Every summer in Japan you get cicadas, or “semi” (蝉) in Japanese. Not the type that come out once every 17 or 18 years, this bunch comes out every summer, and man, do they make a lot of noise. The Japanese characterize this noise as, “meeeee, meeeee, meeeeeeee.” To which I then comically note how selfish they are. That is what Japanese people refer to as an “Oyaji gyagu,” (親父ギャグ) or an “old man’s gag.”

The cicadas, meanwhile, are everywhere, buzzing and mating. And as the mating cycle dies down, you start seeing a lot cicadas on the ground. But just because you see them belly-up, it doesn’t mean they’re done for–these cicadas, it so happens, have a very tough time righting themselves once they’ve got six legs in the air. I’ve seen them do it, but usually they just lay there, immobile and apparently dead.

So the thing to do–unless you really hate cicadas, that is–is to gently nudge them over with a toe, to get them righted. But be prepared to jump away, though: the cicadas will, unless really close to death, immediately start buzzing up and away in the apparent random fashion that bugs are wont to do.