This day would be POPPING!!
First, we were now in the Wind City Hotel. This was the view from our window. See all those white windmills. They were all around us and gave our hotel its name.
Another feature of interest in this particular hotel was the bathroom. All the hotels had a little step up to get into the bathroom. The Wind City Hotel exceeded the other two by a LOT. It was at least a foot to get up into the bathroom and another foot+ to climb into the shower. The sink had a faucet that swung from the sink into the bathtub. All the hotels we stayed in had bidets in them. One had a heated seat. They had a button with a musical note on them. When you pressed this it made a flushing sound, This was so you could discreetly make bodily noises and others would only hear flushing.
The bathroom in the Irago View Hotel had a sign in it explaining what you were to do if you had diarrhea or nausea. It seems it was the season for norovirus and there were specific procedures they had to follow to clean up just in case you had that and so no one else would get it. This explained the large numbers of people in Japan walking around with face masks covering their nose and mouth. We stayed very healthy this trip. No bugs of any kind.
Our first visit this day would be the Tahara City Fire Station & Call Center.
It was very impressive when our bus pulled in the staff were standing at attention and saluting our arrival. Kinda blew us all away with that amazing gesture.
All their bay doors were open and we walked through and looked at all the equipment and discussed and compared notes with what Georgetown has. This particular item reminded me of the movie "Stripes" where they have an urban assault vehicle and take it into Czechoslovakia.
Pictures were taken of us and pictures were taken of the group.
We were directed up stairs and shown into a large open room where they gave a demonstration of their training procedure for a call to a home with someone in cardiac arrest. There was a dummy, like we would use to perform CPR training, on the floor. One of the firemen came in with a sign around his neck that said 'wife'. He began to perform CPR and then the emergency staff hurried in the door. They acted just as though that dummy were really alive and in cardiac arrest. They used an IV, they had ear pieces where they were calling in to the doctor and telling him what they were doing and how the patient was responding and receiving instructions for him as to what to do next. They shifted people doing CPR and they moved the body to a stretcher. Very realistic and very interesting.
We were really good at this point in getting in some kind of nice formation for pictures.
We toured their quarters for sleeping, cooking, eating, bathing and doing laundry. Each man gets a little room with a cot to themselves. They actually share it with two other guys but they are on the other shifts. Very nice facilities.
On to the call room. We were shown the instruments they use and then a demonstration was given as to how they respond to a fire with someone trapped in a building. All the fire stuff I have on video. They have the usual concrete tower on the premises for doing this practice. The alarms went off in the call center. The call was answered. The emergency people left us and ran outside. We were told to hurry outside and we obeyed. Then we watched them bring the pumper truck over, extend a ladder, turn on the fire hose and go to work rescuing the trapped person (a dummy) and lowering them to the ground in a harness. Again, very real and very interesting.
The offer was made to let those who wanted to use the 5-story ladder on the fire truck. Four in our band of travelers took this offer. I thought you had to climb the ladder. Not so. They put you in the basket and raised it to its full extension. Then they did a 350 turn so you could see all around. Then lowered you back to the ground.
Gifts were exchanged. Thank you's given. The fire station was a really fun visit.
The bus now drove us up to Mt. Zao Observatory. The observatory is at the top and affords complete views of the Atsumi Peninsula and Tahara, Mikawa Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
These are a few of the views I most enjoyed. The second picture looks like water but it is really a huge field of solar panels. The land has been built out into the water to form more much needed land. When Toyota wanted to build, they needed more land that was available. So they just built it out into Mikawa Bay.
The white cube in the middle of the picture is the Wind City Hotel where we stayed our last two night in Japan.
We loved watching the parasailing off the mountain. Hopefully you can see them in this picture.
Totally enjoyed the Mt. Zao Observatory. This view is of the windmill on the top for power through the windows on the third floor of the observatory. When we arrived there was a nice lady with her cute little white dog. She walks to the top of Mt. Zao everyday with her little dog and then down again. The little dogs tongue was hanging out of its mouth. One would think it was because it was exhausted. Not so. It only has 5 teeth left and it can't keep its tongue in its mouth.
