insects in Japan

Wouter · 21 May 2004

I read in aonther thread on this board, there are many insects in Japan.
This may sound silly to some of you, but I'm really terribly scared of insects and mostly of spiders. I've read that someone had seen a spider with a legwidth about the size of a floppy disk.
I have planned a trip to Japan this summer and if it's really true there are such things there, I'd rather go not.
Where I live there aren't really large spiders, or you don't see them much at least. I'm really so scared of it I just don't dare to go to a place where there is a chance of seeing them.
This topic may be absolutely rediculous and not at it's place, but for me it's really necessary to know...

thank you for your understanding

Grandpa Frank · 21 May 2004

Million To One Shot !!

In the 2 years I lived in Fukuoka, I don't remember seeing any bugs, other that a few cockroaches. We had to worry about snakes when we cut grass aroung the radio antennas, but I never saw one of those either! You probably won't notice a single bug, you will be too busy seeing all the sites! Don't let a worry like that stop you from a fantastic trip!! It might be worth checking into some type of program to help you with the fear? They show TV shows where people go, and at the end of the program , can hold a big spider in their hand. But anyway,
I don't think would see anything on a trip to Japan bad
enough to stay home, GO!!!

Frank

Wouter · 21 May 2004

I know I really have to do something about it...
There are so many beautiful places in the world I want to see, but I'll never get to it because I'm just to scared of insects.
I'm so scared of spiders I can't even look at a plastic one. It's really a terrible phobia. I'm really obsessed with my fear, I have constantly nightmares about it. It's horrible!

playaa · 21 May 2004

I have been in Japan, for 1 week now, been to Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ginza, Musashiseki, and all over Tokyo... I am now in Yokohama and I have literally not seen 1 bug or insect/reptile since I have arrived.

Wouter · 21 May 2004

I see, but I will also go to the countryside to work in gardens and on farms.

Oliver · 21 May 2004

Wouter,

I would suggest you look up a qualified clinical hypnotherapist. Make sure you find one with health accreditation and the right work history - and tell them about your problem. If you really want to do something about it (and it sounds like you do), then it will work for you!

playaa · 21 May 2004

Wouter, Yokohama has country parts in it as well... I went to a zoo today and did not see anything but the animals it contained.

chiquiliquis · 21 May 2004

Wouter said:
I see, but I will also go to the countryside to work in gardens and on farms.

Yeah... I wouldn't be worried about the spiders. I've only seen 1 spider I would consider to be big since I got here in January (and I do live in the countryside); it was nothing a shoe or large solid object couldn't swiftly take care of with proper aim.

There are more worthwhile things to worry about. The things you want to keep an eye out for are centipedes and snakes... and even then... centipede bites are roughly equivalent to a bee sting--individual reaction being a factor, of course (ie: alergy)... and snakes, just don't go wondering off into the tall grass by yourself. People will be sure to look after you, and inform you of any risks... and moreover, my impression is that the only snakes you need to worry about are in the southwest of the country (fukuoka, down to okinawa).

A hundred bucks says once you make it over here, you will be much more worried about not wanting to go home, or how you're going to get back here again, than a few little bugs (figure of speech... don't actually take me up on the offer)

mad pierrot · 22 May 2004

Don't worry about bugs;

Here are more important things to worry about;

1. Car accidents
2. Earth quakes
3. Tsunami
4. Japanese girls
5. Engr ish

Chipi · 31 May 2004

I also have a fear of spiders, at some stage at least, and I was a bit worried about meeting unwanted creatures when I came to Japan. But at least for now I have seen just tiny bug, and one bug that I can say was actually _beautiful_!! I never thought I could say that about a bug, but it really was...with orange and blue colours.
So, Wouter, just try to face your fears, and leave to Japan. You wont regret it.
Good luck!

Mandylion · 1 Jun 2004

Wouter said:
I've read that someone had seen a spider with a legwidth about the size of a floppy disk.

That was me - :sorry:

If you stick to the cities, you won't have any problems. They are so polluted, it is amazing anything lives there at all - but then again, cockroaches are known for their fortitude.

It the countryside, that is a differet story. However, days, nay, weeks go by without me seeing insects in my house. The spider incident I recounted was one of three in my two years out in the boonies. You will be happy to know, all three died horrible deaths - swift, but horrible (Mother Nature and I have an agreement about these things).

