This evening we went insect hunting, specifically for Kabutomushi in Okubo, Kamiyama.  Okubo is better know for its magnificent gingko tree but the villagers want to change this.  They are hoping to promote Okubo as the place to go and see Kabutomushi.  It’s a pretty good idea.  Everyone in Japan is as crazy about insects as me.  Anyway, tonight when we arrived there was some deer and boar meat roasting and a bunch of blokes from Okubo.  Two powerful spots had been set up, one of them pointed at a white sheet hanging from a rope line.  It was a great set up – I’d been meaning to do this myself since I arrived in Kamiyama so I was very happy.  As it got darker cicadas appeared, hundreds of them, shrieking.  When you pick them up they screetch even more.  Each one sounds slightly different too.  The little lad who was there couldn’t stop picking them and soon his plastic insect case was full of cicadas.  His little hands were so full of cicadas that he dropped one each time he picked one up.

Later, we took a walk in the dark (beware of hebi) to collect some Kabutomushi proper.  The previous night the blokes had set some traps and they worked!  Enough Kabutomushi’s for everyone!

Everyone is really enthusiastic about insects, it’s great!

The classic setup.

Amazing skills.

A box of cicadas.

This is a fair size longhorn beetle.  You could use this to cut your toe nails.

Probably the same longhorn beetle as the other photograph.  I saw this guy about 6 times in different places tonight.

Stag beetle.

The trap worked really well.

Yes, this is the Kabutomushi or Rhinoceros Beetle.

Sorry, too many pictures yo.