Reading "Only Children Who Catch Insects Survive"

Is there a future for children in a "brain-centered society"?
Only Children Who Catch Insects Survive
Takeshi Yoro / Kiyohiko Ikeda / Daizaburo Okumoto

This book was published in November 2008, 13 years ago, but not only has the content not aged at all, there were many parts that I still feel are true today. The title of the first chapter, "Children Who Don't Even Kill Insects Kill People," made me realize that being in an environment where children do not touch nature or do not catch (or are not allowed to catch) insects leads to a disregard for human life itself. I will quote from that first chapter.

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Truth is simple, facts are complex
...There are various stages to the conceptualization of things. Therefore, conceptualization and education are quite difficult issues. In terms of whether one comes to like or dislike insects, it happens by the lower grades of elementary school, or at most by the third or fourth grade. If a child hasn't seen any insects by that time, they won't be able to feel anything no matter how much they look at them afterward.
...Children who have held a rhinoceros beetle will draw the thorny legs that look painful. Children who only look at picture books are sloppy about those details.
...Once you grasp a concept, you round everything off in your image. If it's a rhinoceros beetle, everyone will start by drawing the horn first.

The important thing is to see the details
...When you look at insects, you realize that there is no such thing as a single absolute. Many strange insects you've never seen before appear, making you think, 'What on earth is this!' Once you start catching insects for fun, one unknown insect after another appears. Since they aren't in the picture books, you desperately try to look them up.
...When you can see the details, your own standard of values naturally forms. To put it in difficult terms, you develop your own 'scale of identity.' You can say, 'You may say that, but I think this way.'
...In other words, the most important thing is to be able to see and feel the details. What is important when creating concepts is not to lose your senses.

What does it mean to have good intuition?
Why should we let children catch insects now? When thinking about that problem, there is something I really want everyone in society to notice. It is, in short, that... brain function is a cycle.
...It is very important to keep information circulating in the order of: Senses -> Brain -> Body -> Senses... And among the many types of play, why is catching insects good? It is because it makes the brain cycle in an almost ideal way. It enters through the senses, is calculated, the result comes out as movement, and the resulting output is re-input. When you see an insect and think 'There it is!', you move your muscles, catch it, examine it yourself, make a specimen, think about it, look at an insect again... in this way, input and output continue to cycle in a chain.
...To polish your intuition, you have to repeat re-substitution and re-input from a young age and keep your brain spinning. In short, go outside and play to your heart's content in nature.
...If you want to raise a child properly, the best thing to do is to have them work outdoors, in nature.
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I read every sentence nodding and thinking, 'Exactly! Dr. Takeshi Yoro has been saying good things for a long time.' I especially agree entirely with the final point: 'The best thing to do is to have them work outdoors, in nature.' It is often said that there is no nature in the city, but even with the flowers blooming on the roadside or gardening on a balcony, you can feel the changes in nature if you observe them every day.

For children, especially from infancy to around the third grade of elementary school, I want to let them experience a lot through nature—not just visually, but also through taste, hearing, and smell obtained from the mouth, ears, and nose, as well as the sensations that can only be understood by touching.

In the '72 Micro-seasons,' which represent changes in the seasons approximately every five days, around October 18th is 'Kirigirisu to ni ari' (The cricket is at the door), which is the time when autumn insects chirp at the doorway (the entrance or garden of the house). In the past, 'crickets' were called 'kirigirisu.' This year, there were days with extreme heat in September, and even in October, there were consecutive days in Tokyo exceeding 25 degrees, so I feel like the season is about 2 to 3 weeks behind an average year.

By the way, a stink bug snuck into my house in Tokyo without me knowing, and we have been living together for about a week until today. These days, when the sounds of autumn insects can be heard loudly in the evening, it might be the perfect time to observe insects with children.