Wednesday, August 1, 2012

This wasn't in the job description... (the insects...)

No, I would not do her whatever you would offer!
So far I think I've handled the family life here in Japan pretty OK if I may say so myself. I get along well with the neighbours, have toddler Sunshine play well with the swarm of children around her age roaming the streets of our little enclave.

Among the younger children in the neighbourhood, it seems like boys are in a majority and although I have gotten some minor concerns about Baby Salaryman from observing them play, it's mostly minor stuff like accepting the fact that Baby Salaryman is bound to be more excited by some form of Power Rangers, Gamen Rider and Gundam Giant Robots than Superman, Spider-man and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Although I find the prospect of this somewhat alarming I also realize that it will be a losing battle to try and fight it straight on and have come to terms that it's what happens when you raise a boy in Japan.


However, now in the hot summer months I realised another terrible thing that will be extremely hard to avoid... The insects... Japanese kids love to catch insects, trap them in containers and keep them as some form of pets. These insects are nothing like an innocent ant-farm, we're talking real beasts here like the Rhinoceros Beetle that can be of the size of almost a fully grown persons palm of the hand. Then of course an assortment of other larger sized insects with legs, antennas and nasty stuff all over the place. To my horror I heard that the kids catch these monster bugs in our local small park during the night, supported by their fathers who help them find and catch the bugs...


As you might already have figured out, I have difficulties with bugs. Granted, the fear, disgust and hatred I feel for the cockroach is special but I there is no love lost between me and bugs in general. I did not realise that being a good father here in Japan included encouraging my male offspring to hunt and play with these monster bugs. I guess I have another couple of years to figure out how to manage this, but perhaps I can outsource this part of Japanese parenthood to the father-in-law and keep our house bug-free?


...in any case, I think I might have found out the reason why Insect Porn actually has a market here in Japan...

8 comments:

Perogyo said...

I'm not a big fan of the beetles either. My mother-in-law badgered me into keeping the one my son found at hakamairi (ie she bought the stuff when I wasn't looking) and it was freaky for a while. Little Beetle is in a better place now though.

Will said...

I... am... at... a... loss... for... words...
Salaryman the Brave, he, The One Who Catches Trains, does not like big beatles? No. No. This cannot be.
(Tork scratches his head, sniffs finger, then walks off confuse-ed-ly into jungle)

kamo said...

I don't think I'm quite as bad as you, but I'm girding myself for this inevitable phase of my son's life as well.

Fortunately, my wife is engaged in an almost Sisyphean task of excluding all other forms of life from our house except us. I'm not sure how kindly she'll take to the intrusion of creepy crawlies to her hermetically sealed paradise, so we may yet escape.

Kathryn said...

Man up. I reckon it'd be freaken awesome, having all those bugs around.

shadowzach00 said...

dont get me started flys hate those things

Chris said...

I'm stuck on the pic.......did that chick eat cockroaches?

I'd rather be jumped and beaten like a dog by the Japan women's soccer goalie than ....man....fucking people!!

Steve (Living in Japan) said...

Well I think, if not all but most of the kids have done insect catching, some of them are even girls. Just be careful and avoid the poisonous ones...

Mr. Salaryman said...

Perogyo - Oh, the mother-in-law actually encouraged it...? Nasty nasty things (insects, not MILs)

Will - It is true, my weakness is insects... Like kryptonite to superman

Kamo - That is also another problem, Mrs. Sunshine hates bugs almost as much as me which will cause even more problems if our offspring insists on catching them... I don't even want them in boxes outside the house...

Kathryn - No, I'm sorry, that's too much of a fear for me to face...

Shadow - Flies are nasty, but at least they're small

Chris - THANK YOU! Often times finding just the right picture takes more time than writing the posts itself and takes me through some bad pictures just to give you guys the best possible picture! Everyone else seem to have completely missed the picture and yes, it actually looks like she eats bugs combined with some sex stuff...

Steve - Best to avoid them all, just to be safe!

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