BUGS BUGS BUGS!!!

One of my last posts on Facebook read, “Just saw my first cockroach today at the train station.  It was dead.  Gross.”  I was going to take a picture, but it was pretty late, I was tired, the lighting was bad...excuses, excuses, I know.  A friend responded to my post by saying, “A lot of your Japanese experience seems to revolve around bugs.”  Even my friends in Shizuoka joked that they read my Facebook post this weekend and they thought it was funny that I like bugs. 

I wasn't sure how to take these comments.  I found it funny, but very true.  Do I seem strange for liking these creepy, crawly critters?  Do I really have a fascination with insects?  My gut told me that I was strange and that I am fascinated with bugs...just think, I saw a squashed cockroach late at night and my instinct was to take a picture of it!  But I looked into this further.

Sure enough, after scrolling through some of my Facebook photos, comments with picture postings, and even some of my blog pictures, yes, I seem to have a clear fascination with bugs.  Am I a strange person because of it?  I gave that question some thought.

You see, when I was young I used to be a bit of a Tomboy.  (Just now, in my head I heard a voice laugh out loud as I typed that last sentence).  Let me rephrase that: When I was young, I WAS a tomboy.  I loved sports.  I loved wearing t-shirts and jeans.  I didn't liking wearing make-up (I still don't).  My Dad gave me many “tomboyish” opportunities like building things with wood blocks and nails, helping build the fence in the backyard, putting up Christmas lights on the roof, etc.  I also collected bugs.

I loved bugs.  My parents didn't think I was strange (I think...) and in fact, they may have even encouraged my interest by giving me a bug collecting kit for my birthday one year.  I loved it.  The kit came with a book and I read it over dozens of times.  The kit came with a bug storage container (aka - plastic jar with holes on the lid) and I thought that this gift was the best present ever!

I loved collecting ants, dragonflies, beetles, ladybugs, butterflies, spiders (especially Daddy-long legs!)...I collected them all and loved it!  (I still loved them even when some ants attacked me at summer camp.  Clearly, they've heard about me and were simply defending themselves).  In fact, I mentioned that I helped my Dad with the yard work like building a fence...I guess the truth is I actually helped him dig some holes JUST so I could see and collect the slugs, centipedes, and the earthworms (one of my favourites!)  I used to also collect tadpoles, minnows, and frogs when I lived in a small town in Alberta.  I know these aren't bugs, but it still may seem strange to some people that I like these critters as well.

Unfortunately, I grew out of this phase...mostly.  There are still some rainy days where I go around and pick up the earthworms and chase after my husband.  He never seems to want to hold my hand after that...I wonder why?

So why am I delving into my childhood memories and experiences when I am supposed to be talking about my new memories and experiences in Japan?  Let me try to explain...I think I am experiencing Japan in the same way a child would experience anything for the first time.  And for me, as a child, I was fascinated with bugs.

All children have this sense of wonder and awe when they experience things for the first time.  This could be the smell of an orange, the touch of a puppy's furry ear, the sound of a piano, the very first taste of meatpie (that is the first thing I ever remember tasting and just loving for the sake of loving food, not just eating food to survive.  Strange that I don’t eat meat anymore...but I am getting off topic again).  This could even be the experience of seeing a small bee buzzing around a rose bush.  I think as children, we tend to be more observant of the world we live in.  And why wouldn't we be?  We were simply experiencing many of these things for the first time!  When we grow up, we tend to lose this ability to simply notice and appreciate the small wonders around us.  We get too absorbed with paying the bills, the stress that comes from our jobs or even the stress that comes from being a student or parent, the responsibilities we have as adults...we get too absorbed with other things.  But life shouldn't revolve around our stresses...it should be about many different things;  For example, it should be about spending more time with your family and friends.  And I am simply suggesting that we should spend more time on one little concept: discovery.

Japan has given me that opportunity to be like that child I once was.  I am noticing things, small things (like bugs!) that I may normally walk by and not even give a second glance to.  Japan has made me notice these things simply because this place is so different in SO many ways, both big and small.  Isn't it interesting that when I am experiencing things for the first time again, like I did as a child, I tend to be drawn to what I was drawn to at a young age, namely insects and bugs?  Is it strange?  I don't really think so simply because I grew up with this fascination.  So I thought I would address this strange fascination head on in a blog post.  The more I think about it and as strange as it may sound, my fascination with experiencing bugs for the first time as a child (and now) can actually reflect how I am experiencing Japan for the first time; like a small child would. 

So, my insect friends, I am dedicating this page to you.  I am dedicating a WHOLE blog post to all of you critters out there!  Now hopefully I will have this out of my system so I don’t comment about these bugs on Facebook anymore (or at least, not as much!)  And what perfect timing!  Just in time for Halloween.  So, Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Here are some photos that I have so far of the different creepy crawlers I was lucky enough to catch with my camera (even if some of them are dead when I found them!  Poor fellows!)  ENJOY!

I am first going to post some non-insect photos so that we may ease into the bug pictures.  These are some pretty neat creatures, though!

Snail eggs during rice harvest.

OK, OK, I know this is not exactly a picture of a bug or a critter...but being served your dinner with the head still twitching is fair game for a creepy Halloween Blog!

Nice timing!!

The butterflies here are amazing!  They are so huge and normally they are quite colourful.  This butterfly was dancing around me when I was visiting Kyoto by myself for the first time.

 These spiders are huge!  And their webs are amazing!  I saw a web that must have been almost as tall as I was!!  Beautiful!  (I know, I know, beautiful in a creepy spidery kind of way.)

Another Sports Day Participant.  This grasshopper suddenly jumped at the students when they were practicing their Chants.  He kept landing on the students!  First he landed on someone's head, and then he stuck to another person's back.  But the kids kept on chanting...

These were on display at the Silk Textile Factory in Kyoto.  I think of them every time I wrap my neck with my brand new, Kyoto scarf...

EXTREME CLOSE UP!!!

The Famous Poisoness Centipede of Japan.  The one bug that actually gives me chills...

A dead centipede.  HA!

A sunset in Tarui in early Autumn.  I had to end on something that I think that mostly everybody would appreciate.  And I want to show you all that I DO notice other things in Japan besides the bugs.  For example, the flowers!  (Perhaps I will one day post a blog of all of the flowers I have seen in Japan.)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!