In January I went fishing in Akashi, close to Kobe. Don’t believe I’m a good fisherman, it was the first time I fished and I only managed to catch one very small fish in 3 hours! While I was fishing I started hearing a strident sound… I wondered who the hell was doing it… the Yaki Imo man!! “Yaki Imo” means baked sweet potato. During winter the Yaki Imo man drives a light truck with cooking equipement carried on the back. The strident sound comes from the log-fired oven. And normally the vendor sings “ya-ki imo…ishiyakiimo” to announce his presence (actually it’s a tape recording that loops). People run to it as they hear it!