August 19, 2025 • 40 mins
While the legendary Japanese raccoon dog -- or tanuki -- may look like a raccoon, it's a very different beast. However, these days Japan is home to actual raccoons: they're considered an invasive species, wreaking havoc across the country as they destroy temples, consume crops, and threaten indigenous wildlife. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max discover how these dastardly raccoons made it all the way over the Pacific to become an absolute menace to Japan. Spoiler: it all started with a cartoon about a boy and his furry sidekick, Rascal. Tune in to learn how a single show inspired thousands of Japanese families to acquire a raccoon of their own... only to meet with some serioulsy ridiculous consequences.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
much for tuning in Kenichiwa. We might say hello, welcome
to Tanuki Tanuki. I love it, dude, I love a Tanuki.
That's our falls of Steel, that's our super producer, mister
Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Is that that's not a me as zaki, but it's
a ghibli. And there is about a family of raccoons
that use their giant testicles as implements of magic.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I don't know how else to describe it. It's true,
it's old it's old school Japanese folklore as well. You're
Noel Brown, I'm Ben Bowling, and we are we are
talking to Nuki right now. For this episode, we're going
to be talking raccoons because, as you may know, folks,
(01:20):
Fella Ridiculous Historians, there is a bit of mischaracterization and
assassin character assassination afoot when we come to the humble
and ever cute Tanuki.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I don't know about this. Are we talking because they
have creepy human hands? Because they're characterized as being verminous
bandits of some sort? We are we talking here, Ben,
tell me of this malign How dare they malign the
raccoon community.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I love the idea of a singular malaid. Tell me
of your maligny, mal So this is the deal. Think
of it this way, folks. If you had let's say
you ad a twin brother, right, since we're all dudes,
you have a twin brother, and you are an upstanding
citizen in your neck of the woods. But your twin
(02:07):
brother is an absolute menace, and you get in trouble
for a lot of the stuff your twin did even
though you were not your twin. That is the story
of the raccoon and the Tanuki in Japan.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
This sounds like a fable of sorts set up.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Yeah, what are you talking about? Is Thomas Riker versus
William Riker?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Oh nice, nice cut there, man. I like that as well. Yeah,
that's a deeper startark cut. Yeah. Yeah, let's boldly go
into this story. Guys. We're all from the United States,
(02:49):
which is a pretty I'm gonna be diplomatic, a pretty
big deal. Still hasn't had the best time being has
had the best reputation all the while, all the time,
we know that, but no person, no country or perfect,
but no, when you were growing up, a young lad
(03:12):
is a small German by a small German American boy
by this point the.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Way, look at this guy. Yeah, this is my small
German boys missing out a limb. But this is me.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I wish y'all could see this.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
It's a little Rosie figurine rosie cheeks a little little
bit arians and he's wearing later hosen and has a
key of some sort.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Of round, isn't I think it was a gift to
me from a trip that my kid took to Portland.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Heart shaped keys. So, okay, you're you're growing up in
you're growing up in the southern part of the US.
Did you guys ever see raccoons?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I had a friend growing up whose name was shell
Is Sheldon. We're still friends. And his parents were real
animal lovers and kind of conservationists. They worked in labs
and they, like you know, work with wildlife, and they
had a pat.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Raccoon at Taine. Was my exposure.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I don't know that I really ran across any in
the wild, but as an adult living here in Atlanta,
you certainly see him rummaging your rumblings, rummage around.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I love to see a raccoon run quickly because they
don't look like they're designed to do so. But they
have the goofiest looking parkour and they're just adorable.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I'll tell you where. It's huge these days, and the
most of my raccoon exposure is from meme pages on
oh yeah, in the internet, on Instagram. They are beloved
and there's so many delightful raccoon goofy raccoon meme pages.
If you're in.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Washing your hands, just getting into all kinds of little
misadventures before you give it, yes Skins, ne'er do wells,
Dennis the Menace types. So before I give a little
anecdote about raccoon experiences in my old life, we've got
We've got none other then mister Max Williams here, who
(05:01):
may have a story to tell.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, it's a few years ago now, but it was
like one night, my cat, Sylvia was sitting by the
glass door, just like looking out, you know cats do,
and a raccoon just like sat right next to her
on the other side. And the raccoon was very well
aware there's a glass between us. The raccoons like whatever
Sylvia was not and Sylvia, you know, she's solid white fur.
