40 minutes later, we're here.
Park your car in the temporary parking lot (Kawada West Elementary School) and walk to the store from there.
As expected, we were the first in line, but there were three other customers ahead of us. The first person in line said that they had been waiting in line since 6:30 in the morning. They had already been waiting in line when I left my house.
Then there were the neighbors' uncles and aunts, and we would chat with them, starting with greetings, and wait for the final opening of the restaurant. It was a very pleasant moment.
After a while, a Shikoku broadcasting company came and started interviewing the first person. In addition, I was also interviewed.
8:30 a.m.
The store staff handed out numbered tickets.
The numbered tickets were the cute little bears that I have often seen on social networking sites.
You cannot take the ticket home with you, as you have to buy the item in exchange for this numbered ticket.
I got the number 4 ticket. It was very difficult to get the first one.
Later, NHK and the Tokushima Shimbun newspaper came to interview the first person to arrive. I was able to learn how to do the interview secretly while listening to the story from the side. It was an unexpected benefit to be able to see and hear professional techniques up close.
(As an aside, my interview and purchase was successfully aired on TV.)
9:00 a.m. Opening
At last, the last store opened. The shutters rattled and rattled as the shopkeepers raised them.
We entered the restaurant in the order of numbered tickets. I was number 4, so I was able to enter the restaurant really quickly. I was surprised to see several cameras pointed at me as I entered the restaurant. It was so powerful that even I, a person who does not mind having cameras pointed at me, flinched.
Facing the Kawada Manjyu people, I looked them in the eye and exchanged a few words with them, albeit very briefly, before purchasing the Kawada Manjyu I was looking for.
I could not stay long as there were many customers waiting behind me. We left the store, bowing and thanking them for their kindness.
With the tanjyu I had finally purchased, I walked a few hundred meters to the temporary parking lot.
By 9:10, I was on my way home.