
There was a fire drill at some office buildings in Shinagawa today. As I was passing, I noticed this fire tent, or fire house, that had been set up. The sign on the tent says that it is a “smoke experiencing house”. No doubt the employees were going to be asked to walk through the smoke filled area to experience what it is like when a fire fills the room with smoke.

Not sure whether these employees had already been through the smoke house or were due to go in later.

Have you seen any smoking tents in your part of the world?
5 comments
Those guys should jump in the tent. It would save them a fortune!
Japan Smoking House, Japan Living http://bit.ly/aSiZtq Have never seen anything like that around here.
But going through Marine corp boot camp, part of our basic training was to experience the effects of tear gas. they marched everybody ito the building. It had a barrel in the middle where the dropped a tear gas pellet in it. We had our gas masks on at first, then they made us remove the masks. And talk about burning sensation, then they made us sing the the Marine corps hymn with the masks off. That’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
I used to work at an elementary school in Saitama. The fire department held a “safety day” at our school. They brought a so-called smoking tent, and had the children crawl through it with their seat cushions over their head (all the kids have removable seat cushions on their desk chairs that split open on two sides forming a kind of pocket they can put over their head to protect them from falling ashes and debris). In America, I am sure parents would be freaking out that we were “traumatizing” their kids and causing potential harm to their health. But the kids took it well and were suprised at how disorienting the smoke could be. Then the firemen brought out fire extinguishers that had been filled with water and pressurized. They taught all the sixth graders how to operate them, and gave them the chance to hit a target with them. The other children watched on attentively.
I think this was a great experience for them, and wish I had received similar training at that age. I think that even adults are not sure how to handle a fire emergency, and would benefit from such training!
Even Japanese ‘danger’ signs are cute…
Interesting.