I Feel Like I'm Back in Japan

I feel like I'm back in Japan.

We had these nasty centipedes in Japan that were able to climb just about any wall and seemed to take great delight in dropping onto unsuspecting gaijin as they opened the closet door. They were also good at biting. Though I was never bitten, my friend Phil from Australia was bitten one night when he was visiting Yamanashi.

Last night, I had called Tanaka to come to bed. Although he's not a dog, he knows the routine and usually sprints to the bedroom to spend the night with us. Last night, however, I could not get his attention, no matter how hard I tried.

So I went downstairs to see what was up and found that he had cornered a very evil-looking centipede in the dining room.

Not wanting any of us to get bitten, I had to take Tanaka's new plaything away from him. After scooping it up in some tupperware, I stored it for the night in order to photograph it in the daylight. Plus, I wanted to find out what it was and would need to see it while looking for it on the Internet.

It seems to be a member of the scolopendromorpha family. Here's a blurb from the Emporia (Kan.) State University Web site:

Order Scolopendromorpha (3 families) - "epimorphic" forms with 21 or 23 pairs of legs and pedal segments, with a low degree of tergite "heteronomy" [segments are more-or-less uniform]. Includes the largest centipedes - the aggressive, intimidating species known to the general public. Occurrence: Worldwide.

After spending a night in tupperware, he seemed sluggish in the morning. I shot a couple of photos in the tupperware and then, going for a better view, dumped him and the nickel onto a piece of white paper. He took off at a mile a minute, forcing me to recapture him, as I really didn't want him wandering back into the house.

I hesitate to post this photo, as it may dash any hopes we have of anyone coming to visit. So, let me post it while reminding you: We have a cat. He caught a centipede last night. He'll get the next one, too.