Pokemon manhole covers travel to you in new line of mugs, replicas, and other merchandise

Pokemon is extremely varied, as far as multi-media franchises go. It’s not only a video game and anime series, but a manhole cover one too.

Through the Pokefuta project, colorful manhole covers decorated with Pokemon characters have been installed at select locations in a number of towns across Japan. Often found in less-traveled areas of the country, they help brighten the days of locals and bring in visitors who might have otherwise overlooked the destination.

Of course, these days there’s not a whole lot of traveling going on, so now it’s time for the Pokemon manholes to make their way to fans’ homes instead.

Novelty goods chain Village Vanguard is offering a line of Pokefuta merchandise, with the prestige items being miniature metal replicas of six of the manhole covers: the Pikachu couple cover from Yokohama, Miyako’s Geodude, Takamatsu’s Slowpoke, Ibusuk’s Eevee, Sendai’s Lapras, and Wakkanai’s Alola Vulpix and Ninetales. Each is nine centimeters in diameter and priced at 6,600 yen.

If you’re looking for something more affordably priced, and also practical, though, the Pokefuta coffee mugs are the way to go.

The mug itself features the manhole cover design in monochrome as well as a map showing the Japanese prefecture and town where the actual cover is installed. You also get a rubber cover, which should also work as a coaster.

The mug/cover sets are all 1,980 yen.

But as Pokefuta scholars know, each Pokemon species in the project has multiple manhole cover designs scattered about their representative parts of Japan. For those seeking maximum variety, there’s an array of rubber key chains featuring the complete Pokefuta lineups for Kagawa Prefecture’s Slowpoke, Kagoshima’s Eevee evolution family, Hokkaido’s Vulpix, Miyagi’s Lapras, and Iwate’s Geodude.

Each keychain is priced at 715 yen, and while you can choose the prefecture you want, the exact Pokemon you’ll encounter is random, just like in early installments of the games.

The entire line of Pokefuta merch is available through Village Vanguard’s online shop here.

Source, images: Village Vanguard

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