Setsubun Festival

So John and I decided to get out of the house on a Saturday for a change! We heard of a festival going on in a town about 20 minutes away by train, so we went with our friends Faisal and Monisha (living here from India). The first introduced us to this little (little as in 6 total seats) Egyptian restaurant. So good! We had shawarmas, which are basically pita sandwiches with your choice of chicken, lamb or beef. Then, we got some hummus and fuul (similar to hummus but with a lot more flavor). Everything was so good. This Japanese woman is married to an Egyptian man, and they live in Tokyo. It looks like they converted their garage to a kitchen, which is smart since property in Tokyo is so expensive.

From there, we headed to a town called Shimokitazawa, which a very cute little town with so much character. The shops are adorable, including this little coffee shop with amazing lattes.

Monisha (Monz) and I trying out a new look. What do you think?

The owners lived in New York for a long time, so they speak perfect English and sell little things like Lifesavers, Trident gum, and Skittles...so random, but I think the Japanese like buying imported things like that.

The whole reason we came here was for the Setsubun Festival and the Tengu parade. Setsubun is a bean throwing ceremony that happens right before Spring begins. The thought is to drive out evil spirits before the new year (Chinese new year, that is) by throwing beans at these men dressed as evil spirits. The tradition is for the children to walk through the streets armed with roasted soybeans, and then the evil characters jump out and get pelted with the beans. To begin, the children also have packets of these beans that they hand to you as they are walking through the streets. They are so adorable saying, "Dozo" (meaning please go ahead/take this) in there little voices. Things change very suddenly when the evil spirits jump out, though. Literally, screaming and crying children everywhere. And then the guys that are dressed up are getting hit (pretty hard, I must say) by these beans by the terrified children. Overall, not so sure about this whole ceremony, but it's always interesting to witness this culture. Here are some pictures:

She is armed and ready!

As is this little guy...

The guy in the orange wig is the evil spirit, and you can see beans being thrown. They kind of get thrown at everyone, so watch out!

Scary guys!

Scared to death, poor guy!

This little one is not so bothered.

See how everyone gets involved!

Yikes!

The second thing of the day was the Tengu (google it because I am still not really sure what it's all about) parade. These are the red faced creatures like below. This is also the same as the masks the kids had on.

In front of the parade...ignore the swollen face, please!

Please notice his shoes...

Basically walking on stilts!

He had to carry around a chair to sit from time to time.

I don't think we'll be venturing out too much this weekend due to a church meeting on Saturday and me having 2 baby showers. Such sweet friends I'm blessed with no matter where I live!