{"id":129892,"date":"2025-08-08T20:01:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T20:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129892\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T20:01:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T20:01:17","slug":"bugs-are-popular-pets-in-nature-loving-japan-buzzing-with-ecology-species-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129892\/","title":{"rendered":"Bugs are popular pets in nature-loving Japan, buzzing with ecology, species lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO — The pet of choice in Japan<\/a>, as much as cuddly kitties and playful puppies, is the humble bug<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bug has been a key part of Japanese culture from the Heian era classic \u201cThe Tale of Genji\u201d to popular modern-day manga and animation like \u201cMushishi,\u201d featuring insect-like supernatural creatures.<\/p>\n

Japanese people appreciate the glitter of fireflies<\/a> let loose in the garden or the gentle chirping of crickets kept in a little cage. You can feed the bug pets watermelon, but special jelly pet food for bugs is also available at stores. Naturally, bugs are on sale as well, with the more esoteric ones selling for 20,000 yen ($133).<\/p>\n

Here, crawly and buzzing critters are not just relegated to the scientific realm of the entomologist working on a taxidermy of pinned butterflies. Celebrities boast about their fascination with bug-hunting as their hobbies just like a Western movie star might talk about his yacht or golf score.<\/p>\n

The bug as companion is an essential part of what\u2019s observed, enjoyed and cared for in everyday life, reflecting a deeply rooted celebration of humankind\u2019s oneness with nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are so tiny. If you catch and study them, you\u2019re sure to discover something new,\u201d says Munetoshi Maruyama, professor of bioenvironmental sciences at Kyushu University, whose fascination with bugs began as a child, like many Japanese.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are so beautiful in shape and form.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thrill that comes from studying insects is discovering a new species, simply because there are more than 1.2 million known kinds of insects, far more than mammals, which translates to a lot of undiscovered ones, said Maruyama, who has discovered 250 new insect species himself and shrugs that off as a relatively small number.<\/p>\n

Japan differs from much of the West in encouraging interaction with bugs from childhood, with lots of books written for children, as well as classes and tours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Japan, kids love bugs. You can even buy a net at a convenience store,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic that bugs can serve as a doorway to science.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact some insects go through metamorphoses, transforming from a larva to a butterfly, for instance, adds to the excitement, allowing kids to observe the stages of a life span, Maruyama said.<\/p>\n

Tracing the movement of bugs can be a way to study global warming, too, while so-called \u201csocial insects,\u201d like bees and ants show intelligence in how they communicate, remember routes to find their way back to their nests or burrow elaborate underground paths as colonies.<\/p>\n

Because bugs carry out important functions in the ecosystem, such as pollinating crops and becoming food for birds and other wildlife, human life isn\u2019t ultimately sustainable if all bugs were to disappear<\/a> from earth.<\/p>\n

The love affair with bugs was clear at an exhibit in Tokyo, aptly called \u201cThe Great Insect Exhibition,\u201d running through the end of this month at the Sky Tree Tower, where crowds of children gathered around trees inside indoor cages so they could observe and touch the various beetles.<\/p>\n

One kind of rhinoceros beetle known as Hercules, which originated in the Caribbean but is now also found in Japan, is reputed to be the biggest beetle on record, although it\u2019s just several inches in length. Its back coat is a shiny khaki color, though such shades change depending on the season. The other parts, like its horn and delicate but spiky legs, are dark.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the kids to feel the emotions and joy of actually touching the insects here. That\u2019s really positive for the workings of a child\u2019s brain,\u201d said Toyoji Suzuki, one of the event\u2019s organizers, who insisted everyone, including adults, touch the bottom of the beetles\u2019 horns and wings to feel how surprisingly soft and fluffy they are.<\/p>\n

Four-year-old Asahi Yamauchi, who was at the exhibit with his grandmother and getting his photo taken inside a special installation that made it look like he was inside a beetle, loves bugs as much as he loves dinosaurs and has what he called a cute beetle as a pet at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friend had one so I wanted one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: @yurikageyama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO — The pet of choice in Japan, as much as cuddly kitties and playful puppies, is the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[79161,3425,347,57991,1761,4653,746,57,26056,1165,15228,7926,159,67,132,68,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-129892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-79161","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-beetles","12":"tag-biology","13":"tag-cats","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-insects","17":"tag-lifestyle","18":"tag-oddities","19":"tag-pets","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114994930289518171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}