Roving Ronin Report

Setsubun is an old Japanese tradition going back to the Heian Period (794-1192) where Japanese drive bad luck or evil out of their homes by throwing beans.

The evil is represented by devils called Oni and often fathers will don an oni costume so their kids can pelt them with beans - ouch! In America, dads dress up like Santa Claus and get milk&cookies for their troubles!

At temples and shrines, they do a mame-maki where they throw beans and other things to gathering crowds. People go crazy trying to catch these beans.

Setsubun is one of my favorite Japanese traditional events and for the last 4-5 years I have always gone somewhere to celebrate it. This year I started Setsubun a few days earlier by going to the small neighborhood of Shimokitazawa where they had the Tengu Matsuri. Tengu is a long nose goblin who protects the area.

On Setsubun I went to 4 places in and around Tokyo - Narita, Kanda Myojin Shrine, Hosen-ji Temple in Nakano, and Ashikaga in Tochigi. I saw sumo champions, Japanese celebrities, samurai, J-Pop stars, and fighting Buddhist monks.

I recorded the vlog part of the video around 3 in the morning because I had to catch a really early flight from Haneda to Hokkaido so I’m speaking low so as not to wake my neighbors. Plus I was tired!

For photos check here:

Setsubun 2009

The samurai were Japan’s elite warrior class of long ago - masters of many deadly weapons and stern possessors of martial fighting skills.

In Tokyo’s modern mecca of electronics and anime, Akihabara, the samurai have re-emerged as masters of a new deadly art.

The 2nd Annual Tokyo Youtube Hanami Party was held Sunday March 29th in Yoyogi Park.

A number of Youtubers located in Tokyo and elsewhere gathered in Yoyogi Park - the park next to the Goth Maids and the dancing Rockabilly Elvises.

Hanami is the Japanese tradition of gathering under cherry blossoms to eat, drink, and be merry.

We had KFC chicken, Krispy Kreme donuts, ramen, beer, and Chu-Hi.

Here people talk about what they like about the Hanami tradition.

2008 was a busy year for this wayward wanderer though I didn’t travel much abroad due to the high fuel surcharge. I did however travel a fair bit around Japan going to a number of festivals. This is a photo montage of my experiences.

http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/samurai-daves-2008-in-review-travels-events-and-festivals/

Although Christmas is not an official holiday in Japan, it is observed in other ways.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas, one can find lines of Japanese standing outside of KFC for a little bit of the Colonel’s Christmas Chicken.

Christmas Cake is a popular item which sells for about 30-50 bucks at convenience stores. It’s also a term used to refer to women over 26.

For young couples, Christmas is a big date night and many of them go to love hotels.

Times must be tough at the North Pole as Santa Claus is forced to lay off his reindeer and resort to Public Transportation. While I was changing trains at a station in Tokyo, I came across Santa doing a milk run in Tokyo trying out the train system.

While Santa’s away, the reindeer will play. See a group of reindeer dance, sing, swear, drink beer, play pool, throw darts, and experiment with their sexuality while on leave in Tokyo.

Dasher gives a drunken rant about being stuck behind Rudolph of Red Nose fame for the last 70 years.

Here are some Holiday-related photos from Tokyo Decandance - a semi-monthly club event which is a melting pot of various subcultures in Japan. This is a photo montage of Tokyo Decadance’s Christmas event. Plenty of interesting folks and some cuties in XMAS outfits.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Mt. Kurama in northern Kyoto comes alive with the fires of hundreds of torches some of them over 15 feet long requiring 4-5 men to carry them. It’s a very old tradition going back to the late 8th Century. The torches are used to guide spirits through the human world to their own world so they don’t stray and cause mischief. It’s a great festival with lots of energy.

http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/rain-fails-to-dampen-japanese-fire-festival-spirit/

This from the first time I went in 2005:
http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2007/03/20/japanese-fire-festival-on-kyotos-mt-kurama/

The following video is a photo montage of my favorite season - Autumn. The photos were taken over several years and come from four different countries: Japan, America, Germany, and the UK. I put in various quotes and poems about the Autumn season from various poets from different times and countries.
http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/a-tribute-to-autumn/

Here’s a trilogy of videos on Japanese beer - one on beer vending machines in Kyoto, another one on a draft beer vending machine in Tokyo, and a final one on historical beers - beers with labels of famous people in Japanese history with short bios.

This first video is from BusanKevin in Kyoto talking about the wonders of outdoor beer vending machines in Kyoto on a hot day:

In response, I did a video on a draft beer vending machine I discovered in a pool hall in Tokyo a few nights ago.

Taste was not too bad but it gave me a huge head of foam which is quite common anyway even with live servers:

Later that same night I came across some “Historalicious” Japanese beer which were beer bottles with labels depicting famous people from Japanese history. Get your drink on while learning some Japanese history with Historalicious Japanese Beer - if you can read the bloody small cursive writing on the label:

Crack open a cold one and enjoy the Japanese Beer Trilogy!

http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/artistic-chaos-the-tokyo-design-festa/
The Tokyo Design Festa is a semi-annual event where artists, craftsmen, performers, musicians, film-makers, and what-not gather from all over the world to exhibit their creations.

It’s a weekend of artistic chaos!

It’s up for votes on Current TV:
http://current.com/items/89051722_artistic_chaos_the_tokyo_design_festa

Help a blogger out, why doncha?

http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/rockin-it-in-japan-the-sushi-cabaret-club/
The following is a look at a mostly foriegn rock band, the Sushi Cabaret Club, based in Nagoya, Japan.

The members hail from Scotland, England, Australia, and Japan. They talk about their music, what brought them to Japan, what it’s like for bands in Japan, and what it’s like playing for Japanese audiences.

They also dispell a few myths like how easy it is for Western musicians to make it big in Japan.

A few of their fans talk about their interest in the band’s music as well.

http://www.myspace.com/thesushicabaretclub

You can catch another one of their songs here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3cF7ah4plE

I used another one of their songs in my Seijin-no-Hi (Japan’s Coming of Age Day) video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQuzN5__aQ

It’s also up for votes on Current TV:
http://current.com/items/89086680_rockin_it_in_japan_the_sushi_cabaret_club#response