There's been plenty of debate about the global decline of honey bee colonies in recent years, with experts blaming the deaths on factors such as the use of neonicotinoids on crops, the spread of varroa mites and the impact of climate change.

Data compiled by the National Agricultural Statistics Services show that honey bee populations in the United States have fallen from an estimated 6 million hives in 1947 to 2.4 million hives in 2008, an overall drop of 60 percent.

On this side of the Pacific, the Japan Beekeeping Association estimated that tens of thousands of domestic colonies died off between 2008 and 2011.