Pale Grass Blue (Pseudozizeeria Maha) 大和小灰蝶（ヤマトシジミ）

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A male pale grass blue butterfly (Pseudozizeeria maha) looks completely different depending on whether its wings are open (1st photo) or closed (2nd photo). With its wings closed, you might overlook it as a plain, small grey-and-white butterfly with black spots. When it opens them, however, you are greeted by the striking pale blue upperside that gives the species its name. (See the 5th photo to view both sides at once.) Because butterflies bask in the sun to warm their bodies, you are more likely to catch a glimpse of that vibrant blue during cooler sunny days.

The pale grass blue resembles the plains cupid (Luthrodes pandava) very much, except the latter has orange spots on its wings. I once mistook a plains cupid for a pale grass blue.

2025/11/2

Angled Sunbeam (Curetis Acuta) ウラギンシジミ（裏銀小灰蝶）

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Some butterflies look completely different when their wings are open versus closed. One example is the angled sunbeam (Curetis acuta), a butterfly found in eastern Asia, including Japan. Because the male has an orange center on the upperside of its wings while the female has a pale blue center, it is easy to tell them apart when their wings are open.

The butterfly's Japanese name is 'ura-gin-shijimi,' which translates to 'gossamer-winged butterfly with a silver underside.'

   

2026/8/16

Common Straight Swift (Parnara Guttata) イチモンジセセリ（一文字挵）

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The common straight swift (Parnara guttata) is found across Japan, where it is a much-loved insect. While moths usually open their wings when resting and most butterflies keep theirs closed, the common straight swift sometimes rests with its wings open to absorb warmth from the sun. This behavior allowed me to see that its back is green (scroll down). You can also scroll down to see an ant carrying a dead common straight swift.

The butterfly's Japanese name is "ichimonji seseri," which translates to "straight-line skipper" due to the white spots aligned on its wings. In contrast, the small branded swift (Pelopidas mathias), which features white spots arranged in a circle, is called "chabane seseri" in Japanese, translating to "brown-wing skipper."

Personally, I really love common straight swifts because of their cute, squirrel-like eyes.

2026/10/4

Asian Swallowtail (Papilio Xuthus) ナミアゲハ（並揚羽）

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The Asian swallowtail (Papilio xuthus) is found in Asia, Siberia and the Hawaiian Islands and can be found across Japan. Its female is known to have clearer blue areas in black bands on their hindwings, so most of those in these photos may be female. 

Butterflies usually close their wings when resting but are also known to open their wings to bask in the sun to warm their bodies, which gave me the moment to take these photos. 

2026/6/30

Red Ring Skirt (Hestina Assimilis) アカボシゴマダラ（赤星胡麻斑）

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The red ring skirt (Hestina assimilis) can be found in east Asia, including Japan. The butterfly is beautiful but designated as a quarantine pest under Japan's Plant Protection Law.

I found this one at 9:30 on a Saturday morning on my way from home and found it again at 11:30 on my way home.   

2026/8/29

Small Copper (Lycaena Phlaeas) ベニシジミ（紅小灰蝶）

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The small copper (Lycaena phlaeas) flies from March to November in Japan, so it's not unusual to see them but it was my first time to see them, not one but two! Their orange forewings caught my eye. The butterfly's coloration changes slightly across seasons; spring broods are typically brighter while summer ones become darker and more muted. I can't say for sure but one of them seems like a spring brood and the other a summer one. Scroll down to see the two together in a photo.  

2026/7/12

2026/7/1

Small Branded Swift (Pelopidas Mathias) チャバネセセリ（茶羽挵）

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The small branded swift can be seen in east Asia and Oceania. The butterfly resembles the common straight swift very much but the small branded swift has white spots in a circle while the common straight swift (Parnara guttata) has such spots in a straight line. 