(05:24):
So she just I look over and see the giant
cotton ball. I'm like, Sylvie, wait, oh, there's a raccoon
right there. And the raccoons like, I'm a lot bigger
than you.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You want to go? You want to go?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
The glass between us?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
We can go. They can be chonky boys, for sure,
the raccoons.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
This was a quite chonky one too.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I remember growing up in the Southeastern United States. I
spent a lot of time outdoors in my childhood, and
raccoons always, to me seemed so inquisitive and clever. You know,
they washed their food before they eat it. And we
were talking about their little hands off air.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
They like to keep those clean too.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They're always rubbing them together, and it does make them
look a little bit mister Burns esque, but they are
doing it out of a need for cleanliness. They've got
in good hygiene. To your point, Ben, unfairly maligned is
like trash creatures.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Right, Yeah, But they do eat trash to be cle
that's also true. That's also true. They also do eat
a lot of trash. I love when they rub their
hands together because they look like they're scheming what we're
saying is raccoons are not uncommon sight in many parts
of the United States and across the country. If you
are in the US, you have probably accepted these little
(06:36):
rascals as a fascinating part of the natural world because
they're they've got pinashed, they're just sort of We did
an episode on what makes things cool recently on Stuff
they Don't Want You to Know, And raccoons are kind
of cool, right they are.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
They're very cool. They got a lot of personality. They Yeah,
that's what it is. They I think they're they're so
big on the internet is because of that copious amounts
of personality that the little fellas have.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, and we anthropomorphize the heck out of them, right,
because of that personality, that sass and that swag. Yet,
it may surprise a lot of us to learn their
relatively positive reputation in the United States doesn't always translate
to other places, including Japan, where right now, as we record,
raccoons are a very divisive life form. They're considered they
(07:31):
are still considered cool by a lot of the public,
but the government doesn't think of them as a nifty
little woodland scamp. They are seriously concerning invasive species. As
we record right now, raccoons are wreaking havoc across the
nation of Japan. And get this, folks, it's all due
(07:53):
to one cartoon.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Oh geez, which one.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
It's Rascal. It's a cartoon about a raccoon. Now I
go on a tick. You might be saying, hasn't Japan
always had raccoons? Why were nol and Max and Ben
able to get that kick ass power suit in Super
Mario THREEI Mario Tanuki Mario. There's also the one that
(08:19):
just gives you the ability to kind of float where
you're still Mario, but you.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Have a tail.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It just sort of like beats the air back and forth,
and it allows you to sort of float around.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Oh yeah, Mario three tail flip move.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah. I mean it's this gets us to our first
common misconception, and this might be surprising to a lot
of us. Japan does have a native mammal that looks
a whole heck of a lot like a raccoon. That's
the tanuki uh commonly known as the Japanese raccoon.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Dog m okay.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
They are endemic to Japan, and they, as we mentioned
earlier with the giant, the testicleed cartoon ghibli characters. They're
big in Japanese folklore, similar to how other cultures regard
actual raccoons. The tanuki is seen as the sort of
mischievous king, puckish trickster type figure, a master of disguise,
(09:17):
and a real Bachanalian kind of fellow.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Right yeah, lover of good times. We pulled up in
our research just just for reference for us, a side
by side look at the tanuki and the actual facts
shout out law and vocal bomb raccoon, and they look
so alike Noel, that I would argue if someone made
a police sketch of a raccoon criminal, the cops would
(09:43):
probably end up profiling and arresting an innocent tanuki.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I mean, hence your twin ref earlier. I think it
makes a lot of sense they do.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
They both have those dark kind of shaded circles around
their eyes. They both have ears that are approximately the
same distance apart. They've got kind of little puffs tufts
of white hair, the same kind of patterns of color.
I would argue the tanuki is a little more hound like,
with the snout a little more elongated snout and the raccoon.
