This Is Japan
Explore everyday life in Japan
When you think of animals that make good first pets for kids, what comes to mind?
Cats? Dogs? Fish? Maybe even gerbils, guinea pigs, or hamsters?
While all of these animals are quite popular in Japan and do make good first pets, one animal that many children here can claim as being at least one of their first pets is a horned beetle of some kind--usually either a rhinoceros beetle or a stag beetle.
These beetles can be found in the wild here in Japan, but it is more common for them to either be bought at a pet store (including those that are online), or for them to be given to you by someone who has been raising them through their various developmental stages over the winter: from egg to larva to pupa and finally to beetle.
The latter was the case with my family. We went to a barbecue one weekend and, thanks to another family that was in attendance, every kid at the barbecue ended up going home with his/her own beetle. While I can't say that I ever thought I'd be the owner of two fairly large horned beetles, I have to say that it has not only been fun watching my children learn how to hold and raise these things, but it has been fun learning how to hold and raise them myself.
They really are great first pets for a number of reasons:
They are fairly easy to hold. They tend not to run away all that quickly (though you do have to be careful not to let them fly off). They don't require daily feeding or watering. Their tanks can hold for a week or more without being cleaned, and they have a naturally short life cycle which is easy to explain to children and have them accept.
If you're looking for a slightly different kind of pet that your kids will be excited about having and which will give them practice for owning larger pets with longer life spans, why not try a horned beetle?
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.
from this article we can see a problem of steemit -- we cannot arbitrarily pick one from post photos to be the thumbnail. so, suspense becomes harder to achieve.
I could have used a different picture first, but since I title all these posts This Is Japan, I try to use the first picture to introduce the topic of each post. You're right, though, it would be nice if we could use a picture in the thumbnail that doesn't appear in the post itself.
Lol I would be way to scared to hold a beetle like that. Slow or not slow.
Very nice post @boxcarblue
It freaked me out the first time too, but you get used to it pretty quickly.
That beetle would freak me out, haha!
The stag beetle (the one with the pinchers) still freaks me and my kids out a bit, but the other one is fine. It just climbs around on you. They are surprisingly strong, though, and hard to hold if you don't grab them just the right way.
meep meep
Gotya! :)
meep
Thanks, meep!
I've never seen @ionlysaymeep meep twice, you are truly blessed
I can't say that I have either. I guess he's feeling talkative today.
I would die.. Omgosh BUGS!! I mean, beetles.
You never know. You might start to like them.
That's a good one:)
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Thanks for that. This is the first I've heard of this queue. I'll check it out.
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Awesome! Thanks!! This is the first I've heard of MutuWhale. I'll check it out.
Memories of hunting those beetles as a boy is what led the creator of Pokémon to come up with the card game.
Really? I've never heard that before. That's neat.
Yeah. If you're interested, Tajiri Satoshi tells the story of beetle collecting as a boy here.
Thanks. I'll check that out.
Having never played Pokémon, collected the cards, or watched the anime before, that was a very interesting read. Thanks! I really enjoyed that.
Amen! 🙏
👍
I don't have a favourite art, but I like cats.
Cats are fun pets.
WOW! What an incredible photos you taken... hats off to you
Thanks. I appreciate your comment.
My first year in Japan was spent doing the eikaiwa thing, and it coincided with a media franchise called ムシキング being faddish among kids. Many of them not only had pet beetles, they'd bring them to class in plastic cages.
Ugh. I didn't get it. Still less freaky than tarantulas, though, I guess.
My first encounter with a kabutomushi was in an eikaiwa too. At the time, I didn't get either, but now that I have two in my house, it makes more sense to me. They're big enough to feel more like animals than insects, and they are fun to watch.
Tarantulas, though, I don't think I'd be okay with that:)
Nice post @boxcarblue
Thank you for reading it and taking the time to comment.