蛙が怖い ❖ Japanese Frogs

私は蛙が怖い。ただ怖いというのを通り超えて「蛙恐怖症」レベルに怖い。私の生まれ育った羽咋は、田んぼが広がるのどかな町です。家の裏にも田んぼがあって、いつも蛙がいるという環境で育ちました。あんな小さい雨蛙がどうして怖いのか論理的には、説明できませんが、あのピョンピョン飛び跳ねる姿をみるだけで、あまりの怖さに身動きがとれなくなるほどです。蛙は、お米を愛する日本人にとっては、ヒーローです。田んぼを害虫から守り、大切なお米づくりの手助けを昔から担っています。また蛙は、日本人にとって特別な存在でもあります。蛙は、お守りであったり、風邪薬のマスコットであったり、庭を飾る蛙石であったりします。そんなアイドル的な存在の蛙が怖いと言っても誰からも同情されません。Colinは、羽咋の蛙にすっかり魅了され、毎回、家の外で蛙を探して写真をとります（嫌な人です）。私には、怖くて嫌な存在の蛙ですが、夏の夜に響き渡る蛙の大合唱は、大好きです。本当につじつまの合わない話ですが、故郷の羽咋に帰って心からほっとするのは、蛙の大合唱を聞く時。最近は、多くの田んぼが埋め立てられ、消え去っています。その結果、蛙の数もすっかり減ってしまったようです。いつまでも蛙の大合唱が聞こえる故郷でいられますように。

I'm afraid of frogs. "Afraid" is not the right word to describe my fear towards these "supposedly" harmless amphibians. I have a frog phobia. I grew up in an area surrounded by rice fields. Frogs were everywhere. I become palarized with fear every time I encounter them. I avoid going back to Hakui in the summer, because that's when you see lots of them. Japanese people respect frogs. They show their fondness towards frogs in many forms. You see them as garden decorations, a symbol of popular cold medicine, and a popular anime character. This is all amusing to Colin. He searches for frogs and takes their pictures whenever we are back in Hakui (this is very annoying). Frog in Japanese is "kaeru," which has the same phonetic meaning of the term, "returning home." For that reason, you also see good luck charms in the form of frogs, wishing you a safe return home. I know my fear of frogs is irrational. They don't bite, and they are certainly not poisonous (at least the ones in Hakui). And they are a very important part of growing rice. They protect fields by eating unwelcome insects. 

I'm really afraid of them, but I don't hate them. In fact, I love the sound they make at night (as long as I'm safely inside the house). One of my favourite memories of summer in Hakui is listening to their sound. When I left Hakui, that's something I missed a lot. Every time I go back home, I notice that more and more rice fields are disappearing. And I don't see frogs as much as I used to. That makes me sad in a way. I have a love and hate relationship with my long time amphibian foes. They are part of the landscape I call home.

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