Beetlemania: Japanese collectors pay high prices for big bugs

Its shell is a lustrous golden brown, and its majestic top horn stretches out far past the tips of Ohara’s fingers. Underneath, a smaller horn curves menacingly upward, primed on a set of powerful jaws.

“You’ve got to be careful it doesn’t pinch your finger,” Ohara says. “That would be very painful.”

What Ohara is holding is a Hercules beetle, the longest species of beetle in the world, which has been known to change hands for millions of yen.

Ohara is the owner of Beetle On, a specialist store in Tokyo’s Ota Ward that sells rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles, equipment for keeping and breeding them, and various other beetle-related toys and paraphernalia.

Ohara opened his store around five years ago, and his business has been steadily growing ever since. He moved to bigger premises three years ago, and he now gets around 100 customers a day at weekends. In fact, he says trade has been so brisk recently that the COVID-19 pandemic has barely affected him, despite having closed his store for a month and a half during the state of emergency.

Rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles, respectively known as kabutomushi (literally meaning “Samurai helmet insect”) and kuwagata in Japanese, have long been firm favorites with Japanese children and insect enthusiasts. Many people keep them as pets or breed them, raising them from eggs to full-grown adults, while others pit them against each other in fighting tournaments, sometimes with cash prizes.

In recent years, however, Ohara says there has been a surge in interest in beetles, with families driving the trend.

“They’re really popular at the moment,” Ohara says, amid a steady backdrop of scratching sounds emanating from the rows of plastic containers lining the racks in his store. “There are lots of shows featuring beetles on TV at the moment, and there have also been a lot of exhibitions at museums. They’re aimed at families, and you can go along and see the beetles and touch them and learn about them.

“People go and they start thinking they’d like to keep one as a pet. They go to a store, the owner teaches them how to look after the beetle, and then they’ll decide to buy one. That’s how it starts with a lot of families. Previously, it wasn’t really something families did.”