Cicadas and other living things
Aug 8th, 2007 by Q
Summers in Japan are synonymous with the song of the cicada. The park next to our apartment is thick with them and tonight the path was scattered with dying adult cicadas lying upside down, futilely convulsing their wings. I passed a father and son that live in our apartment building and the father explained how they had been out saving cicada nymphs that had just burrowed to the surface after 17(?) years underground. The son had taken nine of them out of harm’s way and placed them on tree trunks where they could safely shed their skin and mature.
This was not the first time I’d heard that. Over the last couple weeks I’ve seen different young boys picking up cicada nymphs and putting them on trees almost every night. (I have to admit I was not so kind to insects at that age.)
Later I passed an old man that I often see in the park with his miniature poodle, Bobby. (My son really liked Bobby and enjoyed throwing a tennis ball for him to fetch.) He was alone, so I asked him where his dog has. The man (I know his dog’s name but not his) replied that Bobby had passed away the week before of heart failure at eight years old , and that since then he had only gone out at night, when the most of the people he knows are gone. He was carrying Bobby’s leash with him. I watched him go after we parted and saw that he, too, stopped to pick up a cicada nymph from the ground and place it on a tree. I passed him again as I jogged around the lake and said that I liked how so many Japanese people make an effort to save cicadas from being trampled and the old man smiled and said that living things had to help each other.
One of the big differences I have noticed between Japanese and non-Jpaanese kids (in Japan) is that Japanese kids are much more willling to touch the bugs and take a greater interestin their life. This is not to say that Japanese are more sensitive of course – it may just be that the overwhelming majority of non-Japanese kids in Japan are children of expats – hence “city kids”. Still, I am always amazed at the difference. The non-Japanese kids scream at every ciceda or even mushroom they see, while the Japanese kids scream and cry if they dont get a chance to hold the ciceda.
The 17 years have been emerging in our neighborhood as well (well, the Lake Geneva area). I took the opportunity to not only play with the Cicadas, but to see whatthey taste like. I found thatthe newly emerged Cicadas (no wings yet) tasted terrible (like very rotten very sharp cheddar cheese)! The newly molted adults, however, tasted pretty good. They were very much like very strongly flavored asparagus. They would go very well in a lemony cream sauce over pasta I think. I found it strange that the two life stages (which are only about an hour apart) would have such different flavors!
I also love the sound the 17 years make. It’s so melodious, not screeching or grating like the standard yearly Cicada.
Oh…I should also mention that I cooked them by emersing them in water at a rolling boil for 1 minute. I did not try them raw…
Kevin,
I have noticed that the kids here are a lot less shy touching bugs than I was growing up. I actually held a cicada nymph for the first time last week when another Japanese father and son gave it to us to take home and watch it sprout wings on our screen door. Those front digging-legs on the nymphs looked fierce but only prickled a little bit when it crawled onto the soft skin past my wrist…
I wouldn’t have picked it up and held it of my own accord but being with Japanese families has opened me up a bit.
Nathan,
That’s wild that you ate them! No seasoning? Let me know if you do the pasta thing. Would Monica go along with it?
It makes sense that the molted adult would taste better. That old shell on the nymph can’t be good.
During my freshman year of University, years ago now… A Japanese friend (admittedly a rather eccentric one) saw a dead squirrell in the road on campus.
She stopped as we were talking back to the dorm in order to pick up the dead squirrel, and bury it in the lawn near the road.
I was young, and amazed.
She did use some old papers to pick the squirrel up with though.
But still.
Eww.
After reading your post I saw an old man in the neighbourhood doing the same thing last night. Like the comment on living things to help each other, makes you think.
As for eating them, yeah, reminds me of those street stands in Thailand selling fried insects as snacks. Even in Japan you can see fried grasshoppers on sale sometimes. Anyway, I would try frying over boiling, which should add a lot more taste. Good luck
Harvey,
Wow, that is kind of shocking. I was interested in dead animals in elementary school, but I pretty much had that beaten out of me by others telling me that there were germs and such so I shouldn’t go near them.
Dirk,
Yeah, it seems to be universal. Since writing this every day I’ve continued to see different people, young and old, rescuing cicada nymphs.
Respect for all life form.. a lingering influence of Buddhism, it seemed.
I’m not at all shocked about the squirrel story. It’s something I would probably do. Again, respect for all living beings.
I’m not sure if this is just some sort of urban myth of sort, but there’s seems to be a “horror” kinda aspect to the cicadas
what makes me say this is that theres a mystery/horror show that builds its atmosphere off of the sound higurashi make. to fans of that show (higurashi no naku koro ni), the story is quite twisted and really gory.
have any of you ever heard of the real story or background with higurashi?