Two days to hunt down all of Tottori’s 20 Pokémon manhole covers [Part One]

With a Pokéfuta in every municipality, Tottori lets you explore the entire prefecture on your quest to catch ’em all.

Pokémon-themed manhole covers, or “Pokéfuta” as they’re known in Japanese, make for a fun memory of any Pokémon fan’s travels, and with over 400 locations nationwide, it’s not too difficult to come across one if you set your mind to it.

In fact, there are four prefectures — Miyagi, Miyazaki, Kagawa, and Tottori — where there is one every municipality. Our Japanese-language reporter Ikuna Kamezawa hails from Tottori, in the far west of Japan, and throughout her life so far, she has been to about half of its 19 municipalities. Feeling that it was such a shame to have never explored Tottori in its entirety, despite her hometown being there, she set out to conquer all of them and, at the same time, collect every Pokéfuta. The only problem was that she only had two days in which to complete her task, so would she be able to do it?

Checking the official website, Ikuna was able to pull up a list of the exact locations of every Pokéfuta. With her local knowledge, and a little help from her parents’ car, she felt pretty confident in her chosen route. She decided to start in the southeast, move north along the east side, and westwards along the coast for the first day. She would then spend the night in the west of the prefecture and finish up the ones in the west of Tottori on the second day.

Leaving her parents’ house in central Tottori at 8 a.m., Ikuna headed to a highway bus stop to pick up her friend who had come to visit her from Osaka. Together they decided on the rules of the challenge.

First, while it was probably possible to see all 20 manhole covers within 24 hours if they tried, it would be much better to have photos of them during the daytime, so they would have to finish each day of traveling before the sun had set.

The other rule was that they would mostly focus on Pokéfuta hunting, and keep any sightseeing to a minimum. Ikuna recommends that if anyone wants to do sightseeing in Tottori, on top of the Pokéfuta hunt, you should be prepared to set aside at least three to four days to finish them all.

About 15 minutes by car from the highway bus station, Ikuna and her friend arrived at Chizu Station, home to the southernmost of Tottori’s Pokéfuta in the eastern part of the prefecture.

The very first one featured Sandshrew, Sandslash, and Sudowoodo.

There are currently only 18 prefectures that have a dedicated local Pokémon, to help promote tourism in the region. Sandshrew, being Tottori’s representative Pokémon, does such a good job in its promotions that it features on every Pokéfuta in the prefecture. There’s even a Sandshrew Pokémon train to ride on.

However, it was then that Ikuna realized she had forgotten some other important details that they should have decided beforehand. Next to every Pokéfuta location in Tottori is a place to get a corresponding stamp, so should they collect all of the stamps too? If they do, then they’ll have to narrow down their window for traveling even further to the operating hours of the tourist information centers that the stamps are located in.

There’s even a stamp rally being held at the moment, until January 31, 2026, where if you happen to collect the stamps on the official “Tori Pass” booklet or digitally on your phone, you can enter a lottery to win some luxury prizes.

However, with the added constraint of the information center’s operating hours, getting all of the stamps on top of seeing all of the Pokéfuta was going to be tough, but definitely a challenge well worth undertaking.

▼ Stamp collection: begin!

Ikuna’s friend also raised her desire to use Pokémon Go’s AR mode to take a commemorative photo with the Pokéfuta and its featured Pokémon.

If you do play Pokémon Go, then don’t forget to claim your free gifts too.

With time slipping through their fingers, they really needed to get a move on, so they set off on their journey.

▼ Second stop: Wakasa Town

▼ Third stop: Yazu Town

It was Izuna’s first time in the area, so she was eager to explore the roadside stations that were home to the two Pokéfuta. So much so that she spent a lot more time there than she had originally intended on. Despite being in the same prefecture, the selection of goods at each station can be quite different.

In the end, Izuna couldn’t help but give in and indulge herself by purchasing some delicious-looking rusks.

▼ Fourth stop: Iwami Town

Being right next to the beach made for an incredible location, but then came a new problem.

The location for the stamp was a whole eight-minute drive from the Pokéfuta itself. Some further research showed that out of the 20 Pokéfuta in Tottori, four of them had the stamp site separated from them like Iwami, so trying to do this two-day challenge without a car would be nigh impossible.

▼ Fifth stop: Fukube Town in Tottori City

This one happens to be right next to Tottori Sand Dunes, so if you only have time for one when you go to Tochigi, you should definitely take a photo with this Pokéfuta.

Since they were so close, it would have been pretty cruel to Ikuna’s friend if they left without seeing the sand dunes, especially as it was her first time visiting Tottori, so they had a quick peek at them before leaving.

▼ Sixth stop: Hamasaka in Tottori City

This next one is located in a small amusement park, but both the Pokéfuta and the stamp are located before the paid entry area, so there’s no need to pay to see it.

▼ Tottori Sakyu Kodomo-no-kuni

It was now 3:30 p.m. and they had successfully completed the entire eastern area of Tottori, but it was not all good news. They were running quite far behind schedule.

From the sixth Pokéfuta, it took about 40 minutes to drive to the central area of the prefecture, but thankfully the ones located there are clustered closer together, so once there, they were able to see them all quite quickly.

▼ Seventh stop: Yurihama Town

▼ Eighth stop: Kurayoshi City

▼ Ninth stop: Misasa Town

This is one of Tottori’s famous hot spring towns. The footbaths were calling out to them, promising them moments of relaxation, but with the sunset fast approaching, they needed to keep moving.

By this point, the only thing they had eaten all day were just some snacks in the car. Pokéfuta hunting is not for the weak.

▼ Tenth stop: Hokuei Town

Tourist information centers and roadside stations generally close at 6 p.m. at the latest, so this was going to be Ikuna and her friend’s last stop for the day, but reaching the halfway point felt like quite the achievement.

Since they were nearby, they took a quick look at Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory, a museum dedicated to the creator of the manga and anime Detective Conan, who is from Hokuei. The museum was already closed, but they both enjoyed the atmosphere. If you visit Tottori, you might even have the chance to hop onto a Detective Conan train.

Looking forward to the second day of Pokéfuta hunting, they drove towards their lodging in Sakaiminato, in the far west of Tottori and a spot for the gathering of Japanese spirits called yokai.

▼ Eleventh stop: Kotoura Town

It was already 6:40 p.m., so even though they would need to come back again for the stamp, Ikuna and her friend decided to stop off there since they were driving past it anyway.

▼ Wait… what?

The roadside station was open?

The official website said the closing time was 5:15 p.m., but for some reason, it was still open.

Unexpectedly, they managed to complete the central area too, with no need to make a return visit the following day. There was simply no way to predict the station still being open, so the thrill of the surprise was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the entire trip.

By the time Ikuna and her friend arrived in Sakaiminato, it was past 9 p.m. Despite having to wake up at 7 a.m. the next morning, they couldn’t resist drinking a beer to celebrate a hard day’s work Pokéfuta hunting.

However, with what happened the following day, they may have been celebrating a little too early…

Related: Official Pokéfuta Website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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