Fire Alert Lantern. Even today you can hear the thwack of two small wooden blocks followed by the call of "Hi No Yojin!" as the neighborhood patrol walks around at night from fall to the end of spring warning us to put out our stoves before going to bed. This tradition, which persists even in major cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto, was born of the fear of fire when all Japanese homes were made out of wood and paper.
