MovieChat Forums > Mimi wo sumaseba (1996) Discussion > What are the insects chirping in the bac...

What are the insects chirping in the background?


In this and every Studio Ghibli movie, outdoor scenes have a background of some sort of cricket chirping that goes 'weebweebweebweebweeee...'
What are they? I've heard crickets but they don't sound like them. Are they only found in Japan?

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Cicadas. They're known as semi in Japan.

http://www.insects.jp/040724kuma1.jpg

They come out in the warmer months. The species in the U.S., though, is heard from rarely. I heard one this year for the first time in my adult life and they are EAR PIERCINGLY LOUD – but sound sort of nice from a distance. As a child, I first heard a "chorus" of them and the varying songs from multiple cicadas made it sound like a jungle outside. They also moult and leave behind neat (or, gross?) little husks of their former skin:

http://kashibesso.com/image4/52873.jpg

In Japan, cicada "music" is a symbol of summer.

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Who are you carrying all those bricks for?

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They're found in america too.

Straightedge means I'm better than you.

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