Japan is home to hundreds of traditions that are very different from the United States. These often include traditional foods, dances, and rituals. Sometimes these things seem familar, but are used in a different way. For example, the more recent tradition of eating KFC on Christmas in Japan! There are traditional arts like calligraphy, tea ceremony, and flower arranging...and hundreds of festivals held throughout the year.
One of the traditions native to Akita is the namahage (or rather, the men dressed up as namahage) who come by every New Year's Eve. Namahage are oni, which can mean ogre. They come down from the mountain (Mt. Shinzan) and into the houses, stomping and slamming doors as loud as possible, asking if the children have been good that year. They tell the kids to work or study hard and yell things like: "Are there any lazy people?" ; "Are there children crying?" ; "Any naughty kids around?"
The namahage are treated to dinner and sake (rice wine) before looking up the childrens' names in their book to see if they've been good. The kids are then threatened to listen to their parents. They are sometimes even pulled out the door by the namahage, with the parents pulling back.
