True Stories from the Staff Room #1

Italics indicate Japanese.

“We need you to scare the children,” said my principal.

“Er, what do you mean?” I said, puzzled.

“It’s setsubun. You’ll be a perfect demon. You just have to wear this, ” he handed me a paper mask. “And dance around.” He dons on a mask, poses akimbo and then poses like a wrestler.

Then he started, what looked like, his interpretation of Riverdance. The vice-principal came by, “When they throw beans at you, try to eat the beans.”

My principal guaffed, “You don’t eat the beans! Ha ha!” The vice-principal looked at me, then at him and gave a knowing look.

“Ooooh, you must try to eat the beans,” my principal said to me, slowly and in English. “It’s tradition. It’s peanuts.”

“I heard you in Japanese!” I laughed.

My vice-principal crossed his arms and shook his head, slightly in disappointment. “She knows too much.”

***

Happy Setsubun Everyone! Fuku uchi, Oni soto! (lit. “Good luck in, Demons out!”)