さつまいもの日, Satsumaimo no hi Sweet Potato Day and Picking

 
 I just learned recently that October 13 in Japan is "Sweet Potato Day". Japanese love sweet potatoes and its a traditional autumn food. I especially love the simple "yakiimo" baked sweet potatoes. There is a small truck that drives around the neighborhood, like an ice-cream van, playing a melodious music, selling sweet potatoes baked over hot stones. There good, but kind of expensive. People often make them at home. I think the simple music and song is really beautiful and somehow kind of pious. . I remember when I first came to Japan, I heard that music in my office and I thought there was some kind of religious procession going on outside. The words are simple:

Yakiimo, ishi yakiimo, yakiimo
(Baked sweet potatoes, stone baked sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes)

That day, my school had a sweet potato picking event at Mori no Kuni at Mt. Daisen. All the students and parents came, including Rika and my wife. Most Japanese people go sweet potato picking at least once in their life, it's traditional. We picked the potatoes, baked them in burning leaves and had lunch. It was a good day. Every family also got to bring home a big bag of sweet potatoes. Yata!(great!)

Here's a video of the song, sorry, not mine