Look at the giant caterpillar that I saw this morning!
Tag Archives: 虫
カブちゃん
27 SepAbout two months ago we bought a pet 甲虫 (Rhinoceros Beetle). We call him 「カブちゃん」 (Kabu-chan)…he was given this name because “Rhinoceros Beetle” is Kabuto-mushi in Japanese (and the suffix chan is often added to nicknames (usually girls)…kun is usually used for young boys. There are cases where chan is OK for a boy’s nickname…so, although our beetle’s male, he’s “Kabu-chan” because “Kabu-kun” is odd. (Maybe that’s confusing if you don’t understand Japanese culture!?)).
Anyways, we often buy (or sometimes catch) 甲虫 (Rhinoceros Beetles) every Summer…because, like most Japanese kids, my kids like 甲虫 (Rhinoceros Beetles). They are a popular pet in Japan in the summertime. The オス (males ♂) are especially popular (and more expensive) because they have long horns…and they fight each other (for the メス (females ♀)).
Japanese boys like to watch the male beetles fight each other. There’s even a game in Japan about fighting beetles (called 「むしキング」 (Mushi King)) that young boys like.
The life span of 甲虫 (Rhinoceros Beetle) isn’t very long. Less than half a year (late Spring until early Autumn). So our 「カブちゃん」 (Kabu-chan) probably won’t be with us much longer 😦
So, today I was holding him and he walked up my arm up to my back. For an old guy, he’s still pretty 元気 (energetic)!
While the beetle was walking on me, my wife took a few photos of him:
Photos
28 AugI went thru some of my photos and decided to post a bunch of them on my blog. Mostly as Slideshows.
For convenience, here’s a menu of the pictures, slideshows, and video on this post:
First are some of the small animals that have been living in our house recently.
Our ミドリ亀 (Red-eared slider turtle):
My YouTube video of our ミドリ亀 (Red-eared slider turtle):
The アゲハ蝶 (Swallowtail Butterfly) (and his 蛹 (cocoon)).
Here’s a slideshow of our カブト虫 (Rhino beetle) eating gelatin.
[rockyou id=121255942]
A slideshow of our 蝉 (Cicada) emerging from it’s moult (outer shell).
[rockyou id=121304472]
Here’s ハロウィーン (Halloween) at 川崎 (Kawasaki):
And here’s a slideshow of the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 鎌倉 (Kamakura):
[rockyou id=121313498]
And the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 浅草 (Asakusa):
And here’s a slideshow of New Years at 浅草 (Asakusa):
[rockyou id=121314652]
東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland):
[rockyou id=121257747]
A park near our house:
[rockyou id=121256593]
花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing):
[rockyou id=121263734]
茨城県 (Ibaraki) is a countryside prefecture to the north of 東京都 (Tokyo):
[rockyou id=121260602]
横浜 (Yokohama):
[rockyou id=121261159]
亀戸天神 (Kameido-Tenjin Shrine):
[rockyou id=121269921]
原宿 (Harajuku) and 渋谷 (Shibuya):
[rockyou id=121271108]
These photos are from 上野 (Ueno):
[rockyou id=121304850]
東京タワー (Tokyo Tower):
[rockyou id=121315444]
The 東京ドーム (Tokyo Dome) area (including the amusement park and 小石川後楽園 (Koishikawa-kourakuen Japanese Gardens)). There happened to be a cosplay event on the day I took these photos:
[rockyou id=121316712]
東京駅 (Tokyo Train Station) and the 皇居 (Imperial Palace):
[rockyou id=121320484]
東京大学 (The University of Tokyo):
[rockyou id=121322650]
東武動物公園 (Tobu-Doubutsukouen Zoo):
[rockyou id=121323921]
両国 (Ryougoku), the area of Tokyo with the 国技館 (Sumo Arena):
[rockyou id=121324845]
Please leave a comment of what you think of these photos!
Bike ride…
13 AugYesterday we went on a bike ride to a park not too far from our house.
At the park, my kids caught 蛙 (frogs) and 蝉 (cicadas).
They’re girls and they’re teenagers…but they’ll still go out with their parents. And they still wanna catch bugs.
I’m glad! As their father, they’ll never grow up…in my mind!
Here’s a video of my second daughter holding a couple of 蝉 (cicadas) she caught. At the end, she asks me 「もういい？」 (“Enough?”):
There’s a Japanese style garden at the park.
 |
 |
| (A wooden lantern) | (Looking thru a stone lantern) |
Here’s a couple of shots of the river near the park:
 |
 |
And here are a couple of videos that I took of trains going over the bridge:
++++++++
One the way home from the park we stopped at 「ザ・ダイソー」 (“The Daiso“) for a couple things.
Do you know “The Daiso” (usually just called “Daiso”, or 百均 (Hyakkin (which is an abbreviation for 百円均一 (Hyakuenkinitsu), or 百円ショップ (¥100 Shop))?
There are other ¥100 shops…and even a ¥99 shop. But Daiso is almost synonymous with ¥100 shop.
Daiso is basically the Japanese version of the American One Dollar Store. (¥100 is almost equal to US$1)…but Daiso sells better merchandise. Better quality and more useful.
So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’ve expanded overseas.
There are now Japanese Daiso stores in Korea, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and the west coast of Canada and America (among other countries)!
Here’s the Daiso website.
++++++++
It’s obvious by their manners…but now it’s official:
Japanese travelers are the best tourists.
Tokyo Five 
Recent Comments