Exorcising My Demons.

Recent readers of this here blog should have figured out by now that 2010 kind of sucked for me. 2011 was starting off okay until I got hit with a 900$ tax bill out of the blue just when I was scratching my way out of a bleak underpaid Christmas. So I've decided to take some action and follow some good ol' fashioned Japanese custom and expel some demons from my apartment while simultaneously welcoming in good luck.

Today is 節分 (Setsubun), Japan's answer to Groundhog's Day and it is traditional for one's dad to put on a 鬼 (Oni=Demon) mask and then the kid's toss soybeans or peanuts at it while chanting "Demons out; Good luck in!" Since I'm doing this solo, I had to improvise.

Two weeks ago, the magnificent balloon artist at NHK created a pair of Oni that I was planning to hijack for my exorcism ritual. Unfortunately when I went in there on Monday, they'd already popped them and I'll have to make do with a rather cute version of Tweety instead.

Let's see if it works...



Well, I hope I'm successful, cuz all it seems I did is get beans all over my rug. (In this mess, no one will notice.)