Izu Nature

Thank you Mr. (Mrs?)　ハクビシン (Hakubishin) for reminding me of my plan to start an Izu Nature blog entry.  It reminded me as I was driving home from my last class of the night in Numazu earlier.  Early June brings the rainy season. I love seeing the flooded rice fields with newly planted rice this time of year. If you're lucky you can catch one on a clear day with a perfect reflection of Mt. Fuji in it even.


The nearby Kano River occasionally grows closer to its banks during the rainy season as well. Having grown up with a dad who'd pay a quarter for spotting a squirrel on a fence post I always keep my eyes open for anything moving on the side of the road and have had some luck spotting critters after dark. More'n a few times I've pulled off on a narrow road between fields and hopped out of the car with a kid or two to look for whatever it was we caught a glimpse of scampering away as we drove past.  I was alone tonight with nowhere to hang a U turn for a good 100 meters else I'd have tried to get another look at it.  Hakubishin is a masked palm civit. I never even knew what a civit was till seeing one crawling on power lines overhead after exiting my in-laws' house one night. My wife told that they'd once gotten in a neighbors attic and camped out there for some time before being detected. Apparently they make quite a mess of things.

It was directly over the road between the neighboring Hamayu Hotel and my in-laws' neighbors house when I spotted it. By the time I got my iPhone out of my pocket it was making a dive for the trees. It's amazing how fast those things crawl across cables for as big as they are.

And so now that I've begun this entry here are a couple more Izu-dwelling critters that I've crossed paths with recently.  I'll add to this periodically as I search the files for pictures I've taken to help me recall what I met and where.

Due to a change in dad/teacher schedule and son now junior high kid schedule I've had to switch up my Monday night workout routine. It used to be karate practice at a dojo in Numazu. Now it's home workout on the heavy bag and kata or makiwara at home along with a night run on the riverbank. I've really come to enjoy the latter. It's so peaceful, so pretty, so empty of other people (always a nice thing in densely populated Japan). I guess the mostly aging population has either already turned in or is too  wary of meeting a wild critter if they walk along the riverbank at night. Not me! Not ME! I love meeting a critter. Hello critter! Nice to meet you!

Such was the case a couple of weeks ago. I was slow with the iPhone again dang it, even slower than I was with the Hakubishin. Actually I stopped dead in my tracks and admired these two ever so cool critters for a few seconds after they froze in the beam of my headlamp before even thinking to try to get a shot of them. At first I thought it was just cats but Whoa lookit those tails! I'll be danged if those ain't itachi! My son told of seeing one down that way in the daytime once and he knows his critters pretty well and doesn't yank my chain about stuff like that so I knew they're around, but had yet to see one for myself. But there they were--cutest couple o varmints ya ever saw out for an evening stroll.

You'll have to take my word for it since the picture is crap. Behold, the infamous Japanese weasel. 

One week later another Monday night run, this time further down the river I thought I saw a rat or something run under a rock--just caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye as I was running by, again at night with headlamp. So I stopped and aimed the light down at the rock only to see and Holy Shmoly! That ain't no rock! And that ain't no rat. That was something pulling its foot in under its shell!  I've seen one out sunbathing on a rock in the middle of the river closer to our home lately but this was the first time to see one up close and get to handle it. It's a suppon.
A Chinese soft-shelled turtle.

I've both read and heard that they can remove a finger, or a good chunk of one at least, with that funky little head of theirs so was careful to keep all my digits away from it's beak while handling it. I've shown this shot to adult students I teach since and many have told me I should've taken it to a restaurant and sold it. Apparently turtle soup is quite the delicacy for some in these parts. I also read that although an invasive species at one time the ones here in Japan are now a different species than their Chinese cousins, which if I'm not mistaken would be a textbook case of divergent evolution. Either way as a stranger who arrived in this strange land myself I figured I'm about as invasive of a species as a species can get so I let the ol dude go it's merry way and I went my own.

Then there was that time that an アナグマ (Anaguma) Japanese badger came to our door, or danged close to it at least. That was rainy season early or mid-June too a day after a huge downpour, which I imagined was the reason why this thing left its hole or hillside home of whatever sort and found its way to our house.  My younger boy yelled for me I got one look at it at the end of our driveway and ran for the camera. I'd already convinced myself that it was a tanuki Japanese raccoon dog so total know-your-nature fail didn't put two and two together (raccoons don't have huge claws) till viewing video afterwards.  The thing was I didn't even know there were badgers around here.  I can assure you I know now.

Anyhow so there it was at driveway's edge

 Only to turn and walk up past the cars then come near our front door

 Only to turn again and try to hide under our Honda hybrid before making its way through the neighbors yard to a covered sunken concrete drainage ditch where we tossed him a piece of fruit and wished him a safe trek back to the nearby hills.  For the full excitement shaky video of this'n click here.

We've had some other interesting guests stop by, all of the smaller variety bugs and frogs and snakes and such.  Oh yeah, and bats. Just about every summer I'll find one hanging out or near our house somewhere.  Like this one that I caught napping on the leg of the narrow deck behind our house.

One summer's day I even rousted a baby one, or perhaps a bat-kid is more apt, that was hiding out between our barbecue and the wall of the house. That'n was too weak or scared to fly we put it in a bug box then later set it out on the deck come evening time and as far as I know it found it's way back to the bat cave, or wherever it is bats in these parts go besides our house.

I'll tell more about reptiles and the gazillion or so insects (many as large as the bat there) another time. As for other larger critters hereabouts I mentioned the deer in my Banzaburo dake hiking tale and while bears are here on Honshu I've never heard of any here on Izu, but there is one last critter I've seen when hiking in the nearby hills. That critter is a tasty one too! It's the inoshishi   wild boar.  The ones here are smaller than their California cousins but just as yummy. Here are a couple I've gotten decent shots of over the years, both times while hiking the Numazu Alps.