Needless to say, it’s been a pretty horrible summer in most of the world and Japan was no exception. Many here have had to put up with endless days of temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius which feels like the mid-40s when Japan’s rampant summer humidity is taken into consideration.
However, it looks like relief is finally on the way in the form of temps in the sub-30 range for a change. So, that means we can all finally relax, right?
Wrong!
One of the things we’ve been noticing this summer is a distinct lack of mosquitoes. Once a ubiquitous feature of a Japanese summer, we’ve hardly seen a single one until only very recently. That’s because the species of mosquitos around these parts tend to only do their thing in the temperature range between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, and now that we’re finally dipping into that range again, the bloodsuckers are back.
And since this relentlessly hot summer has greatly interfered with their normal mating season of late July to September, they were kind enough to reschedule it to take place from late September to November. This means the peak time to be swarmed with parasitic bugs should land around the first half of October. Their itchy impact will most likely be worsened by the fact that most people have been lulled into not using repellant by their absence so far.
It’s certainly going to suck, but don’t fret. There are ways to minimize the damage these annoying pests can do. Outside of the obvious stuff like using long sleeves and repellant, as one ingenious Japanese high school student discovered not too long ago, using anti-bacterial wipes on your feet can help to keep mosquitoes at bay. It should be noted that this doesn’t mean they like stinky feet. Mosquitoes are attracted to substances completely different from those that cause the foot odors that humans can detect.
Avoid leaving any pools of stagnant water around your home or office. Even something as small as a bottle cap with a little rainwater in it can become the venue for a mosquito orgy. Also, if you do have to go toe to toe with one, always remember to attack it from the top and bottom rather than the sides, because mosquitos are faster in vertical directions and will often try to escape that way.
▼ Just remember: “Top and bottom, then you got ’em! Left and right, it’s outta sight!”
Finally, if you do happen to find one tapped into your bloodstream, you might want to consider not crushing it. Imagine the mosquito was a guy drinking a beer–if you suddenly punched him in the gut he would spit everything out. However, what comes out wouldn’t be just beer, but beer mixed with the guy’s saliva. It’s the same thing with a mosquito and since it’s a mosquito’s saliva that causes the itchy allergic reaction, whacking it in the middle of drinking might actually make the reaction worse than if you just let it finish or shooed it away more gently.
Hopefully, that will help because online comments seem to agree that mosquito sightings are already on the rise.
“There really are a lot more mosquitos now that it’s cooler.”
“I haven’t been bitten all summer. I thought I just wasn’t delicious.”
“I didn’t see many flies either, but I guess it’s the same thing.”
“The foot-wiping trick really works!”
“It didn’t really rain at all this summer either so there weren’t many puddles.”
“It’s true that mosquitos are really coming out now.”
“I’m starting to see more cockroaches recently too.”
Sources: TBS News Dig, My Game News Flash
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- This is the best summer in years to visit Japan…if you hate mosquitoes
-- How to stop the itching from a mosquito bite in minutes using a towel and a microwave
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2023/09/23/as-summer-comes-to-an-end-its-time-to-get-ready-for-a-plague-of-mosquitoes-in-japan/
20 Comments
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Yuuju
garypen
:D
how do you know they can't smell it? are you also a mosquito? :D
garypen
They can't smell your sweet blood, though. So, they must love your sweet carbon dioxide breath or your sweet sweaty skin.
gcFd1
Still yet to encounter any mosquitoes in my daily life.
Yuuju
Yikes! A mosquito is the only living being a kill without a second thought. They seem to love my sweet A+ blood too much T.T
3RENSHO
"And if I am bitten, I drink a heroic amount of alcohol..."
"Oh, yes! An heroic strategy...I am in complete agreement!
garypen
I'm okay with the smell of the coils. Smells like incense. I prefer the smell of citronella candles, though. But, I believe they're a US thing. They don't seem to have them here. I would definitely choose them over the coils, if they were. No smoke.
wallace
I use sprays like mint and others. The coils are for outdoor use.
virusrex
Strong herbal oils can also work, so you can just choose from them the one that is least offensive for you
https://www.healthline.com/health/kinds-of-natural-mosquito-repellant
A friend of mine swears by the efficacy of lavender.
ian
Iearn something new everyday
wallace
I hate the smell of those coils.
garypen
I suppose it's as good an excuse as any to get drunk. However, it won't "flush out and disinfect" your system. At all. Not in the least.
gcFd1
One of the things we’ve been noticing this summer is a distinct lack of mosquitoes.
It's been a great summer with the obvious absence of mosquitoes. Also, through my travels in Europe I did not encounter any even though there were relatively mild temperatures.
virusrex
The source for the article is much more nuanced and better explained, but in Japanese and too long for sites like soranews.
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/725134
The claim is not so much that mosquitoes have been absent, but that their period of activity is reduced compared to other years and that the peak where they will be more common will be on October, so for those that already have been troubled the prediction is that it will still intensify until next month.
wallace
Ka have been biting all summer
ClippetyClop
People are too soft these days, getting panicky when they lose 0.001 milliliters of blood.
I'm really tough so I let them feast.
Speed
I don't know which Japan the author lives in but there've been mosquitos all summer. Been bitten dozens of times. This author might think about getting out of Tokyo sometimes.
commanteer
People are too soft these days. I am not going to be "gently shoo away" a mosquito on my arm. That sucker is dead.
virusrex
Mosquitoes changing the season where they are more numerous because of climate change is not so much of a problem, but the moment they can survive winter things are going to be much more dangerous.
Every year mosquitoes infected with arboviruses that affect humans are captured in traps around ports and airports, and some years small outbreaks happen because of these pathogens (like the Yoyogi park centered outbreak around 10 years back) but the infection do not spread that much over a single year so the number of cases is always very limited, if enough infected mosquitoes survive the winter a full outbreak becomes possible.