Japanese mark the eve of spring by throwing beans to ward off evil spirits. Julie Noce reports. Sign up to our free newsletters Email: Get the best updates straight to your inbox: Daily newsletter (the day’s top headlines, sent every morning) From the editors (a curated selection of stories, sent every Saturday) Please select at least one mailing list. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.