(10:18):
Raccoon has a little bit more of a squished face,
such a little wider face, a little more distance between
the eyes, but the color patterns very similar if you
ignore the whiskers.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And this is the thing. The Japanese raccoon dog, the
tanuki is not an actual raccoon. The raccoon and the
raccoon dog or actually not that closely related. Japan had
tanuki forever. Japan did not have the raccoon until the
nineteen seventies, and when the raccoon did reach the shores
(10:53):
of that country, things got nuts so quickly. But how,
pray tell no, how on earth did raccoons make it
all the way across the Pacific Ocean from the United
States to the nation of the Rising Sun. Well clearly
they flew with their magical raccoon tale, of course, yes,
(11:14):
and that's our episode of folks. Theakes has always so
much for tuning.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
In yep, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
It starts right before the seventies, nineteen seventies, with a
Wisconsin worn author named Sterling North. In nineteen sixty three,
North wrote a young adult novel called Rascals, A Memoir
of a Better Era about his childhood, and in that
book he adopts a baby raccoon for one year. And
the book was a huge smash when it came out.
(11:47):
And admittedly I was not aware of this this work.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Hey, same and Max, had you ever heard of this
as well?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
No, I had not heard of this one myself. So yeah,
this is all new news.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, this is strange because for us, we're not of
the generation that would have encountered Rascal the young adult novel.
In the book, as he said, he adopts our protagonist
sterly and adopts a baby raccoon for a year, And
a lot of us might be surprised in the audience,
(12:22):
especially the younger amongst us, to realize that this is
part of the reason people in America still frequently describe
raccoons as rascals. Look, this was such a big hit
that The Tale After was published in nineteen sixty three.
By nineteen sixty nine, it was made into a live
(12:45):
action Disney film. I don't know if the mouse will
let us play the theme song, but it's very nineteen seventies.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We better act in deference to the mouse. You know,
we don't want to get We don't want to get sued.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
We don't want to get moused. Yeah, so you can
fast trapped, even mouse trapped. Even better, so you can
find on your YouTube of choice any number of clips
from the live action Disney adaptation. At this time, this
is all great for our author, mister North, and it's
also great for kids growing up, both the readers of
(13:20):
the original book the fans of the film adaptation. Yet
this is just the beginning of the story. If we
like we're starting in America, how about we fast forward
to nineteen seventy seven Japan.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
So here we are, fast forward into nineteen seventy We
did it. We made Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The Japan based animation company Nipon Animation creates a cartoon
series called aria Guma Rasukaru.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Which isn't that kind of one.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Of those Japanese sort of americanized words, because the word
is rascal. Rasukara almost sounds like a phonetic kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, Yeah, I like that. I think you're onto something.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Rascal the raccoon is that would be the translation.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, And unlike the young adult novel, unlike the I'm laughing,
unlike the Disney film, Oh my gosh, it's so it's
so of its era. Please just please check out the
Disney film, even if the mouse won't let us do it.
Unlike those things, this is an epic anime series. It
(14:30):
runs for fifty two episodes. The Disney film tried to
be a little more playful. There are lots of bucolic
fun shots of this boy and his dog playing with
the raccoon, But this adaptation says, no, we're gonna cut
to the quick. We're getting to the dramatic roots of
(14:51):
this young adult novel.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Okay okay.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So kids in Japan, originally this was kind of alien
to them, this creature. They certainly never read the original book.
But something about the kid featured named sterling Uh and
his animal sidekick is familiar. Rascal it It really took
(15:13):
the the nation's children's hearts and minds by storm.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Airing all year round, the show was a huge hit.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Think of it like almost a precedent setting the type
of property for something like Pokemon or other big pop
cultural crazes there in the country.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Absolutely, yeah, people were cuckoo for raccoon puffs. I guess
you could.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Says there were rococo.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So uh. This is where we see a turn in
the story because arguably Ari Russell Power became a little
too successful, And to tell you why it became too successful,
we have to spoil a book from thenineteen sixty three.
