＼(＾▽＾*) Angry Gaijin Understand Understanding. (*＾▽＾)／
There are so many things to post about these days. I am backlogged! I have an important post coming for a former blogger as well. That will be coming soon.
But before we lose any more blogging buddies, I thought it’d be best I warned you that…
THERE ARE BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS IN JAPAN
It appears that these red backs are not satisfied with wreaking havoc merely in the Australian Outback – they’ve jumped on baggage and stowed away on airplanes and have made it to this island nation, too.
Unfamiliar with the black widow? It’s only an INCREDIBLY POISONOUS SPIDER whose vemon can KILL A HUMAN BEING if left unchecked. They say the red markings on the back of the females sometimes resemble that of an hourglass, denotating the REMAINING TIME YOU HAVE TO LIVE!
Black widows get their name from their colour, and their cannibalistic mating rituals in which the larger and more poisonous female consumes her male partner.
O=O;;; gulp…
(link)
FORTUNATELY, there is an antivemon and since it’s invention in 1956 there has not been a single human death by widow bite reported. We might owe this partially to the AMOUNT OF PAIN these spider bites can cause. These ain’t your typical, “I’m itchy! Oh! I musta been bit by a spider” bites. Widow chomps can cause severe headaches and muscle pain. At least that way, you’re sure to notice if you’ve been bitten. Perfect reason to skip work and go to the hospital! (link)
HOWEVER, just 4 days ago on January 21, 2013 in a park in Fukuoka City, a 30-something year old man was BITTEN BY A REDBACK SPIDER (widow variant). The spider had been inside the receptacle of a vending machine, and when the man reached inside to grab the drink he bought he saw the spider on his arm. Before the man could react, the spider jumped inside his sleeve and… CHOMP! The man was bitten only once, but was hospitalized two hours later. He is allegedly in stable condition. (Japanese link)
So what do you do if you’re in Japan and fear that you’ve been stung by the love of a widow?
“Black widow spider” in Japanese is “kuro-go-ke-gumo” (クロゴケグモ) (literally, black back house spider – if you can’t remember the Japanese, at least remember the translation, as well as your best impression of Charlie Chaplan – you’ll need to gesture what the crap happened to you to the doctor).
Incidentally, the variation of spider that the poor chap in Fukuoka was bitten by is called se-aka-go-ke-gumo (背赤後家蜘蛛) (back red back house spider).
So, for the more advanced Japanese learner, I recommend calling 119 (the Japanese emergency number) and explaining, “kurogokegumo ni kamareta!” (“I was bitten by a black widow!”)
But for the foreigner with little to no Japanese experience, “Kumo! Amu amu (sareta)!” will suffice. This equates to,
“Spider! (I was) nomnom (ed)!”
Play it safe when you’re reaching for your canned coffee, folks! Coz remember, it’s a jungle out there!
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Happyuan
LOL – nomnom(ed). At least they look very distinctive but not I guess if they go hiding out in bloody vending machines – in Fukuoka no less!! That’s like a prefecture away. Am hoping the hand sized non deadly but extremely heinous spiders we get here will just bully these small things away….
Heheh, “heinous” is an awesome word to describe spiders.
Here’s hoping!
Susie wasn’t lying. They’re here in California big time! They tend to stick around the farming areas from what I understand. I didn’t know there were variants of black widow. The ones we see here are entirely black except for the red hour glass on its belly like you showed in the top photo. The poison is so bad because its necrotic instead of paralytic like bee venom.
While they are one of the few types of spiders I will actually kill on sight, like I did with a WD40 fire canon, they actually aren’t as bad as they seem. They are more territorial. You can actually tell if you are dealing with a black widow by looking at its web. its really uneven (no cool shapes) and its stickier than hell. AND THEY RUN FAST AHHHH. XD
In SoCal we are having a bigger issue with brown widows which are not territorial and their bite is just as painful. ACK!
That sucks you guys have them now. Just another thing to add to the list with the poisonous snakes, suzumibachis and mukade. Major bummer yo! little bastards are resiliant like roaches
Gee whiz! I was super freaked out as a kid about killer bees and things coming up from Mexico into the States and possibly Canada… Now I have to worry about Black Widow’s crawling up the coast, too?? Well I did at least get the impression that Widows are territorial and don’t bite unless provoked. I can respect that, haha. I also take a little bit of relief in the fact that there is a working antivenom that’s been in use for decades. Phew!
I heard a little bit about those brown spiders, too. Thanks for the warning!
WD40 fire cannon?? Sounds like something you’d use to repel a zombie!
oo creepy!! I don’t mind spiders that much..but that’s pretty creepy that one! also the fact it’s poisonous doesn’t take away the creep factor!!
“Kumo! Amu amu (sareta)!” (I’ll remember that) XP
Do, please~ It could save your life some day. :)
Spiders give me the creeps! A few years ago, the black widow found her way to Belgium as well. Apparently it hid in ships and containers arriving from Africa into the Antwerp port. I have even been told that the reason there are hardly any cockroaches in Antwerp, is because of all the vicious African spiders that have escaped from the boats and hunt the cockroaches. Hurray for globalisation, right? :-s
Lol, i love the little ‘unsure face’ at the end of that. :S Yay no cockroaches and….more black widow spiders..??
“I am backlogged!”
Tell me about it. Though personally I always find a couple of cups of coffee and a brisk walk helps to move things along…
Heheheh… But that means I’ll have to get off my ass and start moving my legs…
That’s scaring! :( I have to think twice before going to my next camp trip. They are so tiny, they might be everywhere and every corner of the world… ewww
Eww! Noooo! You’re probably right~~
We have them here in California… cleaning out garages and sheds you can usually find them. Never been bitten by one but I think I have a bigger fear of the brown recluse….. If I had to choose I would choose being amu amu by a kurogokeumo. Check out these bad boys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_recluse_spider
They’re in California, too????? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Naw, I think I’d take the brown ones~~ Or rather….Let’s just go with no spiders, lol.
Yikes! Who brought them there? I bet it was a gaijin!
Just kidding, -all spiders are gross but those who can inflict serious harm are really scary! I’ll vote for a worldwide poisonous spider ban:)
Vote Cameron Ohara for a Spider Free Future! :)