Oni... in... space...

Since Noguchi threw chocolate candy rather than beans, we still do not know the impact of zero gravity on the traditional setsubun medium. (Video from YouTube user Pandabonium)

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi performs outer space Setsubun

While a majority of us celebrated Setsubun (see our Setsubun article here) here on Earth Wednesday, February 3, JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi performed the ritual 400 km in orbit aboard the International Space Station. (Thanks to Japan Probe for pointing to the video.)

It usually takes two to perform the ritual: one to wear the 'oni' ogre mask and one to pelt the oni with beans, but Noguchi, flying solo, donned the mask and threw chocolate candies. (The International Space Station Supermarket was all out of roasted beans for some reason.)

We applaud Noguchi for his efforts to keep up with Japanese tradition, and more importantly, we believe it was the right thing to do. If there were ogres or demons in our space station, we'd want to drive them out as quickly as possible, too.

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