A wild raccoon dog appeared at JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on the evening of September 2, 2022. Videos and photos of him pacing through the aisles in the crowd are flooding Twitter. We interviewed witnesses and JR East.
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From a post by Twitter user (@hydden0310)
In case of abnormality, inform the staff and “don’t 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 Shinnan ticket gates not to go to the platform downstairs and to get out.
Some of the responses to this plight include, “Why is there a raccoon dog at Shinjuku Station?”, “Did he come to get on 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 about 1.44 million times, said on the 6th, “At first, I thought it was a stray cat walking, but it didn’t show any warning or alarm. It felt like I was walking silently through the station, which was surprising,” he said in surprise to J-CAST News. This was the first time he had such an experience.
Regarding the background of the discovery, a public relations representative from JR East’s Tokyo branch office revealed to an interview on the 5th, “A station staff member at the ticket gate noticed the crowd and confirmed that there was a raccoon dog.” It was around 21:30 on the 2nd.
Afterwards, he explained that he let them out of the ticket gates while instructing passengers not to put their hands on them because they could be bitten or scratched. The reason for the appearance of the raccoon dog 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 affected.”
As for the future, the spokesperson calls for the following:
“If you find anything abnormal, tell the station staff. We ask customers not to touch (animals) so as not to harm them.”
