Parents and teachers are being reminded of the dangers of allowing small children access to roasted beans ahead of setsubun events come Feb. 3 this year.

The concerns are being raised by officials in the lead up to the traditional festival events after the high-profile choking death of a child in 2020.

And while many nursery schools move away from allowing children access to the beans for safety reasons, a new survey suggests that a good number still give children beans on the condition that they are only eaten on the premises.

Setsubun is the last day of winter in the traditional lunar calendar when Japanese people traditionally scatter beans at shrines, temples, or their homes to pray for good luck and ward off evil.

An accident in Matsue in Shimane Prefecture in February 2020 prompted fears about allowing children near the small, hard beans. A 4-year-old boy had died after choking on roasted beans at a certified child care center’s setsubun event.

The tragedy has made people more aware of the potential danger of the beans thrown in the annual ritual.

Following that, the Consumer Affairs Agency published new instructions last year that cautioned adults against allowing children 5 or younger to eat beans or nuts. That marks a departure from its previous advice, which said they should not do so to children aged about 3 or younger.

The Association of Councilors to Prevent Accidents Among Children, which includes municipal councilors elected in various parts of Japan, conducted a survey on setsubun events at 317 nursery schools, including certified ones in Tokyo, along with Chiba and Gunma Prefectures. 

The survey showed that 43 had given children beans on the condition that they only eat them there.

Of those 43 nursery schools, 32 gave beans to 3-year-old children.

More than half of the 317 nursery schools, or 189, said that they have stopped allowing pupils to eat dry beans during setsubun events.

“I guess some nursery schools let children throw setsubun beans as part of their food education, unaware of the danger it could entail,” said Atsushi Sato, chair of the Association of Councilors to Prevent Accidents Among Children and a councilor for Tokyo’s Sumida Ward. “We need more robust information sharing to ensure that nursery school pupils aged 5 or younger will not be given beans.”

According to the Consumer Affairs Agency, over a period of six years ending in 2019, a total of 80 children aged 14 or younger died after choking on food. More than 90 percent of them, or 73, were aged 5 or younger.

Over a 10-year period until 2020, medical institutions reported 164 cases to the agency where children aged 14 or younger had inhaled food by accident. The second most common causal food inhaled by accident was categorized as beans or nuts, resulting in a total of 31 cases.

Some nursery schools no longer hold setsubun events that involve throwing beans and opt for other activities instead.

Several years ago, Koume nursery school, a certified nursery school in Sumida Ward, changed its setsubun event activities to let children throw balls at balloons instead. It decided to drop the bean throwing after Sumida Ward officials warned them about the dangers of children accidentally inhaling and choking on the beans.

“We cannot let an irreversible accident happen,” said Takayuki Nishimura, a headteacher of the nursery school. “We are struggling with how we can ensure the safety of children while incorporating traditional events into child care at the same time.”

The government is trying to get a handle on how schools are currently administering the annual events.

In December last year, the Association of Councilors to Prevent Accidents Among Children submitted a request to various government bodies including the Cabinet Office and the Consumer Affairs Agency to survey educational institutions or nursery schools on how they celebrate setsubun.

The Cabinet Office launched a nationwide survey asking nursery schools, kindergartens and child care centers questions such as “Have you given dry beans (to children) in your setsubun events?” and “Has an administrative body given you advice or instruction about the risks of bean inhalation?”

The Cabinet Office is expected to put the results of the survey together by the end of March.

“We would like to evaluate how to effectively deal with this issue after seeing the results,” an official said.