Brick Dominos Fall, Ending with a Bang!

Last Saturday after a night with the Satos in Ebetsu (city of about 100,000 next to Sapporo), Sato-san, Yoko-san, Ruben, and Phil met Buzz, Yukari, and Ren at the annual Pottery Fair. Over 300 booths of ceramics, necklaces, etc. fill several blocks. There are also food booths and we once again enjoyed the Indian cuisine from the Taj Mahal restaurant that we'd dined at last week in Sapporo. It was good to meet up with friend Tom Owens and to meet his wife, Satusuki.

A highlight of the Fair is the falling of the brick dominoes. (Ebetsu is known for  manufacturing quality red bricks.) For this event over 2,000 bricks are arrayed in the middle of a blocked off street about a block long. Selected children start the toppling of three rows of bricks.The bricks, on their own accord, slowly but surely fall in succession. Fireworks are couched in a brick structure at the end of the line. A toppled brick triggers a bang, ending this impressive event.