Today I had lunch with my coworker and he was asking me if I could hear 虫の声
I was confused by this and said of course I could hear the sounds bugs make. He said he read somewhere that only Japanese people can hear “bugs’ voices”.
Where in the world does this idea come from and what are these bugs whispering about me that I should know?
10 comments
“Wide shows” or variety shows are often guilty of trotting out and blowing out of proportion little “factoids” of stuff/pseudoscience for example that you could find online equivalents now in English in memes and old buzzfeed etc. They may be based on real research, or simply a survey conducted by the TV program or some other entity. The takeaway is often one of the following: “aren’t you glad you were born Japanese? We can do/appreciate subtle little beautiful things that foreigners can’t” or “foreigners think this mundane Japanese thing is sooooo cool/utterly delicious because it only exists in Japan!”
One such is the idea that I have seen on TV that your coworker may be referencing is that foreigners (I guess= all the rest of the entire world that wasn’t born and raised in Japan) don’t actively “listen” to insect noise outdoors but tune it out as background noise. However since Japanese people are raised to associate certain insect sounds with the seasons (cicada in summer days, crickets in autumn nights), they can differentiate and recognize different insect sounds and don’t tune them out. Or something like that.
Edit: just relaying what I’ve heard on TV, this is not my personal opinion.
It’s nihonjinron tripe your coworker probably heard somewhere and innocently believed.
[Here’s the guy behind that particular assertion.](http://www.yoshabunko.com/history/Tsunoda_1985_Japanese_brain.html)
I think all that’s required here is:
“Eeeehhhhhh majide?! Suuuuuuggggooooiiiiii” in the most high pitched “ladies voice” you can muster
Its bullshit nihonjinron propoganda he heared somewhere. The amount of silly tidbits you hear about Japanese’specialness’ can get fucking bizarre
The bugs were slagging you off, saying you were a dirty westerner who could never understand them like the naturally attuned Japanese mind could. They said something else, but I couldn’t hear them over the sounds of the pachinko machines and electronics store jingles.
My colleague actually fell for this tripe hook line and sinker and wrote about it **in a diversity article**. I actually complained about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/yqvepq/weekly_complaint_thread_10_november_2022/ivrc24z/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) not so long ago.
Fuck that shit. I’ve watched A Bug’s Life like 4 times. I plenty know what insect voices sound like.
Nihonjinron- not even once.
Ask him if he can hear “them” talking? Then take out some tinfoil and put it on your head.
I remember the cicada near my apartment back home were so load, every time I walked past a tree, I had to cover my ears so I don’t get a drumming
Ask him if the world is flat.
On the other hand, what if this his misunderstanding of a simple fact. Namely, that the older you are, the less able you are to hear the sound of a mosquito’s drone? And for some reason, he got it mixed up with foreigners rather than olden-ears? (that is a semi-intentional attempt at a joke). The Semi says szzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!