Job Discussion Forums

worlddiva · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:38 pm Post subject:

Sitting here munchin' on kakipi and what do I see...this post on huge bugs! Somehow, the kakipi lost its appeal and the fear of death just came over me!!!!!!AGH!

Are you people serious about these bugs?? I thought I covered everything before coming to japan, I guess I overlooked this particular area...Queens Serenity I'm like you, I'll be totally pralized if I encounter Mr.Gigantico! Shocked

Ok, so I live in Kochi, downtown, on the fourth floor? What are the chances I'll get bugs? So far I haven't seen any, thank god!

Do they come up through the drains? If I keep my windows closed and the AC on, do you think I'll still get some?

Kickin' in Koch'

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

QueenSerenity42 · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 35

Sorry, worlddiva! Didn't mean to make anyone else freak out!

I admit that a lack of large bugs is one reason I love Iowa... The only spiders I need to worry about here are the bitey ones. Which, sadly, is most of them. (One reason I hate spiders so much is that they LOVE me... to chew on. I check my bed before getting into it and at least once a night I still catch another lil 8-legged nasty gnawing on me. Itches worse than a mosquito bite...) Evil or Very Mad

Oh, and what's kakipi?

bearcat · Joined: 08 May 2004 Posts: 367

I see plenty of big spiders in the summer months but never in my house. They're always spinning webs in trees or there's one usually that spins a web from the front post box to the roof.

But I'd like to say that you'll most likely see more roaches and mosquitos than anything else. I'd be willing to be the amount of spiders you see will be equal to that which you see at home.... unless you plan to live far out in the country.

If you have a major and true irrational fear of spiders(phobia) and you don't have much control over your living arrangements in Japan, then you should perhaps consider not coming. That would be the safest thing.

If however you can exert some amount of control over your fear then you shouldn't have a problem.

Are you on medication for your problem?

Mike L. · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 519

The big roaches are definitely a shocker at first until you become desensitzed. Surprised

QueenSerenity42 · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 35

Not on any meds for it, no.

I'll be okay. I do admit that really big spiders just freak me out. Especially the big fat ones. Little ones I don't like, but can manage 'cause I can squish 'em. Twisted Evil

Or more likely, get my boyfriend to squish them. Outside, even the big ones aren't *that* bad 'cause I can run away. lol I just don't know how well I'd handle one of the buggers invading my apartment. (In which case I'd probably ask/beg the bf to catch the critter and toss it off the balcony.)

I realize that chances are very very likely that I'm going to end up in a city where my odds of meeting such creatures isn't very high. When I come, it will be with one of the big four, most likely Aeon.

My current house has a LOT more spiders than normal houses get due to a crappy basement with half-in-the-ground windows that don't shut. I don't imagine I'd get many more spiders in whatever apartment I get in Japan, I was just worried whether or not the big ones getting inside was a common thing.

Thanks for the concern, though! ^_^

moot point · Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 441

Spiders, roaches?

How about those little poisonous centipedes that love to get under your steamy futon during the hotter and wetter months, and can cause major swelling once bitten?

Or those centipedes nesting in trees whose fine hairs carry toxins and cause severe itching if you happen to walk downwind from their nest or accidentally bump into a tree where they are nesting above?

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

I wouldn't be worried about the local spiders... It's the local roaches that are much more common... And annoying...

I had a roach so big, it barked at the mailman! (to quote an old "Taxi" episode)....

Bring a can of Raid spray when you arrive.... Buy a sieve (strainer). When you see a roach, slap the strainer over the roach, and spray the Raid on 'im through the holes. Remove sieve when roach stops twitching. Rince. Repeat.

Mtnkiwi · Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Osaka

If you need to kill a cockroach, especially one of the big suckers you find in Osaka, then get a can of GOKIPAO! (In KATAKANA) Instead of having to hold the cockroach down while you poison it, this stuff actually squirts out of the can and smothers/glues the cockroach to the wall or floor. After it is disabled and presumably dead (pays to check before chucking it in the bin), you can just peel the ball of sticky foam (cockroach inside) off. It is fun and has quite a long range (I shot a cockroach crawling on the outside wall of my nextdoor neighbour's house (though, it's not really that far when I think about it, 1m?). Anway lots of fun, and much easier disposal.

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

When I lived in rural Chiba for a year I used to see some mighty big spiders, though not quite as big a the one in the picture on the blog. They used to like to build webs just above head level going completely across the road or on my house. I'm still a bit traumatized by them.

worlddiva · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 2:53 pm Post subject:

is there Raid is Japan or something like it?

worlddiva · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:56 pm Post subject:

Ah...the irony of it al!

I just met Mr.Gigantico Shocked

! Not the spider but the biggest *bleepin*roach I've ever seen! I lived in New York where there are roaches a plenty! I never thought I'd see a roach this big, holy crap!

Hard to kill too, but not as fast as North American roaches. I outsmarted him...trapped him in a corner...ha...ha...ha...whacked him a few times with a magazines and thought he was dead...but no..still wiggling! I finally had to give him a good whack with my shoe, kir-splat!

(I can't believe my life has come to this..posting about bug killing in Japan) LOL!

Anyways, if there is one are there millions? cause, in the states if you saw one there were many, many more! This sucks! Now I'm gonna have to sleep with the lights on!

Goodnight and don't let the J-Bugz bite!

Mtnkiwi · Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Osaka

gokipao!

why can you say roach and not co--roach? censorship gone mad

another anti-roach initiative is the GOKIBURI HOIHOI, the roach hotel (like the Hotel California in that they can never leave, being as they are stuck to the floor), there are many diift designs to choose from, available at supermarket, conan or sim.

spidey · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 6:54 am Post subject:

Red1 · Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Posts: 7

Well, I thought I had worried and obessed over just about everything that could happen in Japan. How could I have missed enormous, man-eating bugs ? I'm coming over this summer, but haven't found out where I will be yet. Are these little centipede devils and dog sized roaches everywhere? If I meet Mr. Gigantico the spider I will probably have a heart attack. Guess it's good thing that I bought the health insurance huh?