As summer comes to an end, it’s time to get ready for a plague of mosquitoes in Japan

Out of the frying pan and into the pan full of mosquitos…

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 (95 degrees Fahrenheit) 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 I’ve been noticing this summer is a distinct lack of mosquitoes. Once a ubiquitous feature of a Japanese summer, I’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 (77 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit), and now that we’re finally dipping into that range again, the bloodsuckers are back.

▼ It’s a pretty tragic injustice that mosquitos get to take the summer off and I can’t.

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.”

Yes, as if things are grim enough, it’s worth noting that cockroaches have similar temperature preferences as mosquitoes, so we may also see a considerable uptick in those gross bastards as well. This is why I would like to be the first to reach out to our often misunderstood allies, the spiders. I humbly call upon you, our noble arachnid brethren, to join us in this fight against these heinous insects and eat them all. I would also like to apologize for killing one of you the other day… I was trying to pick it up but broke its leg and then panicked so I euthanized it. It was not my finest hour and I am sorry.

Source: TBS News Dig, My Game News Flash
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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