Sunday, 2 September 2012

Cicadas


Japan has a thing about bugs. Bug collecting for Japanese children is akin to going to the swimming pool / beach for Australian children.

See here for "bugs as pets" information.
http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/966/Japanese+Pets.html

Cicadas are deep in the literary culture of Japan as well...
Rurousha has done much more justice to the topic than I could (or would want to.)
http://rurousha.blogspot.jp/2012/08/a-temporal-thing-called-cicada.html


The other day I was out with Hiro's parents. (They were here for a week and we did a LOT of walking) They are avid bug spotters. I am not sure that I had ever seen a live cicada chirping in a tree... they spotted them the whole way along the Shakuji gawa.


The Shakuji gawa




The shrieking at the end is not me....

5 comments:

Rurousha said...

Look at the Shakujigawa! I was there in spring; now it's all green and shady and ... noisy. Crikey, it's noisy. I got a headache just listening to the videos! ^^

Theresa said...

Usually I see lots of cicadas on trees and walls and on my balcony and I wouldn't think anything of it, but this year I've rarely seen them for some reason. Yesterday I heard one on my balcony and grabbed my camera to take a picture because they've become exotic. I couldn't find it and it finally flew out from the rosemary. They're shy all of a sudden?

Cecilia said...

They are noisy! And I still can't tell them all apart by their voices...

We haven't had many near our apartment building this year - nothing to do with the biwa trees being cut down for a monstrous mansion building I'm sure.... but they are prolific on the Shakuji River near here.

I am impressed you can spot them in trees... are you a fisherwoman too by any chance Theresa?

Theresa said...

Yes, I can spot the fish too. My brains are very primitive and I have excellent peripheral vision, can instantly spot anything that moves. Too bad this is the 21st century and I cannot hunt and fish for a living. Darn.
By the way, it usually takes me at least four tries before I can correctly type in the characters to get my comment approved. Maybe a chimpanzee could do better.

Cecilia said...

Interesting... I am beginning to see a correlation. I am over evolved and need glasses to distinguish between Japanese and English on my keitai these days.

I am hearing you very loud and clear on the recaptchas. It used to drive me nuts until I saw the explanation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl6jUjFjp4