2026/7/12

Japanese Bindweed ヒルガオと虫たち

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The Japanese bindweed (Calystegia pubescens) is native to east Asia and can be found across Japan, producing pale pink flowers from June to August, which attract a variety of bugs, e.g.,  common straight swift butterflies and a marmalade and other hoverflies, as shown in these pictures.  

2026/7/9

Cabbage White Butterfly モンシロチョウ（紋白蝶）

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The cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, believed to come to Japan before the Edo period (1603-1868). 

Although its English name and Japanese name (which translates into "spot white butterfly") both include the term "white," the male cabbage white butterflies are yellowish. Also, according to Kubota Corporation's website (in Japanese only), the butterflies can tell the male from the female by the wing color because they can see ultraviolet light. The female's wing, which reflects ultraviolet light, looks brighter than the male's wing, which absorbs the light. 

2026/6/19 Likely a female

St. John's Wort (Hypericum Perforatum) セイヨウオトギリソウ（西洋弟切草）

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These are St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum). The plant is native to Europe, west Asia, and northern Africa. It produces bright yellow flowers from June to August with long stamens as Chinese St. John's wort (Hypericum monogynum). They resemble each other but the flower size is different. The Chinese ones are bigger.  

St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) came to Japan after the late 1940s and before that Japan had another St. John's wort (Hypericum erectum) native to Asia. Therefore, Hypericum perforatum is called "western Hypericum erectum," which translates into "western plant killing younger brother" after a Japanese legend that a man got so angry at his younger brother, who'd leaked an important secret of a medicine made from St. John's wort, that he killed the brother😱. Because of this legend, in Japan, St. John's wort means "grudge" and "superstition." As the legend suggests, in Japan, the stems and leaves of Hypericum erectum were used as folk medicine to stop bleeding and for other medical purposes.   

Someone who can't keep their mouths shut ended up being killed in not only Japan but also in Italy. In an Italian short story "Mateo Falcone," a father kills his 10-year-old son because the son can't keep his mouth shut.

2022/6/30

2022/6/30

Pink and White Marbled Sasanqua Camellia 源平咲きの山茶花

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Sasanqua camellias (Camellia sasanqua) are native to Japan and can be found across Japan. The plant produces white, pink, and red flowers from October to December, earlier than Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica), which is one of the differences between the two camellias.  

These two camellias resemble each other and experts provide several ways to distinguish them. One is the size of trees and another the timing of flowering, but the most interesting difference is how they fall or die. Sasanqua flowers die with petals falling off one by one while when Japanese camellia flowers die, the flower heads fall off in their entirety and this way of dying was associated with beheaded human heads in the Edo (samurai) period. Naturally, despite its beauty, the Japanese camellia was unpopular among samurai. If you're interested in such "beheaded" camellias, read this post!

If you're interested in other marble colored flowers, read the following posts!

• Pink and white marble colored Japanese apricot
• Red and white marble colored flowering peach 
• Pink and white variegated bush clover

2025/11/1

2023/12/25

Plains Cupid (Luthrodes Pandava) クロマダラソテツシジミ（黒斑蘇鉄小灰蝶）

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Plains cupid or cycad blue (Luthrodes pandava) resembles pale grass blue. Both are beautifully shiny blue gray on the upper side. One of the distinct differences between the two (I can tell) though is that the former has an orange spot on the underside.

Their existence has been confirmed in Japan since the 1990s to 2000s and now can be found almost across Japan.      

2025/10/8

2025/10/8

Common Grass Yellow (Eurema Hecabe) キチョウ（黄蝶）

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I'm diurnal as are butterflies, but because I take a morning walk too early, I rarely see butterflies while on a walk. But while heading to a coffee shop nearby at around 10 a.m. the day before yesterday, I saw many butterflies of at least three types flying here and there. One is the pale grass blue, another is the Asian comma (Polygonia c-aureum), and the other is this, i.e., the common grass yellow (Eurema hecabe)!!

