It’s the cicada season in Japan.
This year they have emerged later than usual; the rainy season has stretched into August which is extremely rare according to national broadcaster NHK.
For the uninitiated cicadas are noisy and typically start humming around five o’clock in the morning, just after sunrise. Growing up in England there were no cicada. I am no expert but they seem to particularly like cherry trees. There is a large cemetery near my house, full of sakura where in the hot afternoons one can see cicada flying from one tree to another. It is also common for children to collect them.
Cicada are an important milestone in Japan’s season and signal the peak of summer.
Cicada also feature in the Naked Blood of the Cherry Blossoms but in less venerable terms.
Buried with the body was a mottled leather Hermes purse, dark brown and cream in colour. Inside the purse was message written in English saying ‘Jared Kenyon, rapist and racketeer.’”
“Anything else?”
“There were some cicada wings in the purse.”
Sakamoto shook his head. “It’s almost as if the perpetrator wanted the body to be discovered at some time. That wouldn’t be the Yakuza style.”
Kano Ishikawa 