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Hunting for Bugs, in a Sense

It should come as no surprise that, much like the rest of the world, I have been:

  1. Not been going outside unless necessary
  2. Playing a great deal of Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing has proven to be quite a delight for a number of reasons (including the extremely good localization job done by Nintendo), but perhaps chief among them has been the way that it neatly fits a hobby I’ve had for a while now, for whatever reason. For years, now, I’ve been fond of photographing bugs and other small creatures when I encounter them when I’m out.

Now that there’s more pressure not to go out unless necessary, there’s been less time for that hobby, but on the other hand, it’s been nice to have Animal Crossing available — and it’s been very interesting to note just how Japanese the various bugs are that are depicted in-game.

For instance, these jewel beetles can be found from time to time in Japan. They are indeed aptly named: they sparkle and glitter like gems in the sun. One imagines that this makes them highly visible to predators, though.

The spiders that show up in Animal Crossing (not the tarantulas) are also very similar to the kind of large, black and yellow spiders you’ll find throughout Japan, especially toward the end of summer or early autumn.

It’s interesting to note just how large some of the bugs you’ll find in Japan can be, too. This moth was large enough that we couldn’t help but wonder how it could fly. That being said, though, it did seem to be having some difficulty with that at the time.

Dragonflies are a symbol of mid to late summer in Japan, presumably because they are just EVERYWHERE. They also seem uniquely unafraid of humans, such as photographers, making them a great subject for getting up close to take a picture.

Speaking of big cool bugs that don’t really pose much of a threat to humans, I’ve always been fond of mantises. While they can be found overseas — I remember seeing them from time to time when growing up in the US — they seem to be much more common in Japan. One thing that’s especially endearing about them, to me, is that they don’t have a larval form. As a result, a young mantis just looks like a super tiny version of an adult mantis. For an idea of scale, that first photo is of a mantis nymph on the end of a ball-point pen.

And of course, there are other small creatures that are still fairly photogenic. Whenever it rains, it feels like suddenly a hundred snails appear near my home. I suppose that makes sense — they prefer wet environments, after all.

I also have an inexplicable fondness for small crabs. The river near my apartment seems to be home to a fair number of these little crabs — for an idea of the size, the crab is standing on a manhole cover, and its body is roughly the size of a circle made by touching the tip of your finger to the tip of your thumb. I’m not sure why it is that I find tiny crabs so adorable. Perhaps it’s the way they walk so slowly and smoothly compared to, say, cockroaches (which are decidedly not cute bugs).

In any case, I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief tour of small animals from outside, as a way to help pass the time while you’re quarantined. Please stay safe, everybody!

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