Summer means a number of things in Japan (for me, it was meteorological torture). A couple of insect representatives come to mind: the cicada and the rhinoceros beetle. The former insect was most likely more heard (through their late-summer screams) than seen although I have seen cicadas since I was a little boy when at my grandfather's place in Wakayama Prefecture, a neighbour showed me a cicada larva transform into an adult by cracking out of its brown shell.
The rhinoceros beetle is far quieter but it's a huge insect, and quite a popular one, too, in Japan. Kids love finding them and I've seen pet shops selling them in small plastic cages with a piece of cucumber to feed them. In Japanese, the rhinoceros beetle is known as kabutomushi which translates literally as "helmet bug".
"Kabutomushi" is also the 4th single by J-Pop moppet, singer-songwriter aiko, from November 1999. I remember seeing the official music video with the images being washed out except for aiko's clothing and fingernails; it was quite the constant presence on the music shows for several months. The fall release date was interesting but apparently aiko had thought that the rhinoceros beetle was a winter insect instead of a summer insect.
It's pretty interesting comparing female singers like aiko at the end of the 20th century with their equal number a decade prior. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, there was this combination of mellow pop and urban sophisticated pop with images of perfume, necklace and taxis. Closer to 2000, I saw female Japanese singers going into R&B or, like aiko, down-home pop out in the countryside. I haven't paid too much information on the current J-Pop scene so I'm not quite sure what the trend is now.
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