bugs (Page 3)
Home-made “bombs” aren’t lethal, let you swap insect invaders for a pleasant smell.
A shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan shows consideration for all of its patrons, from the humans to the bees!
An online retailer offers stylish new coil stands to keep insects out of your barbecue and impress friends at the same time.
A bug enthusiast’s dream and your average person’s worst nightmare, this rare titan beetle discovery has set Japanese Twitter abuzz.
Tired of sushi standbys like tuna and salmon? An annual event in Tokyo recently served up mealworm nigiri and black wasp gunkan, plus a host of other bug-based foods and drinks.
Sono & Sons is a building maintenance company that also specializes in pest control. Their SEARCH (We Safeguard our Environment with Alpha Roach Control Helper) system promises to leave any roach intruding on the sanctity of your home dead as Dillinger.
Despite their cold efficiency as slaughtering cockroaches, Sono & Sons also owe them a debt of gratitude. After all, roaches played a large role in building the company. So out of respect, they commissioned a memorial statue for all the cockroaches who have succumbed to their poisons and filled the company’s bank account as a result. They spared no expense either because everyone online is agreeing that it’s one cool statue.
Some things are inseparable from a Japanese summer: fireworks festivals, face-melting heat and humidity, young men and women awkwardly courting in yukata, and of course the deafening roar of cicadas. Here, the vociferous critters just provide the soundtrack to summer, but did you know that in some places, they are on the summer menu too?
Our intrepid Japanese reporter Ponkotsu did and he sent off to the cicada-producing center of Lishui in China’s Zhejiang Province for a bag of bugs to taste test.
There’s no need to use toxic substances to kill off unwanted insects in Japan, because there’s a much more eco-friendly method they’ve been using for hundreds of years. Although it may not be scientifically proven, many people feel this is still the best way to get rid of everything from garden aphids to mosquitoes. And if the method has endured for centuries, it must be at least somewhat effective right?
This uniquely Japanese insect repellent is far cheaper than commercial insecticides, easier to implement, and you only have to use it once a year in spring or early summer. And the best part? It involves Japanese sake!
What’s the secret? We’ll let you know after the jump.
Humidity-loving bugs are just as much a part of a Japanese summer as fireworks festivals and barley tea. Dealing with the creepy crawly intruders in your home isn’t always easy, though, especially if you’ve got an aversion to touching them. Sure, you can use bug spray instead of doing the dirty work of squashing them yourself, but you’ll still have to use your hands to pick up the carcass and dispose of it after the poison takes effect.
Luckily, though, your options aren’t entirely limited to sharing your living space with bugs or touching them, in the form of this bug-sucking vacuum gun.
The best advances in technology aren’t always digital. I know summers have become much more tolerable since countries like the U.S. and Japan started upping their mosquito repellant game. And since mosquitos are something we can all agree are annoying no matter where you go, it’s not particularly surprising to hear other countries like China have started arming themselves with imported repellants to fight off these pesky blood-suckers.
But what is surprising is that, according to recent headlines, buyers of imported mosquito repellants on China’s Taobao Marketplace say that these repellants are no match for Chinese mosquitoes! So we have to wonder, what exactly makes these Chinese mosquitoes so tough?!
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