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freddie's friend daniel · Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 84 Location: Osaka-fu

Have just come back from a day out in Kyoto and I have been eaten alive by mozzies even though I sprayed myself thoroughly with "Skin Guard" this morning before leaving the house. I was attacked as soon as I exited from Shijo station and am now the proud owner of 28 angry red bites (while my friend has, um, let's count 'em,...er, none)! Does anyone know of anything stronger than Skin Guard? It's obviously just enhancing the attraction of my ambrosia-like blood.
Scratch...scratch...

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

Unless a product contains a minimum 25% DEET. (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) it's quite literally, useless. Herbal, or otherwise "natural" repellants aren't worth the money. Citronella actually attracts the suckers! (Maybe not in candle or plant form, but in bug spray form it's useless).

Japanese bug repellants ARE useless. I went to the drugstore to get some and the only thing the dude could show me was a "cute" can of something called "Mushi Bye-Bye." Even in death, Japanese bugs are made to look cute.... Hmmm... The one product that even MENTIONED DEET was about 12% concentration.... It was the "strongest stuff they had" according to the pharmacist.... Well, that's not nearly enough! Incidentally, I was told that ONLY a drug store can sell you bug spray. So forget going to the local outdoor/camping/climbing store to buy it.. I tried.

Since I'm travelling to Malaysia, where Dengue Fever is a risk in the city and malaria in the countryside, I went to www.rei.com and ordered "Jungle Juice." 100% pure DEET liquid. I also ordered permethrin -- you coat your clothes and mosquito nets with the stuff. Apprently, the Japanese version of the FDA doesn't allow the stuff so you can't buy it anywhere in Japan... But mail order worked fine for me. I had my package within a week!

madeira · Joined: 13 Jun 2004 Posts: 182 Location: Oppama

Silly suggestions...

Make your friend eat a lot of bananas. That's supposed to make them more delicious to skeeters. Make them wear black, too.

Take a horse with you when you go out. Bugs like them a lot. Cattle are good, too. Not sure how to work this in big cities here.

stretch · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 59

deet is the only answer. higher the concentration the better.

J. · Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 327

I can't help with repellent but after you get bitten the solution is " Una Cool ". You can get it in pharmacies or supermarkets and it is MAGIC for bites. Comes in a little bottle with an applicator that you dab on. It takes out the itch, redness, and they go right away without infection.

freddie's friend daniel · Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 84 Location: Osaka-fu

Thanks for the tips. I've arranged to have some high-concentration DEET stuff shipping from home.
I'll see if I can find the Una-Cool stuff. I have been using something similar but I react badly to insect bites (each one is at least the size of a 100 yen coin, hot, swelled and blistery- hope none of you were eating) and the only real solution is antihistamine from the doc.
Crying or Very sad

J. · Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 327

Maybe you know this already, but anti-histamines are called "kohistamine" here. You can buy tablets over the counter at the pharmacy; they have them for everything including hay fever and probably insect bites. Just go to a pharmacy and tell them you want something for "mushi" bites. You can show the pharmacist if you have some. They will show you some different packages and you can perhaps pick the best one from the pictures or just take the recommended one (if your Japanese is not good.) Sorry if you know this already but maybe it might help someone else.

Apparently mosquitoes are not attracted to blood types but to carbon-dioxide trails; they home in on exhaled breath.

Good luck; those bites sound uncomfortable.

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

If you have O blood type you are sh*t out of luck.

J. · Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 327

Here's a link with an explanation for why some people get bitten and others don't; it's a listing of all the things which attract mosquitoes and a few suggestions for natural repellents:

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa050503a.htm

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

Thanks, J. I will read it. There's a good reason why I've never travelled to malaria-infested countries. I'd be sick the first day!

I just hope that soaking all my long-sleeved shirts and pants in permethrin and coating myself in a thick layer of DEET is enought to keep the critters away in KL... No malaria but Dengue Fever is bad enough...