One of the greatest tricks the Japanese invented is an annual tradition that forces kids to eat in silence, at least for a little while.

Today was setsubun which, under various traditional calendars, marks the last day before the first day of spring. (This makes more sense when you remember that September, October, November and December mean 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th month, but are actually the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th months.)

The evening starts with everyone eating a large sushi roll. The sushi has to be eaten whilst facing a specific direction (North-Northwest, today) and must be eaten in complete silence. The silence must be maintained until everyone at the table is finished or there is bad luck. (This, by the way, works like a charm with kids.)

After that it’s a regular meal.

After that, we also did the traditional mamemaki, or been scattering., I got beans thrown at me, but threw a few back, too. Rather than the traditional “Demons out! Luck in!” chant, my chants where “iPhone out! Homework in!” and “Backtalk out! Piano practice in!”

For over a decade, the bean throwing was done while I wore a mask, but our youngest seems to have outgrown that tradition. This makes me kind of sad, but at least they no longer try to hit my face with beans.