Yongfook is a web producer and usability consultant based in Tokyo

Insects are arse. My first night was eventful. After getting wasted on shochu (basically strong sake - about 40% proof) at my welcome party and having to pretend that I was a lot less pissed than I actually was, trying desperately to preserve the gaijin drinking reputation, I was greeted on return to my house by a fricking huge spider on the wall in my hallway. I use the term ’spider’ loosely, this was more akin to a Tarantula - an Arachnid Collosus Maximus Fricking Scaryus. I was far too inebriated to be able to use something to smash it up or usher it out, so I left it to silently plot my death whilst I slept in the next room, all doors / windows shut tight. Since then I have seen the spider again once, in my kitchen. It has become my nemesis. My fear for it is only matched by my inability to do anything about it when I see it. I think this weekend I will buy a bug bomb and fumigate the fricker out of my house. Or maybe that will just make it more angry.

Cockroaches are an arse too. I have only seen one so far, but that really is all I want to see. Im going to be especially anal about waste food / dirty plates so hopefully I will avoid them in the future. The other Big Bad Bug in this region is dragonflies. I assume they are a summer phenomenon so I only have to put up with them for a few more months and plus they tend to stay outdoors near the rice fields. Its scary walking to work with these massive red hovering twig-things darting in your face.

Update I bought some insect spray and was triumphant in my battle with said spider. I unloaded half a can of insecticide (the cowards way) onto the beast, slammed the door and found the bastard dead in the morning. It was all curled up in that unnerving pose that spiders die in (sort of looks like they are pretending to be dead, but being too obvious about it). Swept it out the door. The end.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 3rd, 2002 at 1:01 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.