There were also great video presentations that were interactive with your movements. I took video while Claude walked out onto the floor which appeared to have flowers in it. As he walked they spread out away from where ever his feet touched. There was another wall with leaves. As you ran your hand in the direction of the leaves but over the wall, strawberries formed on the leaves. Way cool.
Also, we were informed that they had 'melon ice cream' at this location that was very, very good. I had a scoop and I pronounced it great!! More about the melons later.
Time for lunch. The man who was our Japanese tour guide has a family that owns one of the farms. They grow melons. His family farm was our destination for a unique Japanese barbecue lunch. The Atsumi Peninsula is covered, literally covered, in greenhouses. The place we would eat lunch was one of the greenhouse converted into a restaurant. The tables were picnic style with a cutaway portion in the center. You sat four people to a table and they shared a hibachi that was placed in the middle in the cutaway portion. This hibachi was a ceramic thing and had a screen over it. Each set of two tables was given a tray of sliced meat and a tray of sliced vegetables. You just sat and cooked what you wanted as you wanted it. There was a nice sauce to pour over or dip you meat and/or veggies in. It was just a great way to eat and visit. Even the bugs enjoyed the nectar from things.
This family also raised Atsumi melons. These melons have an outer skin webbed just like a cantaloupe. The melon is perfectly round and not at all oval shaped. The meat on the inside is green like a honey dew melon. The taste is just delicious. These particular melons are very expensive. On the Atsumi Peninsula they can cost $35 each. If you take them to Kyoto, they may cost $65 - $70 each. This is the kind of melon my ice cream was made of on Mt. Zao. Our dessert for our barbecue meal was half a melon filled with the creamiest vanilla ice cream you ever tasted. It was a great treat for us and we all loved the melons.
Back into Tahara City we went to the shrine located next to the Tahara City Museum. It was time to begin the last day of the festival and the fireworks that would be the major focus of the rest of this day.
At the shrine I saw this precious face watching me. Not sure if it was my gray hair or fair skin, but he was fascinated and just kept looking. The little ones I saw were just beautiful children.
They were giving out food at the shrine prior to the fireworks and some of our group partook. I was just full of BBQ, melon and ice cream. Then the first fireworks of the day began. There were big pieces of plywood set up next to the main building to protect from the fireworks. The men came out with what amounted to BIG Roman candles. They brought them out two at a time and placed them on the ground. With exaggerated waving of a lighted stick they made circular movements over the candle. Then they bent over slowly and lit the candle. It started to send out flame and smoke. The two men lifted the fireworks, took a certain stance with their legs, balanced the Roman candle on it and stood like that until the candle finished burning down and the final cap popped out of it. This happened many times.
It was a little noisy and the brother of the little boys picture posted earlier did this...which I thought was wise. Again, look at that precious face.
After they finished with these candles, then the men lifted the float filled with another bigger Roman candle and marched around the little open area in front of the shrine. Notably, one of the men lay across the top of the Roman candle firework on the float.
After marching around a couple of times, they halted. A ceremony of lighting long poles was done. Then they were waved back and forth several times. Then one man, with a smaller lighted stick, walked up to the Roman candle with the man laying over it. The man with the lighted stick climbed up the side of the Roman candle and in a ritual of some type waved the lighted stick over and around the man laying over the Roman candle. Eventually he climbed down. The man covering the top of the Roman candle with his body also got down. The float would be carried by this group of men to the main street in Tahara.
This same scenario must have been happening at other shrines through Tahara. These floats were carried by men and all were lined up on the main street. Then a parade was done of many of these floats filled with the Roman candle type fireworks on them from the main street to the large open area in front of the library. We walked down to the main street and observed the parade of fireworks floats going to the library.
Thank heaven for the TIA office. It was air-conditioned and they had water. We rested there for a bit. You could hear the fireworks going off. Claude and I kept thinking we would head out there after a bit of a rest. It was clear several in the group wanted to stay where it was cool and there was water. Claude and I did that communication with the eyes thingy. Then we said, 'We're going to walk out and check out the fireworks. No other takers. So, out we went. I flew all this way to experience this stuff. I was going to catch as much as I could. We observed more Roman candles going off, this time in groups of four or more.
