Today the yaki-imo man passed through my neighbourhood, with a gaggle of little girls dancing, running, and munching on their stone-cooked sweet potatoes.
This is a very common tradition in autumn/winter Japan...
Listen to the almost forlorn song they sing... and you can feel what it must have been like for the yaki-imo man as he tried to feed his family after the war, on a meagre sustenance of stone-cooked sweet potato.
They are quite tasty and great to hold in your cold little hands on a cold winter day.
I love you!
Cam
That is interesting..thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSuch a quaint custom.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised he's in a truck as opposed to some sort of wagon or other olde fashioned cart/vehicle.
There used to be a guy who came around to collect rags when i was really little... never got that, but it was interesting.
There was also the guy who came through with a grinder to sharpen knives and scissors. That was not so long ago, but all that old fashioned stuff is gone here now.
Very cool, Cam.
Great tradition! Makes me long for a small community where things like this may not be so long forgotten here in America. I wonder is anything similar even exist anywhere here??
ReplyDeleteThe most we see now are are holiday parades and Santa throwing candy, to the romping kids in the street, from the back of the firetruck once a year.
What is he saying? I'd much prefer that sound to the warped "ice cream truck" sound that we get in the summer here (it sounds like the tape as eaten by the tape deck 10 times too many).
ReplyDeleteTake Care Of You!
very cool, Cam... thanks for sharing this little glimpse into your life. :)
ReplyDeleteTornado - He's saying, "hot yaki imo, get your yaki imo, hot, nice and hot, delicious yaki imo, yaki imo, hot hot yaki imo...."
ReplyDeleteStefnee - Thanks. I heard him wandering aboot the hood and hoped he would pass by one of the windows. I guess I could have run out and purchased one from him, but I figured just a wee little nibble of this lifestyle was good enough this time.
Very interesting glimpse of your life over there and I learn something new once again.
ReplyDeleteJen's comments about things she remembers from long ago , I remember when the ice man used to come , with a big block of ice on his shoulder with a big ice pick in it , for people who still had iceboxes instead of refrigerators .
That is way cool. Love the sharing of life. Thanks Cam, and thanks for the birthday song. I would have never expected that song from you. Ha ha ha. Made my Day.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Does he sell anything else during the spring or summer seasons?
ReplyDeleteNo, he just sells yaki-imo after he harvests them from his farm, I guess. We get the yaki-imo man, the sao-dake man, and the recycle-man, but they are al different people.
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