This morning, while enjoying gardening, I spotted a cicada's cast-off skin on my yuzu (a kind of Japanese citrus) tree. We are feeling the end of summer, so I was a little bit surprised to see it.

Do you know that cicadas have over 1,600 different species, and there are about 30 species in Japan? They spend most of their lives underground as nymphs. On average, they spend three to five years underground to feed tree sap. I've heard that some species in other countries spend over ten years underground. They grow slowly but they're safe because they have few predators there.

When they're ready, they emerge from the ground. They usually come out during at night to stay safe. Once they become adults, they live for only a couple of weeks. They spend most of their lives underground and spend a tiny part of lives on trees.

When I saw the cast-off skin, I started thinking about the cicada that had left it behind. I hope it had a fruitful life. I apologize that both pictures are blurry.

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