So before you get mad at us on the internet,
(16:05):
this is the spoiler warning.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yes, indeed, we'll give you a little ten second countdown
ten ninety seven fourth or two spoiler time time.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, okay, Like like so many coming of age stories
in young adult novels, from Old Yeller to My Side
of the Mountain.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
No, racl didn't get Old Yeller, did he.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
He did not get Old Yellow.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh thank god.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So at the end of the novel, what happens instead
is our childhood hero Sterling realizes, Hey, I love my raccoon.
I love baby Rascal, but all raccoons are in fact
wild animals, not domestic animals. So as much as I
adore my little buddy, he isn't a pet. And so
(16:56):
with great regrets.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You gotta let those ponies run, you gotta.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Let those ponies ride. Yeah, ye, Sterling ultimately does the
right thing. He releases Rascal into the wild, so it's
definitely not as bleak as Old Yeller, which we're not
gonna spoil because.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, but it's you. You can tet you together, you
probably get there.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and it's still too close to both
of us, it sounds like. But the ending of Rascal
is bittersweet, and it's it's a good way to give
a lesson to kids. It shows our protagonists growing up
in the story. He learns his lesson, He loves his
time with Rascal, and he lets Rascal live his own
(17:35):
life as a wild animal.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And what, however, appear to the children of the pan
did not take the meaning or the message. It's d
art no, it's that led to an explosion in raccoon
importation for pet purposes.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Right, It's kind of like uh if. A film critic
saw the first twenty minutes of Titanic and said, this
is a film about it. A amazing boat.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Real luxury liner.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
So requiem for a dreams of feel good buddy comedy.
It's about friends.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It's about the friends we made along the way and
the limbs we lost.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Oh jeez, So all right, you're absolutely right, folks nailed
it here are Raskoru was so very popular in Japan
that the idea of having a real life raccoon pet
became like the hottest Christmas toy would be in the
States like an Elmo of yesterday.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, and this led to fifteen hundred raccoons being imported
from the United States every single month, to the delight
of children and perhaps the chagrin of parents all across Japan.
And just like the real life Rasukaru or Rascal, these
animals were very.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Much not suited for domestic life.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I want to backtrack real quick to my friends parents,
pet raccoon theirs was very much a rescue situation, right,
which could not have made it on its own in
the wild. So that was they were coming at it
from that conservationist perspective.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
It was probably acquired as a child, perhaps due to abandonment,
and it was tame and familiar, possibly through the Yeah
their research, Yeah, yeah, exactly, that makes sense, and that
still happens today across the country. As as you were saying, no,
from nineteen seventy seven on, we see so many raccoons
(19:39):
imported directly from the US to families across Japan per month.
These guys are lovable, furry balls of beat me here, Max,
fucking chaos, no cabinet, no drawer left unexamined, pooping everywhere.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Massive, they've got opposable thumbs. They can anything right, right.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
You would have to babyproof. You would have to raccoon
proof your house the same way you would babyproof a house.
And there's so much damage to these homes, this property,
these apartments. True stories, some families did get raccoon pets
in their apartments. And also just like the old Vietnamese
(20:23):
pot belly pig craze where everybody thought the pig would
say small and babyish for a moment, these guys do
grow up and they get bigger, and as they become
adult raccoons, they could also turn violent towards humans because
you know, they're wild animals and they're in a place
(20:43):
that is very stressfully different from their natural environment. So, dude,
just like Sterling North as a child, these kids and
their families are learning a hard lesson about wild animals
in your home.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, it's not quite as bad as like justin Bier
we were abandoning his pet monkey at the border, but
it happens.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
In It did happen. It's in the same vein.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
It becomes one of those irresponsible moments in pet ownership
where you sign up or bite off more than you
can chew and then all of a sudden you maybe
have to make the easy, easier decision, which you know,
while it is the plot of the book, and in
the context of the book, it does make sense all
of this happening at once, all of these creatures being
(21:27):
released back into the wild at once, creates a real
problem with the ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. And life imitates art, as
they always say, and they say it for a reason.
