3 in 30 - 2001.10.20 Saturday
Sewer drain cover
There are many cliches about the things we see and things we don't see. This Saturday, Beverly and I took a walk down to the Itoyokado store to look for a couple of specific items and I watched where I stepped. I looked at the ground where I walked.
It was perhaps 7-8 years ago that the city widened the street in front of our house, put in sidewalks and other services. In this snapshot, you can see the sidewalks that were put in were these two-color paving bricks. It is difficult to remember that the edges of the street were asphalt and gravel.
Most predominant in this snapshot is the “man hole” cover. Like most such items, it is a cast iron alloy, except that this one has been partially filled with enamel. Either I didn't pay attention or my memory is faulty, but I remember such covers in the States as being rather bland. more functional than decorative. I certainly don't remember enameled “man hole” covers.
This particular cover seems to be simply decorative, but there is more than meets the eye. The writing on the cover says “Akishima City” and “rain”. From that, I would infer that below this cover is part of the system to deal with natural rain water drainage. This would be different than access to the system of water to customers or sewage from customers.
The whale does have some special significance to the Akishima City area. It seems that a fossilized whale skeleton was found somewhere near the Tama River, inside the city limits and the city has adopted the whale as a sort of city symbol. Certainly our mythology of whales and water fit together.
Hydrant cover
The next unique cover we encountered happened to be this one with an image of a fire engine in the middle. This was located in front of a Lawson's convenience store*.
Although Japan's preoccupation with fires is probably deeper than in the States, access to fire hydrants/water, is sometimes less evident, or seemingly less accessible to the average citizen. There are no little above ground T-shaped hydrants at street corners.
What I've seen in our neighborhood are covers such as these that most likely provide access to water for the fire department. The fire department is active, though I have never been to a local fire. We hear the fire sirens often in the middle of the night, with announcments indicating where the fire is, but we haven't gotten up to chase the fire trucks. (Fire is still one of the leading causes of death in Japan.)
Unlike Hong Kong, there is no law against chewing gum in Japan, so occasionally you will find gum stains on the sidewalk as you can see in the lower left.
Unidentified cover
This cover was in the sidewalk in a section that was made before our little area was widened and rebuilt. There doesn't seem to be any evident indication of what it is that it covers.
The central radial design is a variation on a symmetrical design seen cross culturally and throughout the millennia. The cross, perhaps symbolizing the quartering of the universe, is then turned 90°, then curved to fit a circle, thus returning unto itself.
The variations in each quarter of this design are interesting. Take a closer look. Note also the coarseness of the asphalt. Beverly says “Note the Roman Alpha letters on the bottom of the cover ‘PAT’, typically meaning this design has been patented.”
A rectangular cover
This particular cover was part way in the street and Beverly noted that I should take care of the trucks passing by as I was standing in the street with my camera. One of the kanji characters in this cover is “water”, so I can only assume that beneath this cover is something to do with the water system in Akishima City.
The size of this cover is about 1/2 meter by 3/4 meter (1-1/2' x 2'). It is different in that it is rectangular. Why are most of the manhole openings and covers round? Conventional mythology suggests that a cover to a round hole will not fall down into the hole.
*Totally unrelated. Lawson's convenience store chain is using computers with the LINUX operating system to connect all their stores, track sales, control inventory, and other items. Linux is a free computer operating system that does not rely on Micro$haft Windoz™ or Mac OS. The Linux operating system is free. It isn't quite ready for beginners, but try http://www.linux.org.