Fauna of Japan, Part 2: Winged Harbingers of Death and Other Adorable Critters

According to Shinto tradition, there is a usually-unseen spirit world lurking just out of the corners of our perception, a realm where divinities of elements and ancient sites lived with the earth and ensorcelled passing humans (mind you, this was centuries before both Harry Potter and the World of Darkness). Personally, I can understand how a culture could believe in kami when there are this many scary-ass creatures all over the place. A few non-bug cases in point:


Japan is home to the biggest, most ominous crows I've ever seen. As explained in section #4 of this scholastic journal, they are also smarter than the average crow and have designs to take over the world. So far, the ones around our house have just kept busy making running errands moments for profound senses of doom. The biggest vulnerability of your average English major? Sensitivity to foreshadowing.

Next up: Japanese Triffids.


(Not quite fauna, but bear with me.) I'm told that these are lotus flowers that just happen to be in a phase of development where they look like they can shoot swarms of angry bees. I notice that they were kept behind a tall fence and guard rail, however, so I'm free to draw my own conclusions.

Last: actual kami.

These statues are everywhere in Japan. They're called tanuki, and they're raccoon trickster-gods that are fond of sake and occasionally cannibalism. Also, forgive the vulgarity, but the statues all include the tanuki's defining physical characteristic (other than being anthropomorphic raccoons): grapefruit-sized testicles. These guys are to the Japanese pantheon what Buddy Christ is to Christianity. Also, I know from extensive research in the field of Super Mario Bros. 3 that tanuki possess the ability to turn into statues -- if I catch one of these guys in the form of an Italian plumber, I'll be sure to get pictures.