Gadling

I love the little details of everyday life, the attention occasionally paid to the mundane. In New York City, you see this all the time. Walking around you'll be struck by some stone carving of a gargoyle up high on a ledge or the metal work of someone's door. Those are the things that offer an incremental, but valuable, addition to our lives. This is why strip malls suck. Strip malls are the antithesis of artistic attention to detail. And sadly, this is why many of our cities and towns also often suck. People neglect the details. We build for immediacy and economics.

So along these lines, I thought this was really cool. A site dedicated to manhole covers in Japan. The variety here is wonderful, the artistry sublime. I herewith suggest that every city in the country have a manhole design contest and build the best 25 designs for cities around the country. It's a small gesture, and it will lift our spirits just a fractional amount, but those fractions count. Just ask Darwin.

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