustin Hoffman’s Academy-award-winning performance.

I don’t see why drains should get all the attention when it’s their covers doing the hard yards, keeping a lid on things best left unobserved.

In an attempt to correct this imbalance, I invite you to consider the life of the drain cover a moment, as you view this fine example from Odawara.

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  • Anonymous

    Looking out for nice drain covers is a mini mission for me when I’m in Japan.
    That is indeed one nice drain cover. :)

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely! I’m sure I passed many before I started to see fantastic pictures of them on J blogs everywhere. I think I’ve only snapped about five or so.

    I too have a mini-mission.

  • Anonymous

    We should go do this mission together someday. ;)

  • Anonymous

    That’d be great! Sounds exciting.

  • http://twitter.com/rjuanir reynard

    Are drain covers as well-designed as this a common sight over there, or just in special locations? I imagine that hunting for these would be an interesting activity. :D

  • Anonymous

    You can regularly find artistic & colourful manhole/drain covers here in Japan. My sad collection: here. I think it’s kind of a big deal. There are books/websites out there.

  • http://twitter.com/Tornadoes28 Jon L

    Very nice drain cover. I thought only manhole covers had these designs. Did not realize drain covers were also part of the party. I’ve found some nice ones in Tochigi also.

  • Anonymous

    I must confess that I don’t recall having ever seen any others. Do you have any photos online of the ones you’ve seen?

  • http://JapanDave.com David LaSpina / JapanDave

    I confess, I kind of gave up drainspotting after seeing this guys awesome book and blog: http://drainspottingbook.blogspot.com/. I don’t travel enough — I can’t compete!

  • http://twitter.com/Tornadoes28 Jon L

    I have not seen drain covers like this. Just manhole covers which are common throughout Japan.

  • Anonymous

    I just checked out that link. Dang!

  • Anonymous

    My selection consisted of covers at Ueno Park (sakura), Matsuhsima (Godaido Island), Akita (the lanterns on pole), Ueda (some flowers), Bessho Onsen (summer festival), Asakusa (some flowers again). I too have a pretty sad collection.Need to rectify this in future trips! :)

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    Mine are all manhole covers not drain covers. Dang! :(