May the force be with you

We spent a day touring the Iya Valley in Southern Japan today. When we stopped for lunch we spotted this strange creature perched on the terrace of the restaurant and wondered what possessed the owner to put him there peeing into such a beautiful valley.

Well, it's a tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog. We had seen a real one earlier in our trip and been confused about whether it was a cat, a dog or a fox. It's been a significant figure in Japanese folklore since ancient times. It has 8 traits that symbolise good fortune, including oversized testicles that apparently bring financial luck! After seeing this one we saw them everywhere!