Japan Combats Mosquitos With Techniques Old and New

Since time immemorial, humans and mosquitos have been at odds. More than just spoiling our picnics and keeping us awake at night with their buzzing, mosquitos are spreaders of deadly diseases like malaria, West Nile virus, and dengue. While these diseases are extremely rare in Japan today, that is not the case in some parts of the world. Let’s find out how Japanese people have dealt with mosquitos over the ages, and how Japan is contributing to the global battle against these flying nuisances.

Techniques from a Bygone Era

Until the 1800s, the means of repelling mosquitos were rudimentary, and their effectiveness varied. Like many other cultures around the world, mosquito nets were placed over beds at night. Another common practice was to burn a mixture of wood and leaves and smoke the mosquitos out of your home or yard. While the smoke was effective at repelling mosquitos, it was pretty unpleasant for the people in the area, too. However, this all changed in the late 1800s when a new invention came along - the “mosquito coil.”

Japan’s Classic Mosquito-Repellent: The “Mosquito Coil”

Perhaps the most well-known mosquito repellent in Japan is the “mosquito coil.” A mosquito coil is a special kind of incense that has been molded in the shape of a spiral. The incense traditionally contains dried pyrethrum (a type of chrysanthemum), as well as other natural ingredients. When burned, this incense is highly effective at repelling mosquitos while being safe for humans. They are commonly placed near the entrance of homes and shops in the summer to prevent mosquitos from entering.

Mosquito coils were invented in 1890 by a Japanese businessman. He received pyrethrum seeds in a trade and began looking for ways to use them. After noticing their insect repellent properties, he eventually formulated a mosquito-fighting incense. While his invention was effective, the incense sticks only burned for about an hour. It was his wife who came up with the solution: increase the length of the incense stick by making it spiral-shaped. Thanks to her idea, a single mosquito coil today can burn for as long as 7 to 12 hours.

Although mosquito coils are a low-tech solution, invented over a hundred years ago, their popularity persists. Today, they can be found in almost any supermarket and convenience store in Japan, and their pleasant aroma recalls fond memories of bygone summers in Japanese people.

Mosquito coils have spread outside of Japan to become popular across tropical Asia, Africa, and South America. Their appeal is easy to see - they are cheap, effective, and require no power source to operate, making them an accessible solution regardless of one’s living situation. As diseases like malaria remain endemic in some of these parts of the world, Japanese mosquito coils play a crucial role in warding off diseases at the household level and maintaining people’s health and livelihoods.

Mosquito Coil Holders

Part of the fun of using mosquito coils is in choosing a holder. These days, there are many designs available. The ceramic pig-shaped holder, with its wide-open mouth from which smoke streams out, is a classic design. Special lightweight and portable holders designed for camping are also available. There are even humorous holders that cast the familiar coil shape as the spiral on a snail’s shell or the whirring of a helicopter’s blades.

New Research and Innovations

While the classic mosquito coil continues to be popular to this day, research into effective control of mosquitos and other harmful insects is constantly being carried out, and new products continue to emerge onto the market.

Insect-repelling silicone bands are a summertime favorite of Japanese children because they let kids express their unique style while keeping the bugs away. Sprays that are gentle on the skin and have pleasant scents are also popular.

Another product is this insect-repellent device that is made to look like a teru teru bozu, a traditional Japanese charm hung outside the home to ward off rain. While we cannot say for sure whether this little friend helps keep the rain away, he does help keep the bugs away!

Another new product which takes a less conventional approach to warding off mosquitos has become a hit on social media recently. This “device” uses no insecticides or repellents. It is a plastic model of a jumbo dragonfly (Anotogaster sieboldii) that you can clip anywhere onto your person. The jumbo dragonfly is a natural predator of mosquitos and many other pests, and so it is believed that they are scared away merely by the sight of him. This highly unusual product lacks scientific basis, but why not try it for yourself and see?

Researchers at another Japanese company have also been thinking about alternative ways to combat mosquitos. Rather than killing or repelling them, they theorized that if you could make the surface of the skin unpleasant for mosquitos, they might simply leave without biting. They used high-speed cameras to observe mosquitos’ behavior as they landed on skin treated with various liquids. They found that low-viscosity liquids adhered to the mosquitos’ legs, causing them to quickly fly away to groom themselves before they even had time to bite. Researchers are now looking into ways to bring this solution to market with the goal of contributing to the global fight against mosquito-borne diseases.

Thanks to the ingenuity of Japanese inventors and researchers across generations, Japanese people now enjoy a wealth of options for how they combat this perennial pest. And with exciting new research underway, we have reasons to be optimistic about the future!