Farmers' market and new baby

After lunch at Nashinokian, we headed to Hanayo's house to meet her new grandson, that's her holding the baby. I think I understood her to say babies in Japan don't get named until they are 3 weeks old, but don't quote me on that. At any rate, he didn't have a name yet.
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My Thursday class, minus 3 people

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Next we headed to the Akiruno Farmers' Market which is right around the corner from where we have class. Outside were different stalls selling prepared food like grilled corn-on-the-cob, yakitori, yakisoba.....

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Farmers' Market

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Fresh eggs.

For Y50 ($.50) you stick your hand in this box and grab ping pong balls. The number of balls you get in one grab equals the number of eggs you get. Most of the women had their husbands do it because they had way bigger hands.

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I think this is a pretty traditional festival game. These are water ballons floating in a tub of water. Every balloon has a long rubberband tied to it, on the end of which is a metal hook. You get a thin strip of paper tied in a loop and you dip it down in the water to try to snag a hook to pick up a balloon. Of course the longer you have the paper loop in the water, the soggier it gets. If you're not fast enough, the paper shreds apart as you try to lift the balloon. We did okay and ended up with 4 balloons. The balloons are used kind of like a paddle ball, slipping the end of the rubberband over one finger and using your hand as the paddle. I remember getting them at festivals as a kid.