Setsubun is the day before the start of spring on the old Japanese calendar. There are various traditions as this day comes around, as people look forward to the arrival of spring (soon I hope). One tradition is bean throwing while shouting, ‘Devils out! Fortune in!’ to ward off evil spirits.

The Sensōji is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, located in Asakusa – a short train ride from my neighborhood.

Dave is my second cousin; his mother’s father, Herman, and my father’s mother, Rose, were brother and sister. We had never met before, but he and his wife, Eunice, decided to come on a trip to Japan, so we had to get together!

We met for the first time ever on the train platform at Asakusa station, and walked from there to the Sensōji.

The Sensōji is one of the most popular tourist spots in Japan – for Japanese visitors as well as tourists. Since Setsubun fell on a weekday I didn’t expect it to be so crowded. But fate gave us incredibly perfect timing as we met a parade of temple bean throwers and got to watch the bean throwing ceremony.

Here are Eunice and Dave in front of the Kaminarimon – the “Lightning Gate” – the main entrance to the Sensōji.

I grabbed a random passerby to take a photo of the three of us in front of the Kaminarimon.

A view of one of the shrines as we walked towards the main temple.

We came to a standstill along the path when a parade of temple bean throwers left their building to head toward sthe main shrine.

Here you can see the bean throwers heading towards the next gate towards the main shrine building.

After they passed I got a photo of Dave and Eunice in front of that gate.

Here are Eunice and Dave in front of two famous Buddhas. The statues were erected in 1678.

As we got closer to the main building, of course we stopped so Dave could get an Omikuji (fortune). His was a “good fortune.”

In front of the main temple building.

It was quite crowded at this point. But we went up the steps and ended up in a great spot to watch the official bean throwers toss bags to the waiting crowd. I really wasn’t expecting to see all of this, but our timing coincidentally turned out to be perfect. You can see the Tokyo Skytree off in the distance. (You can also see the Skytree from my bedroom window.)

The bean throwers didn’t ignore people standing off on the side, and Eunice managed to snag a bag of Setsubun beans!

As I said, our timing was really great, and we also got to see the bean throwers march out of the main building to head back.

Dave and Eunice leaving the front steps of the main shrine at the Sensōji. You can get a good feel for the atmosphere.

After that, we wandered around, into side shopping streets, and past other shrines. I forgot to take them past the koi pond, which is right by the main shrine! Next time!

We stopped by the many food stands for some lunch. The woman on the left seemed interested in what Dave got to eat and stopped us to take a photo.

Here are Dave and Eunice in front of some stands selling various delicacies, including tako-yaki (octopus balls).

Dave and Eunice enjoying their lunch. I found some plain grilled ears of corn (no oil) and munched on that.

It was great meeting up for the first time. Not to mention refreshing getting out of the house! I hope Dave and Eunice have a great rest of their trip, and maybe we’ll have a chance to get together for lunch or dinner before they finally head back to the U.S.