Kirk with a little note about wildlife in Kumamoto City. For the most part, the wildlife we are likely to see in our day-to-day lives in the city tends to be limited to birds and bugs. But, other animals are around and occasionally wind up showing themselves to us. One such animal is the itachi (Nihon itachi; Japanese weasel). Yesterday, I was sitting by a window looking out at a small garden on our property and got a glimpse of a little critter like the one in the picture. I didn’t have time to get a picture myself but in the bright sunlight the orange color was very much like what you see here.
My only other encounter with an itachi was when one got into our big plastic trash can, which we keep in the back of our house. It was the kind that you close by twisting the lid. Apparently, it was open enough for the little guy to get in but then he inadvertently twisted the lid shut upon entry and then couldn’t get out. He kept jumping up against the lid, making the whole can seem like a big jumping bean. It was the very loud noise of him crashing around in can that alerted us to his dilemma. As soon as I opened the lid, he was gone.
If you search for イタチ in Japanese, you may find information about extermination. I suppose the animals can cause trouble for some people but, in our case, we haven’t noticed such issues yet so I’m more than happy to live and let live. Who knows – perhaps someday an itachi will repay the favor and help me extricate myself from bad situation I’ve gotten myself into. ;).
P.S. The cute photo is from a web page advertising extermination services. Personally, I think that if they want to sell extermination, they should have looked for a less attractive, more menacing looking model:
https://www.熊本シロアリ駆除.com/itachi-marketprice/