If you thought that hanami season finished when the last of the cherry blossoms fell, think again. Even though Japan’s most famous blossoms are gone for another year, there are still chances to enjoy a hanami picnic before the sultry heat of summer kicks in.

Following signs off the beaten track to the Hiyoshi shrine in Tamana, Kumamoto prefecture, we found the Yamada wisteria (山田藤). The many vines, some of them reputedly over 200 years old, form a canopy over the shrine’s grounds – a pergola in purple.

Golden Week is a perfect time to see it, occuring as it does right around the start of wisteria’s flowering season, and I’d imagine that that has contributed to the Yamada wisteria’s huge popularity.

The lawns under the fragrant flowers were packed with picnicking folk, enjoying an al fresco lunch on blue sheets.

Not the most interesting flight path. As a result, I wasn’t glued to the window, avoiding sleep. We didn’t fly into Narita this time, but to Osaka, which meant that there was a good chance of spotting Mt. Fuji, provided there wasn’t too much cloud cover. About an hour before landing, this was the view from the plane.

Through the winter, the rolling fields of Kyushu’s Aso and Kuju highlands are a light brown, with a carpet of long, dry susuki grass as far as the eye can see.

But with spring comes a clearing out of the old, making place for the new. Spring then is a time for fire festivals in this region. Across the whole region, last year’s grass is burned away in a series of what I assume are controlled fires, making way for the spring new growth.

It’s something of a surprise to me that this age-old tradition of burning thousands of acres of grassland every year has survived into this day and age – it doesn’t jive well with an alleged concern for air pollution, for example, as visibility and air quality are reduced to Beijing-like levels for a week or more.

What is even more surprising…

is that it’s quite a spectator sport.

And it appeared it was quite a tourist draw…

Quite apart from anything else, there were of course no public safety precautions whatsoever. I think the idea was that if you’re silly enough to come up into the mountains while they’re being set alight, then safety is quite your own responsibility.

There was something quite awesome about the fire. As the wall of flame advanced, the savage crackling noise was overwhelming. And even standing in the road, you had to be very aware of which directions the fires were moving either side of the road. With the grass burning right up to the edge of the road, the heat was intense, even passing hurriedly by in the car.

Driving back along the Aso Milk Road the following day, there were odd tufts of tan grass here and there, but other than them, all was black…

…with the winding road offering the only contrast to the charred landscape.

And so with the first stage of the spring transformation complete, we’ll be back up there as the weather warms up, the air becomes breathable again, and the black gives way to summer green.

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Though it can seem hard to believe sometimes on those cold mornings, cherry blossom viewing season is right around the corner.

To help you plan your viewing schedule, here is a map (current as of February 26) of how the cherry blossom “front line” is expected to sweep across Japan in the weeks ahead.

It may have been 4° in my living room when I got up this morning, but a neighbour of mine assures me spring is just around the corner.

And with good reason.

Yes, it’s time to kick off the blankets and kick up the nature worship again. Parts of Japan might shivering be under feet of snow, but here in central Kyushu the plum trees are blooming red, white and pink. Which means not long now until the debauchery of cherry blossom hanami season! Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.

(Picture can be seen full-size here.)

Sneak attack by Setsubun Devils?

Setsubun Devils enjoying the sudden snowstorm in Tokyo

A sudden snowstorm swept in silently and swiftly during the early morning hours in Tokyo this Feb. 3. Three centimeters of snow covered the capital in a fairly heavy snowfall. Train services were disrupted, traffic backed up, flights were cancelled, and at least 100 people were injured. Although snow is not unusual in Tokyo, these days, however, snow has become less common over the years. Last year it only snowed once and very briefly at that.

Sudden snowfall in Tokyo at Senso-ji Temple

Shrine attendants work to clear a path

What makes this snowfall particularly significant if not ominously suspicious was the date. Feb. 3 is the Japanese holiday of Setsubun, a day when Japanese seek to drive bad luck out of their homes and bring in happiness. Setsubun is a more active version of Groundhog Day where Japanese take matters into their own hands to try and bring an earlier end to winter. On the old Japanese calendar, Setsubun was considered the day before Spring – despite the real Spring being a few more weeks away.

Praying to a snowy Buddha for perhaps warmer weather

The bad luck is represented by Oni – Japanese devils. There are many devils in Japanese folklore which can be good, bad, or neutral. The Setsubun Devils are known for being one of the bad ones. They are typically believed to be invisible intangible spirits that will inhabit places to bring misfortunate to all if they are not driven out. Their visible appearance is that of a shirtless devil with horns, shaggy hair, sharp claws and teeth, and wearing tiger pants. They come in red, green, and blue colors. If their sharp teeth and claws aren’t enough, they have heavy iron-studded clubs as well. This fierce creature is partially based on the Chinese Zodiac signs of the ox (ushi in Japanese) and tiger (taro in Japanese). Ushitaro means “North Gate.” North was considered a very unlucky direction in Ancient China (probably because so many invaders came from that way) and this belief was adopted by the Japanese in the 8th and 9th Centuries.

A Snow-covered Kabuki Star

Snow at Senso-ji Temple is Asakusa, Tokyo

Along with bad luck, Setsubun Devils represent Winter and the old year too. The ceremony of driving the devils out symbolizes the ending of Winter and the coming of Spring while making everything new for the New Years. Setsubun is close to the Chinese New Years and before Japan switched to the Western calendar system, Setsubun was the day before the Chinese New Year. Japanese want their homes to be free of all the old bad feelings of the previous year. Setsubun is a bit of “out with the old; in with the new” of New Years, spring cleaning, and exorcism at the same time.

