Its summer!! Yay! Time for beach and pool! Time to bust out those shorts and sandals and have a great day out just basking in the sun. But what is waiting for you just around the corner? When the sun goes down and when its hot and humid outside? GIANT Okinawan Roaches! The technical name is Blattella asahinai but I just call them giant oki-roaches. These little…wait, scratch that, these BIG guys get to live enough to grow to the size of your palm. Their speed and wits keep them alive here because once these guys catch you by surprise, they aren’t going to stay around long enough for you to take a whack at them.

One of the worse traits these guys have is that, unlike the American roache ( which is actully the German Roach ) these have a larger wing span which means they can hold flight longer. They live near trash and LOVE the light and damp combination that is found everywhere here in Oki. Walking down the popular street, Kokusai-dori, I can see when people are shocked and frighten at the sight of them. Jumping back and yelling, only to realize that the roach has taken to the air and is now swooping down on them for the kill. Syke. They are actully more scared of us, but hey, it feels like that sometimes. Especially when you hit a juicy spot in the alley, then you got maybe 4 or 5 around you! The female roaches can produce up to 300 offsprings in her lifetime. So try and figure out the math for how many we have on this paradise island. As a matter of fact, Flordia once had a problem with the Okinawan roach due to the fact that they are attracted to light and reproduce quickly.

Well, you can find some more info and stories here but these aren’t really about Okinawan roaches. You’ll have to visit here just to get a taste of what real fear is. Try being in an OLD, OLD Marine Corps warehouse at midnight and going into the head ( restroom ), turning on the lights to find these 5/8 of an inch buggies having a good ‘ol time. AHH!!!!

ps.
This entry was inspried due to the fact that just 20 mins ago, while I was walking back from the shoppette, minding my own biznesssss….I got raided on by one flying roach, which by the way would have taken off my head had I not ducked in time, and another one by the ground. A foot soilder, brave enough to run right through my two feet. I gave out a war cry as I evaded the aerial assualt and charged on. Ugh…time to take a pocket size Raid bottle everywhere I go. Yep, its summer time in Okinawa alright.