Of Suzumebachi

Before we begin the main topic of this post, I just wanted to link a little something here for everyone to appreciate back home. It's about the contaminated food, specifically milk that people are worried about overseas. According to this article, it'd take you 58,000 glasses of milk to reach the level that would be considered harmful. Last time I checked, even people who love milk don't drink 58,000 glasses in a rapid period. Here's the article for you to enjoy: Radioactive Milk.

And now onto the main event: Suzumebachi. Suzumebachi are one of those terrifying things in Japan that Japan doesn't want to admit exist to anyone outside of Japan. This is because "terrifying" does not even begin to describe them. Suzumebachi is Japanese for "sparrow hornet." These hornets are several inches long with a wingspan to match. In comparison, make a fist. The hornet is about the length of that.

The suzumebachi are particularly aggressive, especially toward lawnmowers, and other loud noise. They will attack bikers and other people passing too close to the nest though. Unfortunately, since they're hornets, the nest is the trees where you can't see it. You only know you're close to the nest when you start seeing suzumebachi.

Being stung by one will require you to go to the hospital. Since the venom deals with the nervous system, it's fairly dangerous. If you get stung just a few times, you can die. Every year, there are dozens of people who die from them.

Perhaps the worst part of all of this is that the suzumebachi does not live necessarily in a remote area away from people. Of course they're in the forests, but they also live in the cities. For some reason, they really seem to like the area around Ritsumeikan University. I remember the first time I saw one, my friend stopped me and told me about them. The second time, I was walking to the bank with a friend, and I stopped and stared at the largest hornet I had ever seen in my life. These things just hover in the air, looking ridiculously threatening. In my opinion, you should never be able to the see the stinger of a hornet. When you can, you know it's going to be bad.

They also live in Tokyo and other major cities around Japan. Basically, if you find a nest, you call someone to get rid of it. It's not a good idea to take it down yourself.

These hornets became pretty famous recently due to videos that have been circulated around the web. 30 hornets went and destroyed a nest of 30,000 bees. If you're a beekeeper, these things are your worst enemy. Because I believe that everyone should have equal access to appreciate the terror, here's the video: 30 hornets vs 30,000 bees.

However, if you're a beekeeper who keeps Japanese honey bees, you're better off. These bees have developed a strategy to take out the hornets. Literally, they can withstand a higher body temperature, so they'll swarm the hornet and overheat it until it dies. The video is HERE. So, this begs the question, why not keep Japanese honey bees instead? The answer to this is that Japanese honey bees do not produce as much honey, so it's more profitable to keep the others.

If you're feeling adventurous, here are some pictures:
Suzumebachi

Nest

Wiki's Suzumebachi Page (Japanese Only)

One Japanese bug down. At least one more to go. If you want a sneak peek, check out Mukade. In the meantime, I'm off to Tokyo tomorrow! Take care all!

Michelle