OSAKA -- An annual bean-scattering ceremony for the annual "Setsubun" good luck festival was held at the iconic Tsutenkaku Tower in this western Japan city's Naniwa Ward on Jan. 31.

Among the 13 participants was Yukie Nakayama, 40, who qualified for Japan's trap shooting team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This day, however she was clad in an Edo-period formal costume of the samurai class. She was joined by eight members of the cheerleading club at Otemon Gakuin University in the Osaka Prefecture city of Ibaraki.

Participants scattered some 100 kilograms of peanuts at the tower's special open-air observatory, which is 94.5 meters above the ground, and at a stage set up under the tower while shouting, "Devils out, good luck in!"

Nakayama, who belongs to Hitachi Construction Machinery Japan Co., was selected for the event because the parent firm Hitachi Ltd. has taken out space on the sides of the tower for giant neon signs of the company name.

"I definitely wanted to perform at the event for good luck. I scattered (peanuts) in the hope that people in Osaka will be lively," she said.

(Japanese original by Tatsuki Noda, Osaka City News Department)