One of the very nice touches that we found in every city we visited in Japan were the city logos embedded into the sidewalks. The technical name for them is sidewalk plaque, and in Japan they are an art form. They were always attractive and unique to the area, a colorful image of some nearby attraction that set the city apart from others around it. And when in doubt, they went with a bird, a tree, or cherry blossoms.
And in larger cities, like Tokyo and Osaka, neighborhoods have their own special street shields. And even some of the manhole covers were often decorated in intricate images.
Tokyo’s primary logo commemorates the Tokugawa Dynasty that led Japan for several centuries during the Edo Period (1603-1868), and features the family crest, consisting of five hollyhock leaves.
Shizuoka loves it’s children.
Kyoto’s sidewalk plaques serve as directional markers to the shrines and temples for which the city is world famous.
Osaka celebrates Osaka Castle.
Nara champions its herds of tame deer that roam the city.
Fuji is all about sacred Mt. Fuji.
It’s nice when a city or a region celebrates it’s identity, like the crab logos you see all around the Chesapeake Bay where I live. But it got me thinking about the cost. The circular images in the Japanese sidewalks are made of brass and feature complex painted designs, meaning they are probably fairly expensive — let’s say $5 a pop to design, produce, and install. And they put them every couple hundred feet on most of the main streets. That adds up pretty fast. Why would they do it? There just aren’t that many tourists. So, they do it for the people who live there. That says something about the Japanese sense of beauty.
And the cost to walk in beauty? Priceless.
