Minmin And Tsukutsukuboshi: Can You Guess What They Are?

If you visit parks with trees in Tokyo area during this season especially between end of July and beginning of August, you would be able to find many small holes on the ground shown in the upper right hand side photo. Do you know what made these holes?

These holes were made by cicadas. After the eggs of cicadas hatch, the babies (called nymphs) live under ground and one night they suddenly emerge from the ground and climb up tree trunks, bushes, or grass leaves to moult. We can see many small holes on parks' ground and we are now surrounded by their voices. Yes, both names for cicadas, 'Minmin' and 'Tsukutsukuboshi' represent the "voice" of cicadas, expressed in Japanese. Some people might think those sounds are 'noise', but in Japan people call them "voices".

In Japanese language, onomatopoeic words are used very frequently and not just for kids. People use them often in conversations. For common creatures, people commonly use their names and sounds together. For example, "When I got up this morning, I heard sparrow's voice 'Chun-chun Chun-chun', so loudly."

Sometimes, a sound a creature makes became the creature's name, especially for birds and insects. Including cicadas named "Minmin-cicada" and "Tsukutsukuboshi", most people can name at least three to four cicadas based on their sounds. 

Perhaps Japanese like insects more than people in other countries? Traditionally, some type of crickets that make beautiful sounds were popular pets in Japan. People enjoy having the crickets same as other people having canary birds. Although cicadas' can be sometimes a little too noisy, surely their sound brings a sense of mid-summer to us.

If you have a chance to visit parks or nature spots in Japan during mid-summer, please try to listen to cicada's voice. You may be able to discover "Minmin-cicada" or "Tsukutsukuboshi"!