wild animal sighting in Shinjuku, a serious post!

Probably a tanuki or North American raccoon, many of which have escaped petdom and bred like...well, raccoons. 'coons are pretty urbanized ( believe me I know only too well ). Also many itachi ( weasel, ferret whatever ) live in the city. See 'em chasing rats once in a while. Once found a large owl late late late at night on the steps leading up to Shibuya station. Seemed to be hurt and we were quite sloshed so we took the fella home. let him do the " born free " thang a week later when he was feelin' genkier. Of course this all pales in comparison to Grenski rasslin' brown bars up dere in Hokkaido.

Of course if it was near a Chinese restaurant it could quite literally be anything under the sun making a break for it.

I have seen a lot of weasels roaming around the city but not large. It may just be a raccoon dog or someone's escaped wild pet. You can own cougars as pets in Japan.

I did an image search on the animals you guys mentioned and I am pretty sure it was a tanuki. First time I had seen an animal like this.

What a shock! I was gaping at it, pointing in shock, and I made eye contact with a couple of people to get them to look as well but they quickly avoided me so I felt like I was a crazy person that people cross the street to avoid!

Do people actually keep tanukis as pets?

In Japan people keep bugs as pets so I'd imagine tanukis are small beer. Occasionally come across tanuki road kill and saw one on campus a couple of years ago. Having battled raccoons for years I can't understand ( aside from the KAWAII!!!! factor ) why morons keep them as pets. Non sequitur Dept: Years ago there used to be a haole gaijin guy who used to live in the Tennoji zoo. Blue plastic tarp, matted hair, the whole shebang. People used to gawk at him like he was one of the caged exhibits. Don't know what happened to him. Probably went to work for NOVA.

I hear there are tanukis in the Imperial Palace grounds, some of which is quite forested. Possibly an escapee from there.

I've seen a couple walking a tanuki on a leash in Kyoto. The thing was very well fed, to say the least.
Also, I though an "araiguma" in Japanese was the equivalent of the North American racoon, as a tanuki is not a true racoon. Its hard to tell the 2 apart anyways....

Whike we're on pets, as a new grandma I have developed the habit of peering into passing prams hoping to catch a glimpse of a baby, only to find the occupants bark at me. Seriously, most of the prams in Fukuoka I saw recently had mutts in them going for a walk.