Tada to the Rescue

Aki's uncle Tada is the Chief of the Matsuyama Volunteer Firefighting Brigade. Every 3 months they have a "pumpu soho" (pump race) and we were lucky enough to be here on the night.

During the soho they drive two of their fire trucks to the local play ground and baseball diamond for a contest to see who's quickest at running with a fire hose coil, who's loudest at shoulting the location of the fire across the yard, who's group can stay in formation the longest, etc. The only thing they were missing were ribbons for 1st through 3rd place.

Note: I was inducted as an honorary member of the MVFB. Yes, this severly unskilled non-Japanese speaking eeedjit may need to put out a rural Japanese rice silo fire. Honestly, I'm very proud. They may look and sound funny, but due to their extremly well-honed pumpu skills, they're number one in their region and that should be enough for anyone to be proud of. Way to go guys (and gal), I'm ready.