Ahahaha, I bet you thought tanukis were the stuff of Japanese legends – crafty tricksters with notoriously large cojones who play pranks on gullible humans – but it turns out tanuki are alive and well and living on some of the choicest real estate in Tokyo!
I saw this little guy at the Meiji Shrine’s Nai-en Garden this week. He was about as big as a fox and was just hunkered down in the leaves near a main path with a front row seat for viewing the strange animals that had gathered in a chattering mob to take its picture. It got up and ambled over for a closer look before wandering back to its lair to post a “saw a whole herd of them today” on tanuki Facebook.
So, I got curious about them, and like so many things in Japan, truth is stranger than fiction! They are canids, but they can climb trees! They can eat poisonous toads! They hibernate in winter (although some only hibernate during mega-snowstorms)! Real ones, however, can’t turn into magic teakettles.
If you’d like to visit the Meiji Shrine and the Nai-en garden next time you’re in Tokyo, visit my website, The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had. I can’t guarantee you’ll see a tanuki, but it’s well worth a visit anyway, because not only is the place gorgeous, you might see a Japanese wedding, women and children wearing beautiful kimonos, or free demonstrations of traditional Japanese music, dance, or archery.
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The Last Tea Bowl Thief was chosen as an Editor’s Pick for
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Only In Japan 
He’s so cute. I really wanted a Tanuki from that shop in Kyoto that has the little dressed up ones (yes I am that sad) but they seemed to require a small mortgage to purchase.
Squee! WAY cuter than the plaster ones!
I’ve never seen a tanuki in the wild, but I did see a bear near Ura Bandai once.
My tanuki post from not too long ago, if you’re interested:
http://mouseintokyo.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/tanuki-tales/#respond
Sweet! The only wild animal I have seen in that place was a turtle out on his morning walk between ponds. But at least there are a few hakubishin near me house that I see sometimes as night.
Hakubishin! I badly, BADLY want to see one of these! A friend once told me that they come into her back yard in Kakinokizaka, but she won’t let me pitch a tent and camp there until I see one. ☆〜（ゝ。∂）
We saw him today also!! Same place!
Really?! I was at the Meiji Shrine yesterday and I thought about going into the garden, but I thought naaaah, the tanuki wouldn’t be there. I think I’ll go tomorrow and see if he makes an appearance! (=ﾟωﾟ)