TOKYO -- Long before the Asian giant hornet began terrorizing the honeybees of Washington state, the ferocious insects posed a sometimes lethal threat to hikers and farmers in the mountains of rural Japan.But in the central Chubu region, these insects -- sometimes called "murder hornets" --
TOKYO — Long before the Asian giant hornet began terrorizing the honeybees of Washington state, the ferocious insects posed a sometimes lethal threat to hikers and farmers in the mountains of rural Japan.
The hornets can also give liquor an extra kick. Live specimens are drowned in shochu, a clear distilled beverage. In their death throes, the insects release their venom into the liquid, and it is stored until it turns a dark shade of amber.Setting out in the early summer months, intrepid hunters track the insects to their huge nests, which can house as many as 1,000 hornets and their larvae, in the boles of rotting trees or underground.
Suzuki said he also sold the nests, which are popular trophies throughout the region. Lacquered brown hives, sometimes cut open to expose their complex lattice work, adorn vestibules and reception rooms in homes, schools and public offices. Even at this insect jubilee, the danger posed by the giant hornet, which has killed dozens of people in Japan in recent years, is evident. A flyer for the 2018 event warned participants to be on the lookout for hornets on the loose near the fairgrounds, advising attendees to “please take ample care to avoid being stung.” Organizers, it added, “bear absolutely no responsibility” for the consequences of ignoring the warnings.
The Oomachi Wasp Appreciation Society in Nagano once achieved some measure of national fame for making rice crackers with the insects baked in. Production has since stopped, as the group’s members have died or become too old to make the snacks, said Sachiko Murayama, 70, who is on the board of a local business cooperative.
“It’s impossible for them to fly over from Asia,” he said, adding that they most likely came over in a shipping container. Even that, though, would be extraordinarily unlikely, he said, given their extreme aggression, which would have almost certainly drawn the attention of a ship’s crew.
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