Standing on the balcony in the rear of the apartment on the eighth floor where we were staying in Moriyama, this is what we saw. As we looked, the smoke grew larger, but there were no flames. In the distance and all around this area, roads could be seen and we were waiting for the fire trucks to surely and shortly, show up. They never came. There were no alarms or any commotion heard. People walking or riding their bicycles did not appear to be concerned at all. A minute or so later, the entire apartment and the whole area filled with the aroma of incense. On an outing later, in the evening, we went to this area and it was a shrine. Incense was being burnt this day to purify the whole area of Moriyama in preparation of some festival.
This is a common practice in Japan. Almost everywhere we went, there were temples and shrines (even inside shopping malls). The smell of burning incense could be found almost everywhere, inside restaurants
, shops, homes and other buildings. The aroma was quite pleasing. Even silk wall hangings rolled and boxed were purposefully incensed. We purchased one of these and you can still smell the incense.
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