#TOTW4 – What is something you did as a child, that you miss doing now?

My passion was to collect bugs. You may think that you were an odd kid, but actually it is very popular for kids to have beetles (Japanese rhinoceros beetles) and stag beetles as a pet in Japan. They die after summer and some kids including myself collect eggs from the soil in the cage, and then keep them together with a compost and soil mix during winter. The larvae start eating compost and eventually become pupa before summer. They cycle of their life amazed me, and now I am a biologist. I really appreciate the experience my parent gave me. Because my passion was always nature and animals, I started having unique pets, such as a prairie dog, chinchilla, degu, hamsters, fresh and salt water fish. Now, I do not have any pet….I miss taking care of them and one day I want to provide the similar opportunity with my future kids (if that happened). Having a prairie dog in my house was a pure joy (even though I would not recommend anyone to do so). He was the smartest animal among all pets I had, such a vocally communicative animal with a strict social structure including my family members. He was used to “watch” baseball games with my dad all the time. After the game, he went to bed. He slept like human using his hands carefully to pull a towel to his body but not covering his mouth or head. I miss the old man haha.