Special bonus post

People always say you should look where you are going. Honestly, I have always found it much more rewarding to look right where I am as I am walking. This probably explains my frequent bumps, bruises, and stumbles, but the stuff you can see is amazing. In my 15 minute walk to the convenience store to get lunch, I saw:

• An orb-web spider about a third of an inch long sitting still in the middle of an almost-perfect web.
• At least four different frogs hiding out the heat of the day in the plant along the edge of the road.
• A dying, jet-black damselfly in the middle of the sidewalk. Even its wings were sheer black; the only color was an iridescent green shine to its head and thorax. I gently picked it up and moved it to the side so no one would step on it.
• Two different species of butterflies which had lived out their natural lives, lying like autumn leaves on the side of the road. Sad that they are dead, but so interesting to see the intricate wings patterns up close and still.
• Dozens of live butterflies, especially white and yellow 'cabbage' butterflies flying among the wildflowers.
• A couple of pillbugs/sowbugs/slaters scurrying along.
• Dozens of ants.
• Two tiny water skimmers zipping along the surfaces of puddles.
• The rear end of a tiny anole as he ran out of the road on hearing me. I heard but did not see another, and I saw one dead and chewed on near the dorm (poor thing).

• A praying mantis! About 1.5 inches, bright light green with a pink tip to its abdomen and intricate bright pink jaws that looked like an orchid. One of my favorite bugs... I even got to hold it for a close look, and got to see it in action as it struck at me when I reached out my hand. Tiny as it was, it gave me a good pinch! They are so amazing. Once I got my hand under it, it was very calm on my hand, and I swear it was studying me just as hard as I was studying it.
• A rather large wasp, which was beautiful but a little intimidating.
  

• I think there were people. Wasn't really paying attention.

All this, and of course, I forgot my camera. Go me.

Frogsodus!

It has begun!

In honor of the event, I will be writing this post in green.

I have to say, Keleih warned me. She told me this would happen, and I can't say I'm disappointed.

Baby frogs EVERYWHERE. I find them on the balcony of the third floor near my room. I sometimes have to step carefully so as not to squish one. At night, when no one can see me, I make big scary monster arms and pretend to be Godzilla as I chase them out of the road.

I've even had nice middle-aged Japanese people who live in the neighborhood chuckle over me and ask me what I'm doing as I gasp and photograph the little things. I'm glad they are amused in a congenial way, since it is not my fault they own the frog-plant. Everytime, no matter what time of day, I walk past their wall, this one plant has three to five ittle bebbe frogs on it.

It is perfect weather for amphibians. Hot, sticky, and frankly often hard to tell if you are in the water or not. The nights cool a little, and you can hear the sweet, pervy sound of thousands of frogs saying "Is heaven missing an angel? 'Cause you've got nice cans!" * Mum, it's a quote from Futurama. I swear, I did not make that line up.

I am still enough of a child at heart that when you put me on a street with dozens of baby frogs, I have to catch as many as possible. I'm very gentle, but I just can't help it. They're frogs! It's so cool! Honestly, sometimes the main reason I grab them is to put them by the gutters so that just maybe, there will be a couple fewer on my 'morning squished frog' count. It's... well, it's pretty bad. I'm thinking of making a film called "Oyama Chainsaw Frog Massacre," that's how many victims of cars, bikes, and feet I see after a good wet night. It's 'survival of the fittest' in action. I may sound too amused by this, but there are literally thousands of them, and by the sound and volume, the species is doing quite well.

Why enough frogs to warrant the title? Well, there are a lot of single-family small rice paddies right near my dorm. Each night that is humid (most of them), the newly-limbed babies come hopping out and usually head right for bright lights. The dorm is one of the brightest, so they come feast on the many bugs, even climbing to the top floor. I think many find it mundane or even annoying, but I am thrilled.

It's also a great time of year for other critters. Today was baking hot, and I saw a little anole lizard basking in the middle of the road to the dorm. I managed to catch him long enough to get a look, but was not able to get a picture :( Cute little thing though. There are also fantastic spiders and spider webs to be seen. Jason and I saw one web that was literally three feet across in the webbed area, and had fastening struts reaching from telephone pole, to phone line, to guardrail. Tell me that's not an amazing thing! I know some people don't like spiders, but it's a truly impressive sight. Oh, and the other day I saw a teeny baby earthworm. And this morning I saw baby snails.

... And yet, put a human baby in front of me and the first thing I think is "It's not done! Put it back!"

Anyway, I have learned one very impressive things about the green frogs here. They can projectile urinate in near-unfathomable quantities and over proportionately vast distances. One 1.5 to 2 inch specimen leaped away from me and managed to hit my wrist with a jet from 3 inches away. (Yeah, I know, it's gross. I'm still going to brag about it because it's interesting). That one was one of the bigger ones; the babies are no bigger than the top joint of my thumb. They have similarly impressive abilities.

Brains are obviously not a big thing in the ones who collect around the dorm. I stopped one from going under someone's front door (you are welcome, Japanese girl I've never seen). I've almost fallen when they dart under my feet. I even rescued one on the second floor when I noticed its leg was trailing a cobweb. I gently pulled the web away, set him down on the balcony, at which point he decided it was a brilliant idea to wait until I pulled away, then hurl himself from the balcony. I've decided to stop helping them.

Here's one of the largest specimens, who decided to come visit me for a short while. Look at that pudgy tummy!

One of the babies. Note the expert photographic style, which thoughtfully illuminates all those hairs I never realized I had on the inside of my wrist, so that I now feel like a Neanderthal.

Can you spot the frog?

That's all for now. Next up, "What Happens at Manekineko, Stays at Manekineko... (until one of your bastard friends blogs about it)" This photo-essay is a thought-provoking expose on the culture of foreign exchange students in Japanese karaoke bars.

Okay, it's a bunch of pictures of my friends and I getting rowdy while celebrating our friend Mike's birthday.

Updates and Sundries

First of all, Jason is continuing to heal up well. The dead skin is coming off, and the new skin underneath looks great. (For those who don't know, he got a burn on his right hand from hot oil that boiled over onto him while he was cooking - yikes!) Anyway, aside from the itching getting annoying, he's just fine. I've been photo-documenting the healing process, but I'll refrain from posting those on fear of being hit by many people when I get home.

Just a note, we get back to the states July 28th. It's gone so fast! We'll be happy to come home, but I am going to miss everyone here a ton too.

More interesting posts coming up, but here are some highlights. Oh, under the flower photos are more bug photos. Just, um, some fair warning for those of you who'd rather not look at big beetles.

The rice is really growing fast. Just since these were taken, it's gotten even taller. I've got to remember to grab some new shots for you.




This gum is TASTY! And yes, it does have pepper in it. A little bit of crushed black pepper in each piece. It adds just a tiny bit of heat that works well with the tropical fruit flavor. Hard to explain, but very good.



Most recent flower picks.

Found this little guy by the dorm. I think it may be a female stag beetle of some sort, but can't say for sure. Sure is a cool little thing! This one was reluctant to leave my finger, too. I think I'm turning into the insect version of Aquaman.


Next up? Frogsodus!