Reviving the consumption of insects in Japan: a promising case of hebo (Vespula spp., wasps) by high school club activities

For people who hunt and eat hebo (Vespula spp., wasps) it is more about culture than it is about food production or environmental sustainability in mountainous central Japan. Individuals who currently semi-cultivate hebo do not intend to industrialize hebo semi-cultivation. Semi-cultivation of hebo is a seasonal activity and it is a hobby for them. This paper focuses on the declining number of wasp hunters. The number declined because younger generations did not take up the hobby or moved to urban areas in search of jobs. Hebo hunters thus consisted of seniors only. The number further declined as those who reached old age were no longer able to practice hebo hunting. Very recently, initiated a promising new development at Ena Agricultural High School. The support to the Hebo Club initiative was quickly expanded and now covers the members belonging to the Japan Vespula Association, and academics involved in edible insect research. We present an overview of the efforts of hebo hunters to maintain and promote the use of Vespula spp. as food and we describe the Hebo Club, a promising recent initiative spearheaded by the students of Ena Agricultural High School. The information was collected between fiscal 2015 and 2017 (namely from September 2015 to March 2018) by participant observation and semi-structured interviews with hebo hunters collaborating with the Hebo Club activities. The Hebo Club uses a hands-on approach: students gain knowledge on edible wasps and their semi-cultivation by actively engaging in the semi-cultivation of the wasps. The club thus teaches the students about resource use by engaging in resource use. The students are taught by experienced wasp hunters how to find, collect, house, and raise hebo. The Hebo Club's colonies are housed in a shed in the school research forest. By cooperating with the members belonging to various Hebo Associations of south-eastern Gifu and northern Aichi, the students experience the variation in employed techniques and equipment, and make observations of hebo biology and ecology in different environments. Other than the hebo season, the club practice develops their idea for local development and applying it to tourism according to the evaluation of their activities. The successful beginning of the Hebo Club, a well-organized cultural initiative spearheaded by youngsters who are backed by seniors, is indicative of how people caring about hebo culture in central mountainous Japan maintains and preserves its culture and identity.