Everyone in Japan always looks forward to one thing in the autumn… scratch that—two things.
First thing Japanese look forward to in autumn
The first is roasted sweet potatoes. These are actually sold all winter long, but the selling season starts in autumn. Called yaki-imo, vans or trucks will drive around every neighborhood nearly every night selling them. You can tell they are coming because the vans play this wonderful little song to announce their arrival. Actually it’s more of a chant, but one quickly learns to love this chant when in Japan! [1. It's a bit like the ice cream man back in America.]
Click to listen:
yaki-imo
Here’s a photo of the yaki-imo man.
And here’s a more stationary yaki-imo stand.
I bought one from this woman when I was in Nara. Super nice woman, and to reward me for my attempted conversation in bad Japanese, she gave me the biggest sweet potato she had (or so she said). It was so huge I didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day.
2nd thing Japanese look forward to in autumn
The other thing everyone looks forward to is the turning of the Japanese maple trees. These leaves turn a bright red and they are everywhere, so when they turn in November it just looks like every tree is on fire. Everyday on the news, they have reports to tell us when the local leaves are expected to turn.
This year the leave change is a bit late, but it’s starting to come. The day before yesterday was an amazing day with clear skys and a sky so blue it seemed unreal, so I took a walk to one of the biggest parks in Okazaki. The leaves there were just beginning to turn, but I was able to find a few places that have trees further along than others. Here’s one of the shots I took:
You can also click on the picture to go get a larger version at flickr.