The yellow was so bright but almost the same color as the flower on which it was resting, I decided to wait hoping the butterfly to move to another place to photograph not only this beautiful butterfly but also the contrast between this bright yellow and another color, e.g., the deep green leaves, but alas, a few minutes later, it just flied away.  

Asian Comma (Polygonia C-Aureum) キタテハ（黄立羽）

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I'm diurnal and butterflies are, but because I take a morning walk too early, I rarely see butterflies while on a walk. But yesterday, I went to a coffee shop nearby at around 10 a.m. seeing many butterflies of at least three types flying here and there. One is the pale grass blue, another is the common grass yellow and this one, i.e., Asian comma (Polygonia c-aureum)!! The upper side of Asian comma's wings is such bright orange while the underside is brown like dry leaves (which I couldn't see), protecting them from predators. 

Pink Japanese Stewartia (Stewartia Pseudocamellia) ピンクの夏椿（ナツツバキ）

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First I was surprised to find these camellia like flowers on the street I walk down every morning and then a common straight swift landing on one of the flowers. These flowers are Japanese stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia). As part of its scientific name "pseudocamellia" suggests, the Japanese stewartia is related to camellias and therefore called natsu tsubaki in Japan, which means summer camellia. The camellia is evergreen while the Japanese stewartia is deciduous. 

A common straight swift on a pink Japanese stewartia　ピンクの夏椿とイチモンジセセリ 

Waterleaf (Talinum Fruticosum) and a Pale Grass Blue ハゼラン（爆蘭）とヤマトシジミ（大和小灰蝶）

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I had to go there three times to take these photos yesterday. First, at 5 a.m. while on an early morning walk. Second, at 9 a.m. before going to a nearby library. Then, at 3 p.m. because at 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., the flowers were closed as shown in the last photo and as suggested by one of its Japanese names "sanjiso," meaning "3 o'clock plant," which I didn't know at these times. They are waterleaves (Talinum fruticosum). I walk by them almost every morning but didn't know until the day before when happening to walk by them at around 3 p.m. While I was photographing the waterleaf, a pale grass blue came to play with me, flying from one flower to another.  

2024/9/9

White Bush Clovers with a Pale Grass Blue Butterfly 白萩と大和小灰蝶（ヤマトシジミ）

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This is white bush clover with a pale grass blue butterfly on it. Pink bush clovers are common across Japan, so I was lucky to see the white ones plus such a beautiful butterfly on it😊! Although you may not be able to see in the picture, the butterfly, as the name suggests, is pale blue and beautiful! 

2023/11/20

White Butterfly 白い蝶

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I didn't imagine butterflies sleeping when I was a kid but they do. You may know it and I knew it, but now I know this from my first hand experience. This butterfly I saw this morning didn't move an inch while I was photographing it😁! I believe it's a gossamer-winged butterfly, but I'm not sure. 

Gossamer-winged butterfly　シジミチョウ

Jamides Celeno (Common Cerulean)?? 小白波紋小灰蝶（コシロウラナミシジミ）？？

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This looks like Jamides celeno or more commonly a common cerulean butterfly, but it can't be. Common ceruleans should be only in Taiwan. But still, this butterfly really resembles the common cerulean...

When I first saw this, I thought it was a piece of paper on a twig, but when approaching it, I started to think it might be a butterfly but was not sure because it has a pair of small black spots on the underside of the hindwings beside each hindwing tail and these black spots (which look like eyes) and the hindwing tails (which look like antennae) made the end of the hindwings look like the head, making me wonder if the butterfly had two heads??? 

According to Wikipedia, adult individuals of some butterflies in the Lycaenidae family have hairy antenna-like tails complete with black and white annulated (ringed) appearance and a spot at the base of the tail, and some turn around upon landing to confuse potential predators from recognizing the true head orientation.... It worked. I was confused😅!!

Jamides celeno??　小白波紋小灰蝶？？

Common cerulean??　コシロウラナミシジミ？？