KAMEOKA, Japan - A class on how to create a trap to capture hornets using a plastic bottle was held earlier this month at a former elementary school in Hatano, a town located in the Kyoto city of Kameoka.
As the season when queen hornets roam freely has arrived, around 70 people, including local residents, gathered at the building of the now-closed Hatano elementary school on May 6 to learn how to capture the hornets before they could go on to build hives and trigger an outbreak of worker hornets.
The class was a part of the Hatanocho Project, a collaborative enterprise by local residents aimed at repurposing the elementary school building that closed in March. This was the second event of the project.
The class was taught by Yasuo Monji, an expert in removing hornet nests and a local resident. Hatano is located between mountains and suffers from frequent hornet infestations.
The first step the 70-year-old Moji taught was to cut holes in the side of the plastic bottle while leaving flaps of plastic that act as gates. The participants then filled the bottle with Japanese sake, grape juice, vinegar and sugar, and gave it a stir to finish the job.
The sweet and sour aroma lures the hornets inside, but once there, they cannot escape.
"This trap can capture several hornets in half a day," Monji said. He also advised his students to "hang it near a broadleaf tree that produces tree sap that attracts hornets."
A 75-year-old woman who participated in the class commented, "I've been having trouble with hornets building hives on the edge of my roof, and entering my house every year, so I'm eager to test this trap out."
Related coverage:
"Trainee manager" connects people through her share house in northern Kyoto
Kyoto's Gion Shimbashi area puts up signs urging better visitor manners
Much-loved gibbon dies at Kyoto zoo
