
A kids' cartoon led to invasive raccoons in Japan - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/-how-a-kids-cartoon-created-a-real_life-invasive-army
======
lloydde
I like the different (evolving) related titles:

How a Kids’ Cartoon Created a Real-Life Invasive Army POSTED BY JASON G.
GOLDMAN ON SEP 18, 2013 [http://m.nautil.us/blog/how-a-kids-cartoon-created-
an-real_l...](http://m.nautil.us/blog/how-a-kids-cartoon-created-an-real_life-
invasive-army)

Rascal: The Raccoon That Ate Japan BY ERIC GRUNDHAUSER AUGUST 29, 2014
[http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/rascal-the-raccoon-
that...](http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/rascal-the-raccoon-that-ate-
japan)

RASCAL’S SECRET PLAN: THE RACCOON INVASION OF JAPAN NOVEMBER 21, 2014 • 2105
WORDS WRITTEN BY MATTHEW MACEWAN • ART BY AYA FRANCISCO
[https://www.tofugu.com/japan/raccoons-in-
japan/](https://www.tofugu.com/japan/raccoons-in-japan/)

The Children’s Book That Caused Japan’s Raccoon Problem By Laura Clark
SMITHSONIAN.COM MARCH 16, 2015 [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-
news/childrens-book-behi...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-
news/childrens-book-behind-japans-raccoon-problem-180954577/)

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crdb
An entire article on Japan, racoons, anime, and even a note on the native
tanuki, yet not one mention of the excellent Ghibli anime, Pom Poko.

For some reason, this charming Miyazaki (edit - Takahata, not Miyazaki! thanks
for the catch) work has not been widely marketed in the West, which is a shame
as it is as enjoyable and fun as the more famous ones like Spirited Away or
Porco Rosso.

~~~
sborra
Pom Poko is a Ghibli movie, yes, but it was directed by Isao Takahata, not
Miyazaki.

I can aunderstand why it's not been marketed as much; it's pretty long-winded
and it deals with Japanese stories and folklore that are foreign to the
general western audience.

~~~
toyg
_> it deals with Japanese stories and folklore that are foreign to the general
western audience._

That is also true of Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro...
a lot of other Ghibli productions that _did_ get lots of exposure.

I think the issue with that particular movie is that (IIRC) is a bit heavy on
the ecological agenda, overall is not great (funny here and there though) and
I don't think it was ever dubbed. The subtitles I've seen floating around are
pretty terrible.

Someone should put together a Takahata retrospective with good subtitles.

~~~
magic_beans
Doesn't Pom Poko involve raccoons with magical testicles? That kind of
storyline is basically unmarketable to children in the prude US!

~~~
ensignavenger
The English dubs refer to them as 'magic raccoon pouches', and I never knew
any better until I saw this thread :)

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prawn
There's a Radiolab podcast about Guadeloupean raccoons, where they're
considered almost sacred even though they're as pesky as in the US. I found
the locals discussing their attitude to the incredulity of the Radiolab hosts
quite amusing.

[http://www.radiolab.org/story/stanger-
paradise/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/stanger-paradise/)

~~~
mabbo
Oh, there's lots of places in the world that consider raccoons sacred. Just
look at how my city reacted to the death of one:
[https://imgur.com/gallery/h9LRo](https://imgur.com/gallery/h9LRo)

~~~
prawn
Very funny. I love when people come together in ways like this.

I think our equivalent in Australia would be the possum, often finding its way
into your roof cavity, dying and stinking the place out. They make some
ghastly growling noises at night (as do koalas).

------
autokad
"Raccoons have since proliferated in Japan, where they have no natural
predators"

well to be honest, there really isn't predators for them here in Pennsylvania
either. Owls 'may' grab a really young one, but honestly cars probably kill
way more

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Cars may be enough to stabilize raccoon population. They are territorial.
Young ones either replace an older one, or get pushed out of established
territories and end up wandering the road (no-raccoons-land). So cars are
serving as 'failed raccoon euthenasia'.

~~~
technofiend
>They are territorial.

You're not kidding. When I bought my house it had sat empty for a couple of
years and a family of raccoons had added it to their territory. Closing up
vents helped, but once a year or so they'd return and try again. I'm just
guessing but I think the mothers would still try to work the metal grating out
of the vents when they were pregnant.

I didn't really want to kill them and frankly trapping them seemed like a lot
of work, plus they had fleas and potentially carry rabies, not to mention
possibly having a parasite in their feces. I didn't want to hurt them and I
didn't really want to get near them. As with most anything else you can buy
the solution on the internet: puma pee. A liberal sprinkling of the foul
smelling stuff ran off me, my wife and the raccoons. We can't smell it any
more but apparently the raccoons can because they haven't returned.

~~~
autokad
don't forget ticks w/ lime disease

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pilif
Similar problem in reverse is the explosive growth of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallopia_japonica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallopia_japonica)
all over Europe's forests and gardens. The plant is nearly unkillable and thus
extremely expensive to get rid of. Here in Switzerland, dirt contaminated with
its roots is counted as a hazardous waste that you need to take extra
precaution for transit and disposal.

Thankfully by now we've learned to be more careful with importing non-
indigenous species.

~~~
microcolonel
I'm imagining the only good way for soil to recover from it is burning, and
even that might not be enough. What a nuisance.

~~~
derefr
Using the soil as feedstock for a microbial bioreactor might also be "safe."

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microcolonel
Now is probably a good time to start eradicating them, since they're still
relatively small in population. The risks are pretty high for an animal like
this.

I hear they're also pretty good eating. Enough meat to make them worth
butchering, and they apparently taste something like the dark meat off a
chicken (quite greasy, but also excellent for frying).

Maybe a recipe book is the kind of public outreach required.

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jim-jim-jim
That's neat. Over the years I've heard multiple Japanese people refer to
raccoons as "rascal" and I had no idea why.

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ZenoArrow
From the trailer to the anime, I can see why kids would think racoons would be
cute pets:

[http://youtu.be/2YMH5ntJEZ0](http://youtu.be/2YMH5ntJEZ0)

~~~
Camillo
This must have been an expensive production. They even got native English
speakers to sing part of the OP, which is rare even today.

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ivanhoe
Lots of examples like this, e.g. marbled crayfish started as aquarium pets and
now they can be found in wild on 3 continents (even on Madagascar).

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georgeecollins
That's a lot like deer in the US after Bambi. They used to be a nuisance. Now
we think they are cute. If you live in a place with enough of them you may
start to realize they are a nuisance.

~~~
pyre
They are a nuisance because humans killed off all of their natural predators.
We only have ourselves to thank for this.

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weberc2
I guessed this from the plot. I'd heard about this from a raccoon documentary
on PBS.

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nitemice
TLDR: Japan's now full of raccoons because an anime (Araiguma Rasukaru) made
them look like fun to keep as pets, until you have to let them go into the
wild because they're getting too aggressive.

~~~
wapz
But Japan's not really full of raccoons. I've never seen a raccoon in ~4 years
here and I've seen 30+ wild tanukis (up to 10 or so could have been the same
ones). It also states in the article that Hokkaido has been killing off 2,000
raccoons per year because of the agricultural loss due to raccoons. With that
being said I've only seen 2 wild raccoons in America in 25 years so maybe
they're just much better at hiding than tanukis.

