Raccoon dog at Shinjuku station ‘walked surprisingly calmly’

A wild raccoon dog appeared at JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on the night of September 2, 2022. Videos and photos of him pacing the aisles in crowds are flooding Twitter. We interviewed witnesses and JR East.

In the event of an anomaly, report it to the staff and “do not touch it”

Many videos and photos of the scene were posted on Twitter on the 2nd. In particular, a viral video shows a staff member guiding a raccoon dog walking inside the gates of Shinnan not to go on the platform in down and get out.

Some of the responses to this rarity include, “Why is there a raccoon dog at Shinjuku Station?”, “Did he come to catch the train?” I’m scared because I don’t know what I’m holding,” said a voice.

Hieda Yuki aka Hyden (@hydden0310), a user whose video has been viewed around 1.44 million times, commented on the 6th, “At first I thought it was a stray cat walking around, but he didn’t. showed no warning or intimidation. I felt like I was walking calmly through the station, which was surprising,” he told J-CAST News in surprise. It was the first time he had had such an experience.

Regarding the background of the discovery, a public relations representative of JR East’s Tokyo branch revealed in an interview on the 5th, “A station staff member at the ticket office noticed the crowd and confirmed there was a raccoon dog.” It was around 9:30 p.m. on the 2nd.

Then he explained that he let them out of the gates while asking passengers not to put their hands on them or they could be bitten or scratched. The reason for the raccoon dog’s appearance and the frequency of similar incidents are unknown, but the company said: “We were fortunate that no passengers were injured and train operations were not disrupted. affected”.

Regarding the future, the spokesperson asks the following:

“If you see anything abnormal, please report it to the station staff. We ask customers not to touch (animals) so as not to harm them.”