Then it dawned on us that there was a McDonald's across the street. We had both been very curious about what they served in a Japanese McDonald's. So we decided to sneak over there and check it out. As we crossed the street, our Japanese tour guide saw us! Oh well, so much for sneaking. But he was coming back from being across the street so we all just grinned. We pointed to where we were headed so he would know where we were. Then he went back to the TIA office and we went to McDonald's.
This is the salvation of anyone traveling to Japan from any country and not speaking Japanese. The picture menu. You pick what looks best to you, point to that item, then show the number of fingers for how many of it you want. They repeat the process for you so they are sure your order is correct. Lots of smiles. Then they ring you up and you provide the appropriate yen for your order. Whew!! We had french fries and ginger ale. Just a thing to note, ALL they burgers came with a fried egg on them.
McDonald's had Western style toilets. Yippee!! Claude and I took advantage of this blessing. While Claude was gone I observed something that was very cute. It being festival time, the streets were FULL of kids. McDonald's was FULL of kids. There was one adult lady working there who walked around and talked to the kids being sure they had what they wanted and everything was okay. She noticed that the sun was down so the blinds could be opened on the side of the eating area. She spoke to the four teenage girls sitting in a booth by the blinds. Two of the girls got out of their side of the booth. The adult climbed into the booth and reached for the cords to raise the blind. As she pulled the cord and the blinds came up, the teenage girls all were going ooooooo!!! Then it occurred to me that blinds like that are not common in Japan. They just learned something knew and I realized something I take for granted is a new experience for others.
Another things that was interesting was the line outside McDonald's. It was clearly usable by cars. But due to the festival and streets being blocked off, everyone was on foot. They turned the drive-thru into a walk-thru. Very efficient. I understand they do have a walk-up line outside all the time as well as the drive-thru. Much needed as many people walk or ride their bicycles everywhere.
When we got back to the TIA office, everyone was gone except one TIA person. She took us outside to where our group had decided to watch the Roman candle fireworks. We joined the group and then some of them decided to try McDonald's. We confessed we already did and enjoyed fireworks while they sent a runner for some food.
The Roman candle fireworks portion of the evening in front of the library lasted about two hours. Then we all walked over behind the Aeon shopping building. Mayor Yamashita had tables lined up in one long row for us with trays of snacks and food for us to eat as we enjoyed the fireworks. Man, it couldn't get much better than this...
Then the fireworks began. These fireworks were sponsors by communities, companies, the mayor, whoever. There would first be a few small fireworks, then you would hear a lot of popping and blaze of light in one area. When that all settled, you would see a sign in lit fireworks identifying the sponsor for the next fireworks display.
Then you enjoyed a period of fireworks not unlike the final burst of fireworks we enjoy in any fireworks display in America. These lasted 5 minutes each at least. So we had round after round of fireworks for the next two hours. They even have a printed program. Mayor Yamashita sat by Jennifer. I was sitting on the other side of Jennifer. She would keep me up-to-date on what was coming next. Mayor Yamashita told us which ones had his name on them. Then a bit later he assured us the next fireworks would be the best of the evening and his personal favorite. I was grateful for this as my second disk for my camera was about to be full and really wanted to get the big ending. I felt if I got this which Mayor Yamashita pronounced the best, that would be good enough. I already have video of many of the other sets of fireworks. It was fantastic. I got the video. Then I learned that there is no big finale like we have. When the sets of fireworks ended, there were four really big single fireworks that each exploded into grand displays. But they were each sent up individually and that was the end. Such a different way to do the fireworks and so much fun to have two hours of finale fireworks displays.
Here are a few of the single fireworks I was able to get pictures of.
Just before we left for our hotel, Director Yoshihiro of the TIA brought Claude a gift. When Claude learned of Happy Coats, he knew he wanted one. We found kimonos for sale but no Happy Coats. Director Yoshihiro gave Claude a Happy Coat with the TIA name down the lapels and a Tahara logo on the back. The grin on my hubby's face was just huge. He was the happiest man on the planet. What a wonderful gesture on TIA's behalf. Very, very grateful.
Now back to the Wind City Hotel to be sure we are packed evenly in the two suitcases. We would put some things in the overnight case we brought over in the suitcases and check it separately. This kept us within the weight limit for our suitcases.
