According to Japanese media, a wild tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) appeared in the concourse of Shinjuku station the other day. As you know, Shinjuku is Japan’s largest railway station. The ridership of this giant station is 3.5 million passengers per day. Many train passengers saw him (or her), and captured in videos, but that tanuki was not at all afraid of people. The question is how did the tanuki get there.
I’m convinced that the tanuki moved along railway tracks, and finally reached this giant station. As I posted before, a railway track is a very safe place for wild animals, as it’s beyond limits except for railway employees. In other words, railway tracks are the best routes for wild animals to extend their habitations. I recently visited Shindaita station on the Keio-Inokashira line again, and found that a baby tanuki appeared from a drain along the track (see the photo above). He (or she) was looking for his (or her) parent. A few minutes later, the parent came back, and entered into the drain with his (or her) baby.
Incidentally, I received a comment on tanuki from Nicolai, who lives in Denmark. He showed me that 1) there’re tanuki-like wild animals named marten-dog in Europe, 2) marten-dogs are treated as an invasive species in Europe, where they are a big problem. I’m fond of the cute baby tanuki at the moment, but he (or she) may become pest species in the near future Japan.
