aiko -- Kabutomushi （カブトムシ）

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.

aiko wrote this ballad's lyrics to compare someone with a rhinoceros beetle: the hard shell covering a soft body. A person might come across as a strong entity with plenty of attitude covering what is perhaps a very scared and uncertain type. We've all been there...often at discos. "Kabutomushi" was her second Top 10 hit following her previous single "Hanabi"（花火...Fireworks） by peaking at No. 8. The song was also a part of her 2nd album "Sakura no Ki no Shita"（桜の木の下...Under The Cherry Tree） which came out in March 2000. It hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and eventually became the 10th-ranked album for the year.

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.