Semi (蝉、セミ）means cicada in Japanese. I’m pretty sure I can hear them around my neighborhood (unless I’m getting tinnitus), but I don’t see many at all this year.

And no, despite wild rumors floating about Japan, foreigners are not eating them.

In Tokyo right now, cicada are still around, but where you look — and the time of day — makes a huge difference.

Some hints I learned:

Big old trees are key — parks, shrines, and temple grounds with mature elm or cherry trees are favorite cicada spots.

School yards often have dense tree lines that cicadas love. On this morning’s walk I was tempted to roam the grounds of a nearby elementary school with lots of trees, but the gate did have a warning in Japanese that people not part of the school were forbidden entry. It somehow didn’t seem like a good idea to be found wandering around an elementary school in that case.

Shrines and temple grounds (like Meiji Jingu, or even neighborhood shrines) tend to be quieter, and cicadas gather where the trees are undisturbed.

Small clusters of street trees can work too, but the more isolated, the fewer cicadas. Also this morning I took a walk through one of those kinds of paths and did find one cicada.

Early morning (6–9 a.m.) and late afternoon (4–6 p.m.) are best if you want to see them sitting still — midday heat makes them fly high or cling to the shadiest trunks. That’s something I didn’t know. I had assumed that since they come out in the summer they love the heat.

Focus on the shady side of tree trunks — cicadas avoid direct blazing sun when resting.

Listen first: different species have distinctive calls, and if you follow the sound carefully, you can often spot them. This is what I’ve been trying to do.

Move slowly — they’ll take off if you cast a shadow right on them. This I wasn’t aware of. I always thought they were pretty much unconcerned with our presence.

The last couple of days I did find a few. Here are some photos. First, one by my friend Sakai Akira-san who lives near me. He loves photography and took this photo in his garden. We’ve been Facebook friends for many years, and we greet each other every morning and evening, and we live near each other, and he also likes visiting Asakusa but…. we have never met in person! Anyway, it’s a beautiful photograph.

These last two were in my immediate neighborhood, along my usual walk path.

Cicadas make it feel like summer to me. Like summer festivals do. Some people complain about the racket they make, but I find it soothing.