Tiny Frogs and Enormous Insects

I've been enjoying this opportunity to experience Japanese nature.  The subject of much Buddhist poetry and traditional artwork, I was curious to see how it compares to the forests and fields of home.

For the most part, the woods look remarkably similar.  They're all young, the inevitable aftermath of intensive logging.  I have found very few big trees outside of parks, shrines, and temples.  The trees I do see, though, all see to be relatives of species found in Pennsylvania: cedar, spruce, maple, birch, aspen, etc.  I see many of the same weeds, too: dandelion, plantain, asters, burdock, clover, and so on.  Wildflowers too display many similarities to the ones at home.  Yellow coneflowers can be seen everywhere, and I found touch-me-nots colored a deep violet.  As far as flowers go, though, I do also see many that are completely foreign to me.

However, I have been struck by the infinitesimality of the frogs, the immensity of the insects, and the proliferation of both.  Walking through a field or wading through a garden and everywhere there can be seen these little green frogs crawling and hopping about the vegetation.  I even saw one inching its way up the outside of a window at a restaurant I visited recently.  I know small frogs can be found in PA, but I've never actually seen them.  Toads abound at home, but here it's these little guys who predominate, putting even the toads of my homeland to shame.

Gertrude, occupying the lavatory

And if I thought the amphibians were numerous, the insects outnumber them by far, and ceaselessly startle me with their gargantuan size.  So far I've see the biggest spider, wasp, and butterfly I've ever seen outside of a cage.  My first day here at Canadian Farm, I was introduced to a massive spider we've lovingly been calling Gertrude.  Every morning we find her weaving her trap in all of the most inconvenient of places, like across the stairwell or (as I discovered once when put my head through it) in the bathroom above the toilet.

Spider webs everywhere, dragonflies on everything, moths and butterflies blocking the sun.  If we go to the field in the evening, we can look up and sehe legions of dragonflies buzzing about the sky.  Literally hundreds of them fill the air.  Off in the distance you can see mountains in every direction, and far below the lights of Chino fill the darkening valley.

The view from the field

Here are a couple more pictures from Canadian Farm.  The one on the right is the main pavilion where most of the customers eat.  This was taken during a "Free Market" in which local vendors could set up stations to sell their wares. 

This was also my first day off, which I gladly accepted even though we were very busy that day.  It was my first chance to go around taking pictures.  A friend of Haseyan's, a very nice man named Mat-chan, graciously gave me a pair of hiking boots free of charge!  I also had the opportunity to make "mochi," a chewy rice dessert made by repeatedly smashing the flour with a heavy wooden hammer.

The picture on the left is the treehouse jungle gym that lines the driveway.  It also has a slide attached that you can only partially see in the photo.  And yes, Haseyan built that himself.