I’m not planning on living in Japan yet but I’m taking a university course this year that will have a year abroad in Japan. I have a bad fear of spiders and am wondering what Japans situation with spiders is? Should I be prepared?
It depends on where you live. I haven’t seen a single spider living in Tokyo (I did see one cockroach and a few rats). I saw some beasts – by UK standards – out in Okinawa and rural Honshuu.
I live in the middle of Tokyo. 2 story house. I see about 2 small spiders per year.
Basically the closer to nature you are, the more bigger and common the spiders. In south-central Kyoto city, I would see the occasional spider in summer. In Shiga, they were everywhere, and some were as large as my hand or bigger.
Living in northern Kyoto city now (still the city but nearer the mountains and river), I see a large webless spider called huntsmen about once a year, and the harmless but large and common joro spider. Indoors, I have a few spiders a year from about now until November or so- the cute, tiny type that hop away, and tiny translucent house spiders pop out whenever I don’t clean an area for a while.
ETA: I used to be scared of spiders too, but I *much* prefer them to cockroaches tbh.
I have never seen spiders, but I’ve seen cockroaches, also affectionately called Gs by Japanese, both on the street and once in the apartment. It’s a common problem if you’re living on a lower floor or near a restaurant, but there are tons of products to protect yourself.
This is for Tokyo. It’ll definitely depend on where you are. Countryside may be a different story.
The spiders are fine, they are a lot less potent than you’d find in the US or Europe… it’s the centipedes you need to be concerned about… Mukade!!!! A symbol of evil in Japanese mythology, the mukade can grow up to a length of 38 centimeters (that’s 15 inches!). It doesn’t just look scary, though, the mukade is poisonous too. If it gets its little chompers around you, you’ll be in a world of pain and probably have some pretty decent swelling. It usually won’t kill you, but get a bad enough bite and you’ll be straight to the doctor. Apparently they like to hide in cosy places such as shoes, toilets, bed linens, etc. Or alternatively they crawl up to you in your sleep (with a preference for body cavities such as ears or noses or… downstairs!!!) or sit on the ceiling and fall down on unsuspecting victims. Their bite is very painful (debatable… ymmv) and when being bitten by a large mukade, it is best to see a doctor. They appear to be tough critters, very hard to kill, even after being exposed to bug spray, fire and boiling water (no… most of these will kill them, also you can just buy the spray in most shops here) . In Japan they are often used as a symbol for evil (as am I). They are most abundant in the rainy season, which is roughly from June to August… and here’s some more things you mightn’t like…https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-insects/ … but realistically, if you keep your house clean, you won’t see any of these…
The countryside will have more spiders but I actually don’t have problems with them. They’re usually minding their own business.
It’s the mukade that are a problem if you see them. They’re extremely aggressive. Mukade motherfucker got into my apartment and bit me after a whole ordeal where I shut it in my closet and it scratched its way out to find and bite me (I had just moved into the apartment and didn’t have anything to handle it but it was after midnight so nothing was open). Sprayed its ass to death the next day
Really individual experiences here I see! I live in Tokyo and as someone with a pretty intense fear of spiders let me tell you Tokyo has a surprising amount of them. Even in tiny parks (gather of a couple of trees is enough, really) in summer there is this one type of spider you will definitely come across. It comes in different sizes and colours (seen black, brown, patterned with bright yellow etc) with a long um back?? body? They build webs that stretch between trees sometimes and just sit smack in the middle. Fucking terrifying. I had to run under one once near Tokyo Tower that had build a web between two trees on each side of the path (wayyy above my head so really if I hadn’t looked up I would’ve been fine but I’m suspicious of All Trees here.) I currently live on the first floor and get lots of tiny jumping spiders in my room too. Back when I lived in Yokohama though a huntsman (do Not google if you don’t know what that is) came in through my aircon though. I cried for a solid hour before I could take care of it. It’s been years and I still can’t start my aircon without watching it for anything coming out of it.
They have sprays that kill spiders. For me it’s as important as cockroach spray.
im out in kanagawa and ive been at my house for 5 years. never seen a roach (outside tho). spiders, mostly small jumpy ones. I don’t kill them cause theyll eat other insects.
Ive been living in Zushi for just about a year. We got some pretty wicked bugs out here. Huntsman spiders, house centipedes, and murder hornets. They all go away for the winter though.
It’s the giant hornets you need to watch out for, the suzumebachi. Then you find out they have oosuzumebachi (like big size giant hornets).