I forgot to mention, Noel Max, You guys will both
love this fact because we're I think all three big
fans of Studio Jibli. Was it pomp Poco?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Is that what it's called?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Pomp Poco?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Pomp Poco is the Jibli film that we were talking
about with the anthropomorphic talking, big bald raccoon. Sorry, I
don't know if that's what you're talking about. Record they do,
you their testicles to fly around. They inflate them like
like parachutes or zeppelins or something.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's it's odd, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
But it's historically accurate for the folklore. What will interest you, guys,
I think, is that a Russell Korro please partner our
pronunciation here. We're not native speakers. The anime of Rascal
also has a sleeper Easter egg in it. It features
(22:28):
very early work by none other than Miyazaki.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Okay, okay, So back around, like Pompoko was not a
Miyazaki directly created film, but it was part of his
animation studio.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, and High Walt Disney of Japan.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
He's often yes, yeah, and it seems a little bit
cooler than The Big Mouse anyway, So maybe there is
a sort of artistic or esthetic through line here from
Arima Russel Caro to Pompuro because Miyazaki was literally working
(23:03):
on this anime cartoon anyway. So like you said, they're
these well meaning families, right, tried to get their kid
the coolest present. It didn't work out. It caused pandemonium
in the home. They let them out, you know, drive
to the edge of the city, just like the old
trope of letting a dog go free, or dogs probably
(23:27):
would just want to get back in the.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Car, but we don't watch you anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Rocks. All that means, yeah, everybody's crying. So the thing is,
the raccoon friends here are hardy, resourceful. They're real mcguvers
of mammals and most Importantly, they're omnivorous. They don't turn
down a free lunch, so they quickly begin to thrive
in areas across Japan. And this is where we see, uh,
(23:58):
something that we will call naturalization in the world of biology.
They're an invasive species, but they like where they're moving in.
They like the neighborhoods. So they're going across through the
nineteen seventies and the eighties to all different prefectures of Japan,
even unto the very far northern part of Japan, Hokkaido,
(24:23):
which is just so everybody knows, it's very far away.
It's tough to get there. And they did a great job,
and they became a menace. There's no other way to
say it. They're popular. Like, look, you're raccoon. You just
did your time in a Japanese home based on the
fact that this one cartoon compelled the nation. You get
(24:46):
out and then you meet a lady raccoon who's been
in a similar situation, and you say, oh, hey, babe,
we had a lot in common. You know, we're not
doing raccoon ginder.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Oh wow, yeah, we're.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Not doing raccoon hin. We met naturally. I like your vibe.
So these raccoons trying to settle down, it's not a
raccoon family. Yeah, they start a family of their own.
Their population shoots up so quickly, and they engage in
continual acts of crime. These are all all raccoon families
(25:21):
in Japan now are considered crime families.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, and it makes sense, you know, with the whole
bandit look of them, you know what, it looks like
they're doing crimes, tippy toeing around.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I thought that was a funny bit on Uh what
was it.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
It was John Oliver recently where I was talking about
crime rates, and uh, it's it was something like a
It was a it was a publication for crime and
it was called Reasons to Tiptoe or something, and it
showed like a criminal with a mask and a bag
of cash, just like tiptoeing.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Oh, a domino mask. Yeah, we're just exactly which raccoons
naturally have. And also I want to say it does
folks correct us if we're wrong here? Do you like
how I encouraged you guys to be wrong with me?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Of course, let's all be wrong together.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Let's all be wrong together. A domino mask seems like
the most inefficient mask, you know what I mean, Like
the one that just goes over part of your eyes
and the rest.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Of the Superman rules right, Like it's like, come on,
we know it's you Clark somehow. And the crux of
his secret identity.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That's another question too, and not to derail us too far,
but riddle me this. If Superman's glasses are his only
real disguise, does his optometrist know his real identity?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
You know who I saw pose that very question, Ben,
Who's that? It's a singer. She's her name is Aurora,
and she's a delight. She's from Iceland and she gets
compared to Buick a lot. But okay, she has some
really fine hot takes and that may well be a
thing that's been floating.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But she asked that very question. Uh, does his optometrist
know his secret identity?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Does he have to go to the optometrists? Even well?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Vision argued, are a prop drug.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Store reading glasses or what are they? What do they
call it? Readers?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Another question that she poses in that same vein is
why is it that superheroes are always trying to keep
things the same and super villains are always trying to
change things.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, I love that. I have a philosop that's great,
that's deep. What was the name of that musician, Aurora? Aurora?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Just one real cutie like metal, Yeah, Aurora.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Okay, I'll check out the music. These guys. The raccoons
are reading crops across the nation of Japan. They're doing
it as we record right now. They're causing hundreds of
thousands of dollars US equivalent every year. The government does
(28:01):
eventually ban the importation of raccoons, but it's too little,
too late. The Invasive Alien Species Act, which they've had
for a very long time, now includes raccoons, and in
two thousand and five they were called an invasive alien species,
which means that you can no longer watch a sick
(28:23):
anime and buy a raccoon from the US. You also
can't transfer it, and if you like, you can't sell
it to someone else in Japan, and if you have one,
you also cannot just throw it out into the woods. Dude.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Anytime you see these crazes that involve like living creatures,
they're almost always ill informed and really rushed without thinking
about the aftermath for humans and for the creatures.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Themselves and you really do hate to see it.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, exactly, So it doesn't sound like we're casting stones here.
