A lovely little book of Japanese manhole covers! 128 pages, offset printed with a little holographic foil on the spine. Pocket sized, 4 1/4 x 6 inches. From Editions FP&CF in France.

“Captured by the author during a trip to Japan, or gleaned later on the internet, this unpublished body of work invites you to discover a subtle art often overlooked in Europe, and particularly in France where access to the sewers is constrained by cast iron plates standardized with sadly and exclusively functional patterns.

In Japan, manhorukaba (in Japanese) plays at the sign and tells us stories. The result of a singular political decision, these plaques offer a superlative territorial story: glorious past or successful present, local mascots and legends, remarkable flora, fauna or monuments...”