Japanese summer insects
Japanese summer weather is very hot and humid. The word for humid is “shimepoi,” or better yet, “mushi astsui.” “Atsui” is the word for “hot,” and “mushi” is the word for “insect.” So to say “mushi atsui” might sound like you are saying “insect hot,” which kind of makes sense because there are so many summer time insects here, especially noisy cicadas in August. However, that might be a mistake because I don’t know if the kanji that say “mushi atsui” are actually the same as the kanji used for “hot” and “insect.” It might only be a coincidental phonetic similarity.
1. Cockroaches. "Gokiburi" are much larger than the common German cockroach in North America.
2. Cicadas. Called "semi," in August they put up a wall of noise from before dawn till after dusk. You walk out your door and the noise hits you. Wham!! Their chirruping is noticeably different from the sound that North American cicadas make.
3. Beetles. Stag beetles ("kuwagata") and Rhinoceros beetles ("kabuto"). These make popular summer time pets for young boys and girls. There are competitions for fighting beetles and for the largest beetle.
4. Praying Mantis. Called "kamakiri" in Japanese, these are relatively rare. I mean I don't see them very much, which may be a good thing considering how weird, alien and scary they look.