08-28　きつね

There's been something kind of unusual happening as I've been living in Japan, and interacting with the people living here.

"What's your favorite animal?"
"Me? My favorite animal is the fox!"
"Oh, uh, huh... Why's that?"

This same interaction has been repeated over and over again each time the small talk turns to animals.

Image by ambquinn from Pixabay

I don't know, that answer always seems obvious to me! In addition to the Asian mythology around them... They're just kinda really quite cute, no?
I usually just tell people "they're cute and mischievous, like me," while my girlfriend does the equivalent of an eye-roll upon hearing the same, lame joke a 6th time.

So obviously, it seems like there's a lack of appreciation for the sweet, adorable fox here in Japan-- which is totally fine. More for me, コンコン and all that.

Curiously though, the axolotl has caught on here as both as a pet and in the animal cafés adorning Harajuku. I never really understood the appeal... As the axolotl craze took the US by storm a couple years ago I was more confused than anything. I had the impression a similar thing ended up happening with the red fox and the fennec fox about a decade ago in the US, which is why I assumed there's be a fellowship of the fox, but I guess I was wrong...!

I suppose I will keep studying, flagging potential vocabulary to whenever I have to make my case next.

...until next time...

コンコン！