Good morning, thanks for joining "Good Morning Insects!" for today's top news. My name is Goki Buri.
Due to unseasonably cool temperatures in July and August, humans in Japan enjoyed a relatively insect-free summer. Without the constant arrivals and departures of flying insects, houses that usually bear a striking resemblance to Narita airport were nearly empty this year as a combination of terrorism, foul weather patterns and even SARS kept most insects home and in their nests.
Humans reported fewer instances of nighttime mosquito reconnaissance missions in the bedroom and fewer instances of centipedes dropping on them from the ceilings. Even the ants seemed to stay home most of the summer, only occasionally venturing out to seize upon some leftovers in the sink. And even then, they were choosy -- almost polite, just nibbling and not hauling anything back to the nest. This year, the humans had no reports of entire loaves of bread hauled off.