When I was a boy I went to Narimasu nearby to buy fireworks. They were very cheap there but the labels were all written in Japanese so we did not know what they were if the shapes were not familiar to us. When I returned home we recognized everything I had in the large bag and enjoyed lighting the fireworks one by one that evening in front of our house. One thing was a mystery, a large round cylindrical object- perhaps a Roman Candle or something similar? To be safe, we set it on its side on the sidewalk, lit the fuse and moved back to see what it would do. The answer was quickly forthcoming- it was a sky rocket and it chased us, tumbling and spinning until it finally burned out.
Another time I went to a small shop in Narimasu and bought a whole handful of incense sticks for only a few Yen. When I returned home, I placed a few sticks in a holder and lit them, enjoying the smokey scent. Our maid, Yaeko Ozawa walked in, sniffed the air and asked what I was burning. I showed her the package of my bargain incense and she started laughing. It was incense made for funerals.