I once half-woke up in the middle of the night in a hot, sticky Japanese summer, to the sound of someone playing the guitar. "Who on earth is playing a guitar at this time of night?" I thought. As I became more awake, I realized that the guitar playing was very bad and tuneless. Then, as I became fully awake, I figured out where the sound was coming from — the electric fan. I turned on my bedside torch, and there was a huge cockroach running over it, strumming the metal cover wires with its feet!
One morning I got up as usual, walked into the bathroom.
As I glanced in the mirror, I discovered my hands and face were covered in blood!
Once I cleaned myself up, I worked out I received a couple of mosquito bites while I slept, and apparently scratched them until they bled. All while I remained asleep.
No big deal. Although the morning had begun like the intro to a horror-thriller.
Although they probably live in every part of the country, before moving to Kyushu five years ago, I had little experience with centipedes, which are called mukade (むかで) in Japanese. So far I have not been bitten by one of these aggressive bugs, which are said to have a very painful bite. Down here they get pretty big and have a nasty stinger. Our goal remains to keep them out of the house and to steer clear from them in the garden.
I once half-woke up in the middle of the night in a hot, sticky Japanese summer, to the sound of someone playing the guitar. "Who on earth is playing a guitar at this time of night?" I thought. As I became more awake, I realized that the guitar playing was very bad and tuneless. Then, as I became fully awake, I figured out where the sound was coming from — the electric fan. I turned on my bedside torch, and there was a huge cockroach running over it, strumming the metal cover wires with its feet!
Must have been a member of the Merzbow school of guitar playing!
I love the large spiders and their webs in my local park, especially in the very early morning when the dew or rain glistens on the Web.
Yes, those webs look like lace. There are other spiders - quite small - that cover entire bushes with their webs. I call them the killing fields.
Mosquitos like me too much.
One morning I got up as usual, walked into the bathroom.
As I glanced in the mirror, I discovered my hands and face were covered in blood!
Once I cleaned myself up, I worked out I received a couple of mosquito bites while I slept, and apparently scratched them until they bled. All while I remained asleep.
No big deal. Although the morning had begun like the intro to a horror-thriller.
Blimey! Sounds like a scene from The Mask of the Red Death. Or a John Belushi film.
Although they probably live in every part of the country, before moving to Kyushu five years ago, I had little experience with centipedes, which are called mukade (むかで) in Japanese. So far I have not been bitten by one of these aggressive bugs, which are said to have a very painful bite. Down here they get pretty big and have a nasty stinger. Our goal remains to keep them out of the house and to steer clear from them in the garden.
That's right. I haven't had enough encounters with them to be really scared but mention mukade to my wife and she starts sweating.