Aren’t You Lucky Kids? Your Dad Doesn’t Tell You “The Bug Will Give Up”

On our last evening in Shimoda, we took the hotel shuttle to have dinner near the train station. The shuttle was full. A family, consisting of a girl about 9 or 10 years and a crying boy of perhaps 6 or 7 years, was the last to get on. The mother with the boy on her lap sat on the jump seat next to me. I was curious to know why the boy was crying and I suspected it had to do with something black stuck on his palm, on the middle finger. I asked the mother and she showed me her boy’s hand and biting the finger was a kuwagata or a stag beetle. Ouch!!! The beetle has strong mandibles and it was really digging into his finger…thus the continuous sobbing of the boy. He had stuck his hand into a hole (presumably to catch the beetle) and got bit instead.



I remarked it must hurt very much, thinking to myself, shouldn’t you try to take the darn thing off??? To this the father who sat in a seat in front replied in Japanese “Akiramerusa..” – it will give up. Right…when the boy’s finger is severed!

My husband seemed to be enjoying this whole spectacle and he was beside himself telling the girls “See how lucky you are? I wouldn’t tell you to take the pain and wait for the beetle to give up.” Of course not, the girls seemed to be thinking...we wouldn't stand for it! We're American! We would report you to the social services.

This story illustrates the Japanese attitude of “gaman” – stoic patience, perseverance, endurance. I suppose the father was trying to teach his son to be strong but really hard to watch a beetle with large mandibles hanging onto a little boy’s finger. After a little while, the father must have felt a little sorry or embarrassed for himself or his son (I couldn’t tell which) and somehow managed to take the bug off the finger. Thank goodness. Our girls were totally mesmerized by the whole crisis.