FIELD NOTES // Akishima, Japan

Design Below the Surface

In most cities, you look up for beauty. In Japan, you have the ability to look down as well. What began as a public works initiative in the 1980s became an underground art movement—an entire nation quietly turning its infrastructure into something worthy of admiration.

In Akishima, the sewer covers are more than utility—they’re storytelling. One design features vibrant hydrangeas and a kingfisher in mid-flight, native to the lush Tama River basin that cuts through the city. It’s local, intentional, and unlike anything stamped in concrete elsewhere.

Cast in iron, polished by rain and time, these covers reflect a national philosophy: nothing is too mundane for design. Even the streets deserve ceremony.

We study these details not just for inspiration—but to remind ourselves that meaning lives everywhere. Even underfoot.