Скачать или смотреть JAPAN: OSAKA: COUNTRY IS GRIPPED BY BEETLEMANIA

(28 Jul 1997) Japanese/Nat

The world's biggest insect exhibition has opened in Osaka, Japan.

Tens of thousands of bug lovers will be heading there over the next month.

And possibly no other country in the world is as crazy about beetles as Japan, where the bugs of summer have held a special place in the hearts of children and poets alike.

But as the beetle season reaches its peak, a gloom is hanging over dealers who once invested in larvae the way some people traded shares.

Day one of summer vacation and hundreds of Japanese school children and their parents storm a beetle park in search of bugs.

Each paid nine US dollars to dig the dirt at the base of Mount Fuji and scale trees for beetles.

Japan is experiencing its own kind of beetlemania.

SOUNDBITE: (Japanese)
"Where are you, where are you beetle I can't find you."
SUPER CAPTION: Child looking for beetles

But Japan, it seems, is going through an unprecedented bug glut.

The market is in panic and breeders are going belly-up.

Most department stores in Tokyo sell the stag and atlas beetles which can grow several inches (cms) and carry impressive horns that resemble ornaments on the helmets of the Samurai.

The average price for a good one, around 35-thousand yen or 300 US dollars.

The very rare, like this stag beetle, 700 US dollars.

Prices have plummeted recently, however, because of improved breeding techniques that have made it much easier for average collectors to get larvae and grow big beetles themselves.

SOUNDBITE: (Japanese)
"Now we sell the stag beetle about 70 mm long at the price of U-S dollars 690 (80,000 yen). This same stag beetle would have costed around US dollars 2,590 (300,000 yen) four or five years ago."
SUPER CAPTION: Kiyoaki Tsuno, Tobu Department Store

In ancient times, aristocrats sung praises of bugs and held competitions to see who could best identify their calls.

An often quoted work by Basho, generally regarded as the master of Haiku poetry, focused on the enchanting cry of the cicada.

What makes the beetle so expensive?

Along with size, collectors look for beetles with no scars, all their legs intact and an exterior with the sheen of a well-buffed car.

SOUNDBITE: (Japanese)
"It would cost around 8,000 yen (70 US dollars) since it is the old one, born from last year. If this one is the new one, born this year, I bet it will cost you 20,000 yen (175 US dollars) for sure.
SUPER CAPTION: Stag beetle collector

An overheated market has forced many dealers out of business -- only the people who really like their bugs have managed to stay.

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