Like an earlier forumite suggested, try and get some help with your phobia. You might not always be livning in a place with a low spider count and it would be regrettable if this fear controlled your life (like coming to Japan and having a great time).

Good luck!

lineartube · 1 Jun 2004

I'm not trying to make things worse, but if you hate spiders, you probably hate giant wasps, too. Japan is home to the largest and one of the most dangerous specie of wasp, the Vespa mandarina japonica.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021025_GiantHornets.html

Warning!! The following link is a movie that can be a bit traumatic if you fear insects: オリンパスグループ企業情報サイト

Not that the Japanese wouldn't turn these hornets into sashimi or deep fry them.

As for a real chance of meeting them, you would probably have to stumble in complete drunkness through the wilderness of Honshu. Besides that, as long as you have a working pair of legs, you will be relatively safe.

thomas · 1 Jun 2004

lineartube said:
I'm not trying to make things worse, but if you hate spiders, you probably hate giant wasps, too. Japan is home to the largest and one of the most dangerous specie of wasp, the Vespa mandarina japonica.

While the European honeybee is completely defenseless against attacks of Japanese hornets, its Japanese counterparts use an interesting tactic:

Apis cerana, and Apis florea are small honeybees of southern and southeastern Asia which are cultured for honey in a similar fashion to A. mellifera. Their stings are often not capable of penetrating human skin, so the hive and swarms can be handled.

Thermal defense: When their hive is discovered by Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica), about 500 Japanese honeybees (A. cerana japonica) surround the hornet and vibrate until the temperature is raised to 47ﾂｺC (117ﾂｺF), heating the hornet to death, but still under their own lethal limit (48-50ﾂｺC).

Source => World History Encyclopedia

Instead of utilizing its stinger against the pack-hunting hornet, the honeybee instead waits for the predator, having earlier detected traces of its pheremonal hunting signals. As a hornet approaches the nest in an attempt to kill honeybees, a hundred or so will guard the nest entrance in an attempt to draw it on. When the hornet enters the nest, it is immediately mobbed by a clump of approximately 500 honeybees, which, surprisingly, do not sting the hornet to death as previously thought. Instead, the bees heat themselves up to 47 degrees C very quickly using their flight muscles. As the hornet窶冱 upper lethal temperature is 44-46 degrees C, it is killed quickly, effectively baked to death by the large clump of bees.

Source => http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/animalphysiology/websites/2001/Thawley/defense.htm

Amazing, isn't it?

lineartube · 1 Jun 2004

That's a... very sophisticated strategy. Looks it's time to wellcome our new Insect masters.

den4 · 2 Jun 2004

Correction: spiders are not insects, but that's picking nits in the big cobweb of Japan's bug world....
The one Yokohama apartment I used to live in had a large spider that was the size of my palm.....when I took a broom to it, to shoo it outside the window it was hanging above, it used the fore-limbs and made to attack it. So, I did not bother try using my hands after that...finally managed to get it out of the room to the outside...but it was BIG!

Saw a couple of them large spiders in and around Yokohama, lurking in the bamboo or thick brush areas....

but spiders are the least of peoples' worries....rats running amok in the underground of Tokyo's station, large flocks of crows attacking the garbage heaps strewn across Ginza and other alleys of Tokyo or other major cities...huge cockroaches that fly...and them suzume batchis....the demonic hornet/wasps that haunt huge nests in houses or trees

Vulcan · 3 Sep 2005

Speaking of the Japanese giant hornets, does anybody have a clue what their real name is in Japanese? Their Latin name is Vespa Mandarina Japanicus or Vespa Mandarinia. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Oh Wouter, you don't happen to drive a V40?

nice gaijin · 3 Sep 2005

I believe they are called suzumebachi, the people i asked don't differentiate them from a type of bee... not sure if there is a more accurate word for them.

insects in Japan

Wouter

台風

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

Wouter

台風

playaa

Dog Youkai

Wouter

台風

Oliver

日本語生徒

playaa

Dog Youkai

chiquiliquis

tokyo dancer

mad pierrot

I jump to conclusions

Chipi

Yancha

Mandylion

Omnipotence personified

lineartube

free spirit

thomas

Unswerving cyclist

lineartube

free spirit

den4

先輩

Vulcan

後輩

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

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