Petting Beetles: The Love of Japanese Kids For Insects (2024)

You may be one of the numerous people who have spent long lockdown hours playing the Nintendo video game hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If so, the hobby of insect collecting, and the sound of cicadas have become familiar to you. But did you know this is directly inspired by the Japanese’s peculiar relationship with insects? In this article, I’ll introduce the different ways the Japanese appreciate co-existing with the little critters.

Culturally, Japanese people consider insect noises as “soothing” or “comfortable.” According to Tadanobu Tsunoda, a doctor of medicine at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, while Western people recognize the sound that insects make as “noise, in their right brain, Japanese people recognize it as a ‘voice’ in their left brain, where language is processed.”
This difference is apparently derived from language.

If you visit Japan during the summer, you will hear the very loud song of the Japanese cicadas everywhere. For Japanese people, this sound is a pleasing symbol for summer, even though they call it the ”cicada drizzle,” meaning that when the cicadas cry all together, it sounds like falling rain. When the cicadas’ voices become fainter, you know that the end of summer is near.

Another bug Japanese people like to listen to: the bell cricket.
It’s an autumn insect, and for Japanese people, its clear chirping voice gives a very refreshing feeling. Since ancient times, there has been a culture of catching bell crickets and keeping them in insect cages to enjoy their tones every evening. They are still available for sale at pet stores throughout Japan!

During the summer time, more insects begin to appear. The three most famous bugs of the Japanese summer…