猪 (Inoshishi) !

So, I went out for a drive the other night up in the mountains in Kobe and on the way back down the mountain, I encounterd an inoshisi or wild boar. Apparently they're quite common in the Shin-Kobe area and they often come down from the mountains looking for food, especially on trash day. I had seen a baby one once before (again on a drive in the mountains), but never an adult. It was pretty big and didn't seem to be afraid of humans at all. I wanted to take a picture, but it was too dark for my poor camera phone. This image I've lifted from Google should give you the basic idea, though.

When I told this story to the students in VOICE, they all agreed that it was quite common and one of the students volunteered a story about a time when she had seen 3 station employees trying to catch a wild monkey with a net at Shintetsu Dojo. I wish I could've been there; I probably would've died laughhing.

Goog Morninger!

Addendum: I went back again yesterday and we saw another one! This time it was a little teeny baby one that was followed by its Mom. I was on foot rather than in a car this time too, so I was a just a little bit freaked out, but apparently these boars have 'You don't mess with me and I won't mess with you' policy, so it was cool.