Poketinerary

Poké lids are official Pokémon themed manhole covers found throughout all of Japan. They are often hidden in plain sight so can be easy to miss unless you are specifically looking for them. That said, they are beautifully designed and feature Pokémon artwork tied specifically to the region in which they are respectfully found.

They often reflect:

• Local culture or landmarks.
• Regional traits and identity.
• Mascot Pokémon specific to each individual region.

No two are exactly the same, making finding them feel like a bit of a Pokémon treasure hunt, which is part of the appeal for many people.

There’s a couple of ways to enjoy the Poké lids experience:

1) Discovering them as you go about your trip normally. You might find one:

• Outside a train station.
• On a street.
• Near a park or landmark.
• In places you wouldn’t normally stop.

The pros of this method:

• It doesn’t impact your itinerary or time.
• No need to spend time researching or travelling, if you see one, you see one.

The cons of this method:

• No guarantee you will come across any.
• Even if you are near one, you may not realise.

This method is best suited for people who aren’t too bothered about whether they come across one or not. With itineraries often pre planned to the hour, a Pokémon manhole treasure hunt may not be something you can include and that is completely fair.

2) Planning your routes to find as many as you want. Truly an omage to the Gotta Catch’em All concept.

The pros of this method:

• You find as many as you want to find. Leaving nothing to chance.
• If you love treasure hunting, this is something you will find a lot of fun.

The cons of this method:

• You would need to dedicate a lot of time to planning and then finding them. Likely taking up at least 1 day of your itinerary or more depending on how many you want to find.
• You are unlikely to have time to find all of them, given that there’s over 400 in total.

The fact they incorporate Pokémon designs is definitely their biggest selling point, at least to Pokémon fans. But they also combine this with regional storytelling and real world exploration, which allows you to learn more about the identity of a region whilst also being incentivised to explore Japan as a whole.

Taking a photo with them would strengthen the memory created by visiting them in the first place, as each one would come with it’s own story to tell – from where it was, how you got there, what it looked like and so on.

It truly embodies the whole point of Pokémon as a whole in it’s own unique way.

The important question likely on your mind if you have gotten this far!

Given that there’s over 400 Poké lids scattered throughout Japan, listing them individually on this page is probably not the wisest move to make. Thankfully, there’s an existing database online which you can use that will save you a whole lot of time if you are keen to find some: https://local.pokemon.jp/en/manhole/

Simply select the region and then select the city/town you are interested in and you will then be shown the designs you can expect to find in that location, as well as a map of the locations. It could not be simpler.

We have no affiliation to the above website and are not sure who the creator(s) are to provide them with the credit and thanks for this useful tool, but we want to help make people aware of the website as it’s just amazing. Thank you anonymous creator!