When I first read about the fox village, I was excited. It was depicted as a magical part of Japan's "kawaii" energy. An enchanted land full of fun cuddly wild foxes?
well, not quite...
Many articles online as well as videos shared around social media make it seem like this:
These last 3 images above (the very first pic at the beginning of this post was taken by me) were from this popular bored panda article--> "Fox Village In Japan Is Probably The Cutest Place On Earth"
I know from those pictures you must be screaming "kawaii"!!! like a little school girl right? It seemed like it would be more out in nature, and that "wild" foxes come out of the woods for food. That's not how it is anymore.
Here's my experience:
It's not like a "village". It's a tourist place. Complete with an entrance fees and rules!
(those things I always like to break).
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| Entrance |
The foxes aren't exactly out in the wild; there's a big fence which encases a large forested area. The foxes are kept enclosed in this area, they don't have a choice anymore but to stay near humans. Of course, they would probably hang around anyway since people started feeding them but now they cannot go far into the forest or anywhere not near a trail.
What I was excited about most was petting "wild" yet "friendly" foxes. But the first rule stated is "DON'T TOUCH THE FOXES"!
Before entering the workers will discuss a few things. They made the foxes sound like a bunch of assholes actually. very far from "the cutest place on Earth". The sign in the pic above for example says that if you touch a fox there is a 100% chance that they will try to bite you! 100% chance seems a little bit unbelievable to me so I decided to test this theory of course! They have a paper in English they give to people who speak English and don't speak Japanese. Some of the English is a bit strange, like if a fox approaches you to please make body comfort. but what they were saying is that although you shouldn't touch the foxes you should get near them if they come near you to show you are not afraid.
When first entering the fox village you will go inside a building. Which has a gift shop of course.
After exciting the building, you are basically outside but under a big roof shelter:
Although the fox village is only advertised as a place full of wild foxes I was surprised to find that this section contains what is basically a small zoo with foxes in cages or chained up.
But why though? Well, one reason is so that people can pay an additional fee to be able to safely touch a fox. They will bring out a pre-approved "wild yet domesticated" fox whose purpose is to be held by tourists and place them in people's arms. and they make everyone wear a nice green jacket too.
The foxes don't seem to mind being held or petted but I'm not so sure they are particularly thrilled about it either.
When I explored the "zoo" further I found miserable looking cages like this:
Other than supporting possible violations of animal rights we are not allowed to touch any foxes. And I wanted to make friends with a "wild" wild fox.
Here's the first site seen after entering the forested zone. The foxes in the wild zone seemed alot more happy.
They had little houses built for them, and benches. Were free to run around and get feed by humans.
Feeding the foxes:
There was only one place where it is allowed to feed the foxes. In this structure bags of fox food can be purchased for 100 yen each. and then people toss the food pellets to the foxes down below.
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| One of my favorites |
We weren't allowed to take food out of the feeding platform, but of course I decided to do it anyway.
The foxes to me, seemed to act alot like dogs. I just couldn't believe all the danger signs and warnings or that wild foxes were incapable of being domesticated. I mean c'mon just look at this one for example!
Even after I witnessed a woman try to pet one and the fox snapped at her, fortunately she jerked her hand away in time. I still was determined to touch a fox!
What I realized was the foxes certainly didn't see humans as bad but they probably didn't understand the concept of petting. If someone suddenly reaches a hand near their face then it makes sense that could come off as a threatening. So first I wanted to gain trust or at least appear as non threatening.
None of the foxes seemed to have fear of humans. They would walk close to us and never seemed to mind when I got close to them. This fox below was looking particularly relaxed.
I snuck some food out of the feeding platform and set out to make friends with a fox. But one problem, The fox I decided to feed though decided to follow me around .. and then other foxes noticed and started following me too. And I knew that if the workers saw a bunch of foxes following humans, it's obvious they broke the rules. I quickly tried to find a place less in sight from any workers or cameras. Even If I just stood there the foxes were all looking at me and I could have easily looked suspicious. I fed them all the food I had until I ran out and then I held my empty palm out in front of a fox to show that I didn't have any more food. The fox touched my hand with its nose and smelled. A wild fox trusted me enough to willingly nudge my hand so I was satisfied for now. I quickly went to the exit to escape.
Back in the gift shop I looked around and didn't see anything I wanted. I thought it was a bit messed up that they had taxidermy dead foxes inside:
Well, that's pretty much all I have to say I think. Here's some more pics cause why not. Too many pics of foxes are better than too little.
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