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Lifting the lid on Japan’s growing crowd of manhole cover spotters

Selections from the formidable manhole collection of Hidetoshi Ishii, who has traveled to more than 1,700 municipalities and taken more than 4,500 photos. | HIDETOSHI ISHII

Selections from the formidable manhole collection of Hidetoshi Ishii, who has traveled to more than 1,700 municipalities and taken more than 4,500 photos. | HIDETOSHI ISHII

By Mizuho Aoki
Staff Writer

Aug 28, 2016

Some tourists look around them but Hidetoshi Ishii prefers to look down.

The 65-year-old is a manhole cover hunter. He has spent the past two decades touring with a folding bike and map, on the lookout for treasures.

“It’s like finding a gem. When I spot one, I can’t help smiling,” Ishii beamed.

Amid the heat and humidity in Japan, a good night’s sleep is growing increasingly elusive without the heavy use of air conditioning.

Summer has arrived in Japan and so have hot sleepless nights

By Tomoko Otake

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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