Pokéfuta: the 47-prefecture Pokémon manhole guide

All over Japan, ordinary drain covers have been replaced with one-of-a-kind Pokémon artwork. These are Pokéfuta (ポケふた) — official Pokémon manhole covers installed by The Pokémon Company together with local governments. Each design is unique to its town, and no two are exactly alike. Here is how the program works, which Pokémon represents which prefecture, and how to fold a real Pokéfuta hunt into a trip.

What are Pokéfuta?

Pokéfuta are part of Pokémon Local Acts (ポケモンローカルActs), an official initiative to support and promote Japan's regions through Pokémon. Selected prefectures are given an ambassadorial Pokémon — usually chosen for a wordplay on the prefecture's name or a link to its famous food, scenery, or culture — and unique Pokéfuta are installed in towns across the country. They are real, working manhole covers on public streets, so hunting them down is a genuine reason to wander neighbourhoods most tourists skip.

Pokéfuta by the numbers (2026)

• 486 covers installed across Japan as of late May 2026 — up from roughly 400 in mid-2025, so the roster genuinely grows month by month.
• 41 of 47 prefectures have at least one. As of January 2026 the six without any were Gunma, Yamanashi, Nagano, Hiroshima, Kumamoto and Ōita — worth re-checking the official map, as gaps keep closing.
• Six prefectures have a Pokéfuta in every single municipality: Miyagi, Fukui, Mie, Tottori, Kagawa and Miyazaki. If you want a "complete one prefecture" challenge, start with one of these.

The official ambassador Pokémon, by prefecture

These prefectures have an officially assigned support Pokémon under Pokémon Local Acts. (The program adds prefectures over time — the official site holds the current roster.)

Pokéfuta themselves are installed well beyond this ambassador list — many other prefectures and cities have covers too. The single source of truth for what exists right now, and exactly where, is the official map below. We link to it rather than printing a count that goes out of date.

How to plan a Pokéfuta hunt

A manhole hunt is really a sightseeing route in disguise. Pokéfuta tend to sit near stations, parks, town halls, and tourist spots, so chaining a few together walks you straight through the best of a town. A practical plan:

• Pick a base prefecture using the ambassador table above, then read its free guide for what else to see and eat.
• Map the covers on the official map and group the ones near each station.
• Move between regions cheaply — buses, ferries, and private rail often beat the rail-pass for short Pokéfuta-hopping hops.

The Japanese you'll actually use on a Pokéfuta hunt

Manhole hunting is one of the few tourist activities where you end up talking to locals — asking directions to a drain cover confuses and delights people. The core vocabulary:

Want these to stick? The free JLPT battle quiz drills vocabulary like this with spaced repetition.

Want the merch, not just the manhole?

Most Pokéfuta towns sell local-exclusive Pokémon goods, and a lot of the best items — limited figures, cards, town collaborations — never leave Japan. If you're collecting from overseas, a proxy-buying service ships them worldwide.