As the cicadas of summer finally go silent, a well-known autumn vocalist is bursting into song — and, fingers crossed, nothing else.
The baked sweet potatoes he sells are enjoyed by Japanese kids and adults alike, and the way these tasty snacks are prepared seems as normal to the locals as slurping a bowl of noodles. But anyone who has checked out at close quarters one of the mini-trucks that sell yaki-imo throughout Japan and stopped to think about them for a moment might not agree; they are basically giant barbecue stoves perched inches from the gasoline tank on the back of a 660cc mini-truck. Dry kindling, excessive heat, visible naked flames, cast iron oven, 40 liters of highly flammable fuel in the gasoline tank; it would appear to be a time-bomb on wheels.
"I can see why you might think that," says our neighborhood yaki-imo vendor, 61-year-old Kenji Shimizu. "But all yaki-imo vendors are very aware of the potential danger and operate in ways to ensure safety."