Zojo-ji Temple in Tokyo

This Setsubun if one were inclined to see the supernatural in everything and believe in omens as people did in olden times this, they might believe the sudden snowfall to be devil-wrought. Perhaps the snow was a diabolical sneak attack by the devils in the early morning hours to thrawt the Setsubun exorcism activities at shrines and temples. In these places, beans and other such items are thrown “to” not “at” gathered crowds. This is known as mame-maki. It is believed that to catch such items, a person will have good luck all year.

Some Ninja and a walking bag of chips prepare to do Mame-Maki at Zojo-ji

Ninja Chips – crunchy and deadly snackfood for the assassin in all of us

Although the devils threw quite a bit of snow which caused a number of train delays, there were still crowds of people at temples and shrines, their hands outstretched looking for a bit of luck. I went to my favorite temple for mame-maki: Zojo-ji in Hamamatsucho. Zojo-ji always has a few celebrities and a sumo wrestler doing mame-maki. Their mame-maki has more than just a handful of tossed beans. I got several bags of snack food, two wash clothes, nine packets of bean, and six health bars. the health bars were dangerous! I got hit in the head twice and once right smack in my face.

Snowfall at Kanda Myojin Shrine

Decorations at Kanda Myojin Shrine

After that I went to Kanda Myojin Shrine where I saw two Setsubun devils prance about on a catwalk seeming to enjoy the mayhem the weather had caused. At Kanda Myojin Shrine they do a traditional mame-maki where they throw handfuls of individual beans rather than packets. The beans were rather difficult to pick out from the heavy snow flakes that were coming down. No one bothered to pick any of the beans up that had fallen on the ground. At Zojo-ji because everying is in a package, you have people going up and down for mame-maki. This makes for a writhing crowd as some people are jumping up to catch packages while others are diving down to get the fallen ones and getting bumped heads in the process.

A Devil revels in the mayhem of an unexpectant snowstorm

A Kimono-clad girl indulging in mame-maki at Kanda Myojin shrine

After Kanda Myojin’s mame-maki, we were lead into a room where we could choose small packages of beans, candy, and oranges. All in all I had a decent Setsubun mame-maki haul by the end of the day.

A decent Setsubun Mame-Maki haul

In the end despite the weather, the Setsubun exorcism ritual must have worked. The next morning the sun came out and melted the snow away. Better luck next year, devils!

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“A 200-strong army of beady-eyed, ball-shaped robots” is being deployed nationwide, says Pink Tentacle.

Not quite as scary as they might sound, these spherical chaps are “Pollen Robots” and are to be employed by Weathernews.jp to monitor the pollen count. And this being Japan, they have built-in Cute – the ‘eyes’ light up different colours as the level changes.

As the Asahi reports, when the Japanese cedar and cypress get that lovin’ feelin’ and go into their springtime overdrive, data on the pollen count will be sent from these robots to the site. They’ll be stationed outside the homes of a couple of hundred volunteers, all hay-fever sufferers, who will also be reporting on their symptoms.

As the Asahi gravely intones, “Pollen levels from Japanese cedar and cypress are expected to be higher than last year in many parts of the country.” Oh joy.

Gizmodo has a scary photo showing a lightning bolt striking an airplane taking off at Osaka’s airport recently, then hitting the ground. There’s an even scarier video on the site.

Apparently lightning is not dangerous for airliners, since the charge just flows around their aluminum skin, but still… Gizmodo says no plane has crashed in the US because of lightning bolts in 40 years, even though every airliner in the country could get hit at least once, according to statistics.

But they also wonder “can anyone explain to this ignorant (me) person how 100 trillion (million million) watts can hit a plane and nothing happens to the electronics inside, while my cell can wreak havoc emitting just a few microwaves?”

Let’s be honest, Coolbiz hasn’t been what you would call a success, has it. Better than Warmbiz, perhaps, but these things are relative.

Well there may be an answer out there. You’ve seen plenty of unnecessary and expensive USB devices in the past. Is this just another one, or something different? Kuchofuku Inc. have their own take on personal air-conditioning.

From Newslaunches.com –

Everyone actually does have a natural air conditioner which is sweating and the air conditioned clothes are designed to give that mechanism a shot in the arm. The clothes have two 10 centimeter fans located at right and left sides at the back of clothing at waist level. These fans draw in a large amount of air which helps to vapourize thus dissipating sweat and bringing down the wearers body temperature. The clothing comes with a switch to adjust the fan speed. Just connect your shirt to the USB port and be cool.

Kuchofuku Inc don’t just do air-con clothes, you know. They can do you an air-con bed too if you require.

Since it’s apparently the rainy season right now, it’s appropriate that Ame no hi mo tanoshii na! Kaeru bento (Rainy days are fun too! Frog bento) won the first “Character Bento” competition at Tokyo’s Chiyoda-ku, according to Mainichi Daily News.

The contest was designed to choose the best designed bento lunch modeled on animals and other characters. The winner was chosen by eight judges from among 220 entries submitted over the Internet.

The nutritious winning bento was modeled on the theme of a frog on a rainy day. “The brightly colored lunch incorporated ideas such as a red pepper made to look like an umbrella. The judges praised it for its nutritional balance and its seasonal timeliness. The rainy season had already started in many areas of Japan.”

Mainichi points out that, while the bento features a cute design and looks tasty, some wonder if children may think it looks too good to eat. More likely some kid had to go hungry at school while his or her lunch was in the competition.

Frog in bento box
Rainy days are not funny
Only French eat frogs