Am I the only one who read the title of this very wrong? Just me? Cool
I’ve been living in a condo in Tokyo for 30+ years. I seriously can’t remember seeing a spider in my home. Saw a giant one in Gunma in an old house though! Jesus! I’m definitely not one for camping, outdoors stuff, just urban walking
The Argiopes can get pretty freaking huge (from the perspective of a Canadian), but they’re harmless.
The biggest issue I’ve come across bug-wise are the giant orb weaver spiders- outdoors! I’ve never seen such freakishly large webs before. I’m talking wider and taller than your average 6ft’ American kind of big. And that’s just the circular web part. I’ve also seen them stretch their webs across 10m+ gaps between buildings and utility poles. (this one in particular we ended up knocking down and keeping the spider in a tiny bug cage as a pet! It was super cool how it still went about making a tiny web in such a closed space)
Harmless? Yes. But holy crap, riding my bicycle to work in the mornings, you’d be covered head-to-toe in web if you’re unlucky.
edit: this is in more rural areas. If you’re inside cities, unlikely to ever be a problem.
It’s fine.
If you don’t live in an 1980s apartment you should be ok. What scare me most is those giant Asian Hornet! I saw one close to me the other day and it’s loud af!
The only insects I ever saw in 2.5 years IN my apartment were two tiny black “hunter” (NOT huntsman!) spiders. We’re talking less than the size of a pencil eraser, and they don’t build webs. They do jump, though, which can be startling if you’re trying to squish/catch them.
Outside, though… I rode my bike as primary means of transportation, and well… I came there with a pretty healthy phobia of spiders, but can now take a spiderweb to the face at 10kph without blinking. A lot of sidewalks will be lined on both sides with trees, which is fine at walking head height, but once you’re on a bicycle the risk goes up considerably. And if you’re in a more rural area, the options become “calmly slow to a halt and evaluate the situation” or “swerve into the road/fall into the rice field/irrigation ditch”. Especially during the summer, you’ll see those neon green shrimp-looking Joro ones on their webs everywhere outside.
On the mukade topic, though, one crawled up a coworker’s boxers while he was asleep and bit him on the right one. They don’t play around.
The jumping spiders are totes kawaii.
We saw a huntsman spider once, when my darling and I were walking in the idyllic countryside and peeked inside a small shrine. It was so big, I think a little bit of wee came out. But it was ok though, because it just sat there, abiding.
Any cockroaches that come close get the freezing death ray. No prisoners.
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It depends on where you live. I haven’t seen a single spider living in Tokyo (I did see one cockroach and a few rats). I saw some beasts – by UK standards – out in Okinawa and rural Honshuu.
I live in the middle of Tokyo. 2 story house. I see about 2 small spiders per year.
Basically the closer to nature you are, the more bigger and common the spiders. In south-central Kyoto city, I would see the occasional spider in summer. In Shiga, they were everywhere, and some were as large as my hand or bigger.
Living in northern Kyoto city now (still the city but nearer the mountains and river), I see a large webless spider called huntsmen about once a year, and the harmless but large and common joro spider. Indoors, I have a few spiders a year from about now until November or so- the cute, tiny type that hop away, and tiny translucent house spiders pop out whenever I don’t clean an area for a while.
ETA: I used to be scared of spiders too, but I *much* prefer them to cockroaches tbh.
I have never seen spiders, but I’ve seen cockroaches, also affectionately called Gs by Japanese, both on the street and once in the apartment. It’s a common problem if you’re living on a lower floor or near a restaurant, but there are tons of products to protect yourself.
This is for Tokyo. It’ll definitely depend on where you are. Countryside may be a different story.
The spiders are fine, they are a lot less potent than you’d find in the US or Europe… it’s the centipedes you need to be concerned about… Mukade!!!! A symbol of evil in Japanese mythology, the mukade can grow up to a length of 38 centimeters (that’s 15 inches!). It doesn’t just look scary, though, the mukade is poisonous too. If it gets its little chompers around you, you’ll be in a world of pain and probably have some pretty decent swelling. It usually won’t kill you, but get a bad enough bite and you’ll be straight to the doctor. Apparently they like to hide in cosy places such as shoes, toilets, bed linens, etc. Or alternatively they crawl up to you in your sleep (with a preference for body cavities such as ears or noses or… downstairs!!!) or sit on the ceiling and fall down on unsuspecting victims. Their bite is very painful (debatable… ymmv) and when being bitten by a large mukade, it is best to see a doctor. They appear to be tough critters, very hard to kill, even after being exposed to bug spray, fire and boiling water (no… most of these will kill them, also you can just buy the spray in most shops here) . In Japan they are often used as a symbol for evil (as am I). They are most abundant in the rainy season, which is roughly from June to August… and here’s some more things you mightn’t like…https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-insects/ … but realistically, if you keep your house clean, you won’t see any of these…
The countryside will have more spiders but I actually don’t have problems with them. They’re usually minding their own business.
