What's next in Japan?

With the New Year's day passed a few weeks ago, what's coming next to us to celebrate in Japan?

Well, we have a holiday called 'Setsubun' which falls on Feb 3rd every year. (Though everybody goes to school or work on that day)

Today, I want to share with you an interesting custom from Kansai area (the west part in the main island, Honshu) in Japan about this holiday.

This might sound a little weird for you if you hear this for the first time. It was for me.

Okay, here it is.

People in Kansai area eat a certain kind of sushi roll on Feb 3rd with their bodies facing toward  a certain direction in silence until they finish a whole role of sushi.

This sushi roll is called 'Eho-maki'

The direction that you have to face changes every year. This year's direction is 'south‐southeast'

So basically, what happens on Feb 3rd in Japan is that people eat Eho-Maki in silence with their body facing toward south‐southeast. 

As far as I know, this custom started from Osaka and now has spread to all over the country.

How? 

Convenience store chains!!


I live in Nagoya, which is located in the centre of Japan main island, and my parents are from Nagoya too so I didn't know this custom until convenience stores in Japan started selling Eho-Maki through the country about a decade ago.

Now I enjoy eating Eho-Maki on Setsubun!

Oh, you might wonder why they eat Eho-Maki on Setsubun.

Back then, they believed that there were seven gods called Shichifukujin and they asked those gods for their success in their businesses. So in Eho-maki, seven kinds of ingredients are used.

They are inviting good luck and their business success by eating sushi!

How Japanese-ish is this!!
 
If you have a Japanese friend from Kansai area, I am sure they will tell you more about this custom.


Anyway, I'd be glad if you could know a little bit about our culture.
 
Below is an ad for Eho-Maki from a convenience store near my office.

There is another custom for this holiday which is more popular than Ehomaki. Throwing beans at monsters.... This may sound weird to you guys but I will write about this in a next post soon. Thanks for reading and have a good one. Cheers!

Michi