Black Widow Spiders Invade Japan City

More than 1,000 poisonous black widow spiders have been found in Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city, in the last few days.

There have been no reports of injuries, but the government is asking residents to take precautions, said Akira Kitasumi of the Osaka prefectural government’s Environment and Health Bureau.

Warnings have been passed to schools, and handbills urge residents to watch out for favorite spider hangouts like cracks in gravestones and the bottoms of manhole covers.

The spiders live mainly in tropics, and may have been stowaways on lumber shipments, said Yoshiro Nishikawa, head of the Japan Spiders Academic Society.