This post is part of a series on artistic manhole covers around Japan.

Right before I left Okinawa last month, I was lucky enough to stay in one of the island’s swank resorts while waiting for our flight out. This manhole cover was right outside our hotel’s front door:

Its design is simple, but to me it suggests the fireworks that frequently light up the skies of southern Okinawa in the summertime. We had just caught a few bursts from the balcony of our hotel room the night before so it seemed a fitting image for the community.

I suppose the cover could be more inspiring but then again, so could the town of Ginowan. It’s kind of sandwiched in between more desirable locales – Chatan, with its ever-expanding American village complex, and the city of Naha, the only metropolis on the island that can rival a city on the Japanese mainland. Ginowan does boast the convention center and a pretty piece of coastline but besides that, there’s not much there.