" 'Sailor Moon' Featured on Manhole Covers"

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Welcome to "Learn Japanese from the News."

Join us as we learn Japanese and about the country through Japanese news stories.
Today's headline is…

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「美少女戦士（びしょうじょせんし）セーラームーン」がマンホールのふたになった

" 'Sailor Moon' Featured on Manhole Covers"
This news story was published on NEWS WEB EASY's website on March 27th.

Now let's go over some vocab words that will help us understand what's going on.

マンホール
manhole

戦士（せんし）
soldier" or "warrior"
Today's story is about "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon," a hit manga series from the '90s about the adventures of a group of middle school girls who transform into warriors to protect the Earth from evil.
Now let's keep these words in mind as we listen.

「美少女戦士（びしょうじょせんし）セーラームーン」は、武内直子（たけうちなおこ）さんの有名（ゆうめい）な漫画（まんが）で、アニメにもなっています。外国（がいこく）でも人気（にんき）があります。
漫画（まんが）には、東京（とうきょう）の港区（みなとく）にある東京（とうきょう）タワーや商店街（しょうてんがい）が出（で）てきます。港区（みなとく）はたくさんの人（ひと）に観光（かんこう）に来（き）てほしいと考（かんが）えて、セーラームーンの絵（え）をかいたマンホールのふたを作（つく）りました。そして、5つの場所（ばしょ）に置（お）くことにしました。
ふたのデザインは5つあります。慶応仲通（けいおうなかどお）り商店街（しょうてんがい）やみなと図書館（としょかん）の前（まえ）などのマンホールには、ファンが来（き）て写真（しゃしん）を撮（と）っていました。」

Manhole covers featuring illustrations of characters from the manga "Sailor Moon" have been installed in Tokyo's Minato Ward, where the story is mainly set.

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Now we'll break down a few sentences from the story that contain useful expressions and keywords.
Let's start with the following sentence:

港区（みなとく）はたくさんの人（ひと）に観光（かんこう）に来（き）てほしいと考（かんが）えて、セーラームーンの絵（え）をかいたマンホールのふたを作（つく）りました。

"In hopes of attracting many people to visit the area, Minato Ward made manhole covers with illustrations of Sailor Moon on them."

The word マンホール refers to a maintenance hole in the street that workers use to access sewers and examine underground pipes and wires. They're usually covered by a heavy, cast-iron lid that features a raised design to help prevent slippage.

Around 1980, municipalities across Japan started incorporating a variety of original designs inspired by local history, tourist attractions, and cultural icons. The initial idea was to make them more appealing for residents.

Getting back to our sentence, the word　ふた means "cover" or "lid." Here it refers to a manhole cover, but other examples include 鍋（なべ）のふた "a pot lid", and ペットボトルのふた, "a plastic bottle cap."

ふた can also be used figuratively to describe "covering up" inconvenient truths or problems. The expression 臭（くさ）いものにふたをする literally means "cover up what smells bad," but it refers to "sweeping something under the rug."

OK, let's move on to the following sentence.


ふたのデザインは5つあります。

"There are five different cover designs."

The verb あります refers to an object or thing existing or being located somewhere. For example, 東京（とうきょう）タワーは港区（みなとく）にあります means "Tokyo Tower is located in Minato Ward."

In contrast, the sentence ふたのデザインは5つあります refers not to location but to the fact that five different designs exist. That's why the verb あります is preceded by the number 5つ.

Note that while あります, that is, ある is classified as a verb, it's different from verbs like 食（た）べる and 歩（ある）く, which describe an action. Instead, it describes the state of a person or thing.

All right, that's about it for today.
The new Sailor Moon manhole covers are just one example of the special themed lids you can find throughout Tokyo, and in fact, across Japan. If you want to learn more, you can find a lot about this topic online.

All right, be sure to tune in next time for more!

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