Review of The Secret of Bees
The Secret of Honeybees by Junichi Takahashi
Green Shobo, September 2023, 345 pages, 2,800 yen (excluding tax)
When you hear the word "honeybee," which honeybee do you imagine? Most people probably think of the Western honeybee, which was introduced for beekeeping and crop pollination. Aside from honeybee researchers, even relatively knowledgeable people likely only know about the Japanese honeybee (a subspecies of the Eastern honeybee), which is native to our country, in addition to the Western honeybee. In reality, honeybees (BeesAlthough 9 to 11 species of the genus have been identified, all of which form societies consisting of queens, workers, and drones, their appearances and lifestyles are quite diverse. However, when it comes to general books on honeybees, the overwhelming majority are about the European honeybee, and even those that partially cover the Japanese honeybee are mostly aimed at hobbyist beekeeping.
It is probably the book's greatest feature that, thanks to the author's background—Kyoto Sangyo University Associate Professor Dr. Junichi Takahashi, who has traveled himself to the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia and even sheer Himalayan cliffs (!!) to observe the ecology of various honeybee species (and sometimes eat them), while also reporting numerous fascinating findings in the lab through molecular ecological analyses making full use of microsatellite markers—readers can learn the similarities and differences in the morphology and ecology of various honeybee species all at once.
At the same time, it is by no means confined to talk about obscure bee species; it is also packed with basic information on the so-called "honeybee," namely the European honeybee. Furthermore, it touches upon beekeeping products such as honey and royal jelly, honeybee diseases, and the history of beekeeping in Japan, allowing readers to learn various "secrets" about honeybees in a well-balanced manner (I must confess here that, despite being a modest honeybee researcher myself, there were many secrets I learned for the first time).
With the recent spread of the SDGs concept, pollinators such as honeybees are attracting significant attention. Furthermore, this November, the Honeybee Summit, a major domestic event related to honeybees, will be held in person for the first time in four years. I feel it is truly significant that this book, which serves as an ideal guide on honeybees for the general public, has been published at this very timing.
Atsushi Ugajin (JT Biohistory Research Hall, Researcher)
