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)
|
Activity Report >