Japanese boys' interest in insects goes beyond the universal male childhood fascination with creepy-crawlies. Often, this obsession continues into adulthood and explains the hugely profitable trade in giant beetles.
On NHK's documentary program "Premium 10" (NHK-G, Monday, 10 p.m.), nature photographer Satoshi Kuribayashi travels to the Andes Mountains in Ecuador to hunt down Hercules, which at 18 cm is believed to be the largest beetle species in the world. Kuribayashi's career as an insect photographer sprang from his own obsession with beetles when he was growing up in Nagasaki Prefecture. For the NHK special, he even designed a special high-definition camera.
The Hercules' size is likely a function of its environment. The mountains in which it resides reach 6,000 meters in height. Kuriba-yashi also looks for the famed Elephant Beetle, which isn't the biggest in the world, but the heaviest.