Two of the most famous and sadly continual examples in
the United States are going to be rabbit sails in
Easter and black cat sales around Halloween. Those things continually happen,
(29:20):
and unfortunately it doesn't always work out for the rabbits
or for the cats. In addition, however, to the agricultural terrorism,
all right, it might be exaggerating a bit there. Invasive
raccoon crimes also include the following, and maybe we do
it like a hit. Listen, all uh, these guys are
getting everywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
They are now. They're they're doing crimes, they're taking names.
They are destroying historic sites, including temples, which of course
have you know, incredibly important cultural and historical significance.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
A lot of those are built of wood. The raccoons
are also stealing fruit and fish from human vendors, usually
because they're getting into storage spaces. After me that they
of business. Yeah, but sometimes sometimes it's a land version
of a seagull who just swipes something from a tourist
(30:19):
eating at the beach, you know what I mean. A
raccoon looks at you when you are selling fish or
buy fish, and thinks can that person get goat?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I think they can. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
They're also you know, similar to the issues you might see, well,
raccoons do this here in the States too, campsites and
garbage cans and mountain areas or like kind of more
like camping type areas. People put locks on their trash
cans and their dumpsters because of bears and other critters.
Raccoons you will see often with like overturned trash cans
(30:50):
spilling refuse every wish where. And that's what they were
doing there too, messing with garbage cans and dumpsters. And
then I think most importantly in terms of the overall
ecosystem question of it all, they're pushing out native species
with their sheer numbers. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, And sadly, ironically, paradoxically, one of the native species
under the most direct threat is going to be none
other than the humble tanuki.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah, the irony is thick.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Despite them not being super closely related, the tanuki and
the raccoon are competing for a lot of the same resources,
which means that these American invasive species raccoons are moving
in on the native tanuki's territory.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, and it's it's a country wide phenomenon. By twenty
twenty one, raccoons had provably naturalized in forty four of
Japan's forty seven prefectures. A prefecture imagined it like a
state basically. So these populations are now widespread in relatively
(32:03):
relatively more remote areas like Hokkaido, as we mentioned across Honshu,
and the crisis continues today. So this is a p
s A and a plea to protect your local tanuki
if you are in Japan. Luckily, if we want to
end on a positive note, the humble tanuki has some
serious balls, and because we are grown people literally figured
(32:27):
we haven't. We have alluded to this in a very
responsible way through multiple times thus far.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yeah, do check out Pompoko.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
It is a children's movie, uh that does depict these
magical members doing all kinds of crazy crazy stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Standing scrotum is how you put it here, Ben?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could learn a lot about
this due to the the folklore here. So we mentioned
that the tanuki have, similar to the kasuni or the fox,
have long been treated as an animal of myth with
magical symbolic powers in Japanese folklore. And yes, one of
(33:14):
the ideas for the one of the like stories you
see about tanuki in the wild is that they can
stretch their ball sack to the size of eight to
Tommy Matts, I love.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
How is that the metric, benc I don't think, I know,
is that like a futan?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
What is like you remember when you see the traditional
Japanese rooms and they've got that semi sitting Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
it's it's a measure that maybe native to Japan.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Uh, go go gadget balls is kind of what we're
talking about here.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
That's well done. Yeah. So just like in the film
we were mentioning earlier, Uh, they're depicted using their scrotums
as boat sails, as nets to catch fish or umbrellas.
