Power of soybeans turns Bean-Throwing Festival into sexy action flick in awesome commercial
rocketnews24.com -- Jan 30
Despite being centuries-old, the core traditions of Setsubun can seem as silly as its common English rendering, The Bean-Throwing Festival.
Once a year in early February, households across Japan toss roasted soybeans outside their doors, with folklore saying the practice will ensure prosperity for the next 12 months by driving off the ogre-like creatures called oni.
Perhaps the oddest thing is the way the oni are depicted in illustrations and popular culture. Generally obese and clumsy, they seem to present little if any threat, and the fact that they can be undone by a scattering of legumes doesn't do anything to help them win street cred, either.
But what if the oni improved their eating habits and started hitting the gym? Would that make them terrifying once again? Maybe, but it also just might make them dead sexy, as shown in this stylish Japanese ad.
Told from the point of view of the oni themselves, the commercial opens with a voice over that includes the declaration "Humans have always treated us as ugly, fat, unattractive monsters…This year, we are different."
- See more at: http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/111187.php#sthash.atRYSfeI.dpuf