It’s the mukade that are a problem if you see them. They’re extremely aggressive. Mukade motherfucker got into my apartment and bit me after a whole ordeal where I shut it in my closet and it scratched its way out to find and bite me (I had just moved into the apartment and didn’t have anything to handle it but it was after midnight so nothing was open). Sprayed its ass to death the next day
Really individual experiences here I see! I live in Tokyo and as someone with a pretty intense fear of spiders let me tell you Tokyo has a surprising amount of them. Even in tiny parks (gather of a couple of trees is enough, really) in summer there is this one type of spider you will definitely come across. It comes in different sizes and colours (seen black, brown, patterned with bright yellow etc) with a long um back?? body? They build webs that stretch between trees sometimes and just sit smack in the middle. Fucking terrifying. I had to run under one once near Tokyo Tower that had build a web between two trees on each side of the path (wayyy above my head so really if I hadn’t looked up I would’ve been fine but I’m suspicious of All Trees here.)
I currently live on the first floor and get lots of tiny jumping spiders in my room too.
Back when I lived in Yokohama though a huntsman (do Not google if you don’t know what that is) came in through my aircon though. I cried for a solid hour before I could take care of it. It’s been years and I still can’t start my aircon without watching it for anything coming out of it.
They have sprays that kill spiders. For me it’s as important as cockroach spray.
im out in kanagawa and ive been at my house for 5 years. never seen a roach (outside tho). spiders, mostly small jumpy ones. I don’t kill them cause theyll eat other insects.
Ive been living in Zushi for just about a year. We got some pretty wicked bugs out here. Huntsman spiders, house centipedes, and murder hornets. They all go away for the winter though.
It’s the giant hornets you need to watch out for, the suzumebachi. Then you find out they have oosuzumebachi (like big size giant hornets).
Am I the only one who read the title of this very wrong? Just me? Cool
I’ve been living in a condo in Tokyo for 30+ years. I seriously can’t remember seeing a spider in my home. Saw a giant one in Gunma in an old house though! Jesus! I’m definitely not one for camping, outdoors stuff, just urban walking
The Argiopes can get pretty freaking huge (from the perspective of a Canadian), but they’re harmless.
The biggest issue I’ve come across bug-wise are the giant orb weaver spiders- outdoors! I’ve never seen such freakishly large webs before. I’m talking wider and taller than your average 6ft’ American kind of big. And that’s just the circular web part. I’ve also seen them stretch their webs across 10m+ gaps between buildings and utility poles. (this one in particular we ended up knocking down and keeping the spider in a tiny bug cage as a pet! It was super cool how it still went about making a tiny web in such a closed space)
Harmless? Yes. But holy crap, riding my bicycle to work in the mornings, you’d be covered head-to-toe in web if you’re unlucky.
edit: this is in more rural areas. If you’re inside cities, unlikely to ever be a problem.
It’s fine.
If you don’t live in an 1980s apartment you should be ok.
What scare me most is those giant Asian Hornet! I saw one close to me the other day and it’s loud af!
The only insects I ever saw in 2.5 years IN my apartment were two tiny black “hunter” (NOT huntsman!) spiders. We’re talking less than the size of a pencil eraser, and they don’t build webs. They do jump, though, which can be startling if you’re trying to squish/catch them.
Outside, though… I rode my bike as primary means of transportation, and well… I came there with a pretty healthy phobia of spiders, but can now take a spiderweb to the face at 10kph without blinking. A lot of sidewalks will be lined on both sides with trees, which is fine at walking head height, but once you’re on a bicycle the risk goes up considerably. And if you’re in a more rural area, the options become “calmly slow to a halt and evaluate the situation” or “swerve into the road/fall into the rice field/irrigation ditch”. Especially during the summer, you’ll see those neon green shrimp-looking Joro ones on their webs everywhere outside.
On the mukade topic, though, one crawled up a coworker’s boxers while he was asleep and bit him on the right one. They don’t play around.
The jumping spiders are totes kawaii.
We saw a huntsman spider once, when my darling and I were walking in the idyllic countryside and peeked inside a small shrine. It was so big, I think a little bit of wee came out. But it was ok though, because it just sat there, abiding.
Any cockroaches that come close get the freezing death ray. No prisoners.