::::: Activity Report: November 16th, 2013 :::::

Mysterious Underground Tour: the world’s largest underground storm drain!   The fine weather made our day lovelier despite it had been predicted to be cloudy. Going down the staircase at Minami-sakurai station, we were surprised at a lot of people in a queue. Joining the long line for a shuttle bus, we took on it to the festival for about 10 minutes.   At first, we put on life jackets and got an instruction on how to paddle a boat. Divided into 2 groups, we paddled each boat into the drain outlet like a channel. It was a great opportunity as well that we felt the flow of Edo River. After the bit of exercise, it was getting to be time for lunch. We took our own course for having food. There were so many choices of street food appetizing us like Kappa soup, Fujinomiya fried noodle, meat bun and etc. We could have seen sticky rice beaten in a tent. On the center of the ground, we watched Yosakoi performances. Our members from other country appeared to find the dance unique.   After having lunch, we finally moved into the main spot “Underground Storm Drain” of the day. Walking down to the staircase, 59 giant pillars and an impressive scene were appeared in front of us. We were overwhelmed by large-scaled storm drains, and were focus on taking pictures. And also, it would be worthy of mention that we had a special opportunity to watch the impeller pump, which has sucked water up from bottom of the storm drain. We enjoyed not only explanation of the storm drain but Manga and live music inside.   Getting out of the underground, we visited Ryu Q kan, which showed us videos and exhibitions. We saw many stuff including autographs, a model of the whole storm drain and etc. Some members loved the large solar panel on the rooftop.   In the end, we enjoyed talking in a lovely café near the station. It’s old-fashioned and even now it has a telephone inside. Coffee with cream (Vienna coffee) was recommended in the café and many members ordered it. We had fun with chatting each other over coffee with unique cups and glasses.   It was our 2nd time of day trips, and we seemed to have a great day. It would be much fun we could reunite in next events.         (posted by Tomohiro Komuro)