It's very go go gadget, go, go gadget godads. Right, Yeah,
it's really good. It's true.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, it's and this isn't just and it's that's the
thing that's so interesting. It's it's i think because of
the cultural you know, awareness around this lore, like it
would not have been shocking to a Japanese audience, but
when I was watching it, like with my kid.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
We were both sort of taken aback because we did not.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Know about this and did not expect there to be
expanding Harlem Globetrotter's esque Macgiver balls you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Know likely Yeah, and this also just for the note here,
this dates back to the Ede period. In the like
in the sixteen hundreds. Oh, people you could find.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Like calligraphic kind of you know, scrolls and things depicting
these various parachute sacks.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
And uh and Max our good friend, Max, our brother,
Max's off camera and off mic and I'm having such
a great time imagining your facial expression. There, yep, there
it is dead.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Go go gadget goads.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, that's good. That's good. It's not our best work,
but we're working live, and so are the Tanuki. So
is the government of Japan. So are the raccoons. Despite
all the problems caused by the Rascal boom, which is
the again, how ridiculous is this nineteen seventies a cartoon
(35:33):
is the entire reason raccoons are an invasive species in Japan.
Ever since then people have been trying to fight against it,
trying to save the native animal population. These ancient wooden
temples and so on. But if you ask members of
the public who are not experts in biology or invasive species,
(35:56):
they're going to tell you they love Rascal the Raccoon.
There's a video game that came out in the nineties.
There have been pop up stores that people have spent
a lot of money at. It's the merchandising is crazy.
You can still see plush dolls, cell phones. It's a
brand now, Rascal is a brand.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
This would probably be of the same era as like
the kind of animes that I grew up watching on
Nick Junior, like David the Gnome and those fairy tale
those Grim's fairy Tale Maybe those are more like early eighties,
but this is late seventies, so seventy seven, and it's
got the same vibe of that era of animember. Remember
(36:39):
those ben they were huge, like on Nickelodeon and Nick Junior,
because I guess they were cheap, they could acquire the rights,
and they just you know, were dubbed. But I remember
some of those Grim fairy Tales ones that are very
much in the style of this Rascal cartoon.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Pretty dark stuff.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, yeah, which I think was appealing to a lot
of a lot of kids when you saw a darker cartoon.
It's kind of like when you go to the Scholastic
book Fair, which we're always big fans of, and you
saw scary stories to tell in the dark.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Right, So Grim's fairy tale Classics. Oh, yes, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
I remember that was more or it was a little
little later than what I was talking about, But it
very much is the same style, and almost wonder.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
It's by animation. Yep, it's like it's a house style.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
There we go, there you go, and here we arrive
at the end of our show. We hope you appreciate it.
There is a parable here. We could argue in that
the story of the American raccoon in Japan has a
ridiculous origin, but it has real world consequences that continue today.
(37:53):
So we'd love to hear your thoughts on other ridiculous
origin stories of invasive speed or just weird pop culture,
or let's say, weird fascinating pop culture. In the meantime,
it's a.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Little bit of a different vibe. But I can't help
think of the cobra story.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
The cobra, Oh, the cobra effect, the cobra cobra effect.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Yeah, it's just you know, it's just not the same,
but it's just the knock on consequences remained similar.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Oh yeah, yeah. If there's one thing human civilization loves,
its consequences that they did not foresee, uh we do foresee.
The close of the show, thank you, as always so
much for joining us, fellow ridiculous historians. Thanks to our
super producer mister Max Williams, as well as his brother
(38:43):
Alex Williams, who composed this slap and pop and nope,
we got to get Alex back on the show. But
he's even more nomadic than me. He sure is.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And speaking of you, Ben, huge thanks to you as always,
but in this one for your research prowess coming to
us from that region of the world. Not to docks
you too much, but I know this is close to
you and something that is very much on your mind,
and I was really fun to talk to you about.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Oh Man, same same, big thanks to our favorite invasive
species on this show, Jonathan Strickland aka the Quizzer and Nola.
