Colour in the streets of Hong Kong is generally limited to neon signs and giant advertising billboards. More often than not, they seem like eyesores, rather than works of art.
And you certainly won't find much to marvel at underfoot.
Yet the very pavement we walk on could offer limitless possibilities for adding colour to our city.
Take the example of Japan. There, the government has managed to enliven one of the most mundane of public utilities: the manhole cover.
Called manhoru, manhole covers are used as canvases for street art. They add a welcome splash of colour and decoration to Japanese towns and cities.
The designs of manhole covers number in the hundreds, spreading across 1,750 municipalities. They vary from town to town. These steel canvases can even be seen as markers of regional identity: many of them bear symbols that locals feel best represent the character and geography of their region.
Many covers sport cartoon characters, local landmarks, township logos, historical figures and nature scenes. Images range from a scene of a 10th century folk tale in Fuji City and tuna riding the waves in the fishing port of Yaizu, to a football match in Saitama.
