The Value of Peanuts

It was my second time competing at the All-Valley Arao Bite-Your-Head-Off-If-You-Catch-My-Beans Competition. In local terms it's called the "bean-throwing festival," but by now I know better. Hundred of people show up at Narita Temple to celebrate the end of the longest day winter with bags in hand. It's a day of casting out the demons in our lives, and starting fresh. And Narita Temple's got a great way to cast the old away.

After some preliminary prayers, dancing, and festivities, (all of which are worth coming to watch on their own, by the way) the announcer informs us, the crowd, that we look like we have beans-on-the-brain. What can I say, it's probably true. We look forward to these little white packages, containing infinite possibilities, tumbling from the rooftop into our grasp for an instant before they fall to the ground and are picked up by a small child or bent-over old woman. We are dreaming about a new TV or a year's supply of rice, perhaps, contained within.

Amazingly enough, it was Hiro's first time doing this, but he turned out to catch like an old pro. So as the town leaders stood on the roof of the temple, tossing packages though the air, the announcer yelling at us to scream with glee even louder, he managed to catch 20 or so packages, a rice ball, a brown sugar candy bar, and about 4 packs of mixed snacks. I was happy because in my little bag I caught a big anpan, which is a stuffed roll.

If I could give the world a gift, I would invite everyone to the bean-throwing festival. It's so easy to lose yourself in the fun of the dancing, the smell of the incense, and the catapulted treasures coming right at you.

We opened up our packages one by one, looking for the number written on the paper that would send us off to claim the prize with the same number. But alas, all we found were(once again not beans) peanuts. Funny that I say it that way, because I wasn't disppointed at all. I ate my peanuts on the way home in the car, and boy did they taste like joy...