A voice answered her greeting, and she returned to the car to hiss excitedly. Of course, she exaggerated, although Mr. Ogawa was rather short and squat. He was the manager of the 'insect factory', and during the next half an hour, as he showed us around, we saw the magnificently camouflaged specimens from which they breed to supply insect exhibitions around the country. One outstanding mantis from Malaysia had a curiously lumpy shape, beautifully shaded in delicate pink and green.
Japanese boys buy and keep each summer.
They like to watch the male beetles lock horns and struggle like six legged sumo wrestlers. For many generations, stag beetles have been much admired. Boys have been advised to copy their quiet strength and tenacity, and samurai armour might have been modeled on the beetles tough carapace. But our favourites were the suzumushi, bell insects, elegant black crickets sporting long white antennae. The clear, high pitched sound the males make by rubbing their wings, sounds exactly like the wind, ringing the small bells hung outside Japanese houses in the summer.