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Insects and Japan
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funkyging



Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:21 pm    Post subject: Insects and Japan Reply with quote

Whats your opinions on these pesky buggars? I was reading a blog which goes into some details on what ones to watch out for but from people who have lived there for a number of years it would be interesting to hear your feedback. Do you have any horror stories of a huntsman jumping at you? Getting bit by the Mukade? getting chased by the suzumebachi? Coming home to find a house full of cockroaches?

If yes to any of these questions how did you deal with them or prevent future occurances?

Coming from Scotland we don't exactly have anything big or poisonous to worry about. The only thing we do have are midgies and perhaps an aggressive old lady with a handbag laden with bricks =D


link to blog --> http://zoomingjapan.com/life-in-japan/insects-and-other-pests/
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Mr_Monkey



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Kyuuuuuushuuuuuuu

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The mosquitoes are a pain in the arse and the cicadas can shut the hell up, but it's not exactly like people die here from diseases which are transmitted by insects do I don't really care that much.

I'm allergic to the mosquitoes here, so the midges in Scotland don't seem so bad, at least now...
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funkyging



Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That sucks being allergic to them. The only issue i have is they always go for me, even when there is 5 people sitting around me its only me that gets bit. If only ladies were as attracted to me as mosquito's were! =D
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rxk22



Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Depends on where you live, and the quality of your housing. I had slugs in my apt in Chiba. In the areas with many a rice paddy, the mosquitoes will be pretty bad.

The Mukade seem to like warmer climates more, so if you're up north you won't as many. The evil wasps seem to be in the woods more than anything. Same with the leeches.
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funkyging



Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ah i should have mentioned i will be staying in ibaraki prefecture =)
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Apsara



Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My mother was bitten by a mukade on her last visit- right in the middle of Shinjuku somewhere. I've been here 14 years though and had never seen a live one before. Much more common if you're in rural areas though.

Once out of the central cities you get quite big spiders which like to build webs across paths in autumn, but they aren't the jumping type or poisonous, just not fun to walk into their webs accidentally.

We see suzumebachi around from time to time (I live in west central Tokyo), but have managed not to get stung.

The occasional cockroach isn't unusual in summer in and around Tokyo (that includes Ibaraki) even if you live on a higher floor in a new building and clean regularly. Older buildings can be quite infested- I lived in a gaijin house years ago where the kitchen was horrific, they were everywhere you looked. Our house is 18 years old and had been empty a few months when we moved in last year so we had to deal with a few of them- putting a few of the little black poison traps around the house soon got rid of them though.
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TokyoLiz



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I lived in west Shikoku the first year here. Spiders as big as your hand, mukade in the laundry basket, fleets of suzumebachi, and snakes.

Ibaraki isn't that bad for bugs. Skeeters are the biggest issue.

Tokyo has four-footed, furry, tailed pests. I stay with a friend in Suginami-ku sometimes. I don't get much rest because of the rat jamboree in the walls. Shibuya and Shinjuku are really bad for rats.
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Apsara



Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Funny, I was in Shibuya ward today and just after I walked out of the station (not Shibuya station itself but a few stations out) I walked past the hugest dead rat outside an izakaya. Haven't seen any of them inside luckily.

A few months ago I saw a tanuki run across the road near where we live, which isn't far from Shinjuku. I've seen them further out in the western suburbs as well.
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steki47



Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My wife was bitten by a centipede but it wasn't too serious. I found the mosquitoes obnoxious as they buzz around the bedroom as I'm trying to sleep. Or fly into my eye when I am cycling.

Low hanging spider webs suck, too.
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funkyging



Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Found a yougube video that alleviates some of my fears of huntsman spiders =D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCO56iyBXtU
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Rob1209



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Huntsman spiders used to terrified me for the first 2 weeks that I lived in Australia. And then when you're removing 2-3 of them from your house every day you kind of get used to them.

It's not true that they won't bite you though. I know someone who was watching a movie on the sofa with the lights out, when he felt what he thought was a rubber band on the sofa arm. He was rolling it around in his fingers for a good while, until it suddenly bit him. He turned on the light, and sure enough it was a huntsman. So they can bite you, but you'd have to seriously piss one off for an extended period of time for it to do so. And all he felt was a bit of swelling and soreness for a couple of days. Not dangerous at all.

Also, huntsman are really easy to catch if you use the right technique. if you see one on the wall/ceiling, get a large bowl (preferably see-through) and approach the spider really slowly. Lower the bowl over the spider really slowly and press it against the wall. Do it slow enough and the spider won't even move a millimetre. Then slide your paper/card underneath and take it outside. If you try to snap the bowl against the wall and beat the spider with speed you'll have no chance. At best it'll be so quick you miss completely, at worst you'll catch it one the move and chop off it's head/legs in the process.
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funkyging



Joined: 06 Jan 2011
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good info Rob!

I found a few pretty cool post about how to deal with huntsman spiders

http://www.mdavid.com.au/spiders/huntsmanfear.shtml
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-Huntsman-Spider-287250.html

Looking at some of the different spiders in Australia, the rest of the world really should be thankful! lol

http://www.termite.com.au/spider-identification.html
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robinnn



Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Spain

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I lived in the countryside for 2 years and never even saw a live mukade. I met Japanese people who lived in the country their entire lives and didn't even realise mukade were poisonous. They really freaked me out though.
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G Cthulhu



Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

rxk22 wrote:
In the areas with many a rice paddy, the mosquitoes will be pretty bad.


I never once, in seven years in Japan and living in small towns, saw a mosquito. Lavae & adults wouldn't survive the hundreds of thousands of frogs. If they're around then it isn't in the rice paddies!
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Apsara



Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can't talk about areas with rice paddies, but here in west Tokyo the mosquitoes are plentiful and vicious- my legs are covered in bites right now because I can't even step outside the door to get the mail without attracting a swarm of biters.

Mosquito coils are one of the quintessential summer images here because the mosquitoes are so bad- you're very lucky not to have been bothered by them, G Cthulhu.
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