I gotta tell you not to big, not to big
up us to ourselves too much, but I think we
have on a metal level, we've been doing a great
(39:30):
job sliding in one insult for the for the quiztor
related to whatever we're talking about per.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Episode, It's sure it's on theme. I do appreciate that.
Ben a huge thanks to Christopherraciotis and needs Jeff Coots here.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
It'spiat Rachel Big Spinach.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Lamb, who we owe an email back to to get
her back.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
On the show.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
She just pinged us again this morning, so I'm super
excited to bring her back and.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Talk about underwater explosions again.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yes, it's a true story, folks. We know the world's
foremost expert on I'm.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Not crediting this person in every episode after having her
on one episode like five years ago, and we just
were that impressed by her.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
And it's all coming full circle, y'all.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Yeah, the hugly right, check out that episode.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Also, no big thanks to you as we were. The
energy is really great today as we were hopping in
to record. You have not just a statue at action
figure or a small German boy, but you've also been
acquiring some pretty cool choskis. Could you play a little music.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Bhudo wishes you a happy and productive life.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
We'll see you next.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Tip folks.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
For more podcasts.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
From iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so
much for tuning in Kenichiwa. We might say hello, welcome
to Tanuki Tanuki. I love it, dude, I love a Tanuki.
That's our falls of Steel, that's our super producer, mister
Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Is that that's not a me as zaki, but it's
a ghibli. And there is about a family of raccoons
that use their giant testicles as implements of magic.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I don't know how else to describe it. It's true,
it's old it's old school Japanese folklore as well. You're
Noel Brown, I'm Ben Bowling, and we are we are
talking to Nuki right now. For this episode, we're going
to be talking raccoons because, as you may know, folks,
(01:20):
Fella Ridiculous Historians, there is a bit of mischaracterization and
assassin character assassination afoot when we come to the humble
and ever cute Tanuki.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I don't know about this. Are we talking because they
have creepy human hands? Because they're characterized as being verminous
bandits of some sort? We are we talking here, Ben,
tell me of this malign How dare they malign the
raccoon community.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I love the idea of a singular malaid. Tell me
of your maligny, mal So this is the deal. Think
of it this way, folks. If you had let's say
you ad a twin brother, right, since we're all dudes,
you have a twin brother, and you are an upstanding
citizen in your neck of the woods. But your twin
(02:07):
brother is an absolute menace, and you get in trouble
for a lot of the stuff your twin did even
though you were not your twin. That is the story
of the raccoon and the Tanuki in Japan.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
This sounds like a fable of sorts set up.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Yeah, what are you talking about? Is Thomas Riker versus
William Riker?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Oh nice, nice cut there, man. I like that as well. Yeah,
that's a deeper startark cut. Yeah. Yeah, let's boldly go
into this story. Guys. We're all from the United States,
(02:49):
which is a pretty I'm gonna be diplomatic, a pretty
big deal. Still hasn't had the best time being has
had the best reputation all the while, all the time,
we know that, but no person, no country or perfect,
but no, when you were growing up, a young lad
(03:12):
is a small German by a small German American boy
by this point the.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Way, look at this guy. Yeah, this is my small
German boys missing out a limb. But this is me.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I wish y'all could see this.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
It's a little Rosie figurine rosie cheeks a little little
bit arians and he's wearing later hosen and has a
key of some sort.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Of round, isn't I think it was a gift to
me from a trip that my kid took to Portland.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Heart shaped keys. So, okay, you're you're growing up in
you're growing up in the southern part of the US.
Did you guys ever see raccoons?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I had a friend growing up whose name was shell
Is Sheldon. We're still friends. And his parents were real
animal lovers and kind of conservationists. They worked in labs
and they, like you know, work with wildlife, and they
had a pat.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Raccoon at Taine. Was my exposure.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I don't know that I really ran across any in
the wild, but as an adult living here in Atlanta,
you certainly see him rummaging your rumblings, rummage around.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I love to see a raccoon run quickly because they
don't look like they're designed to do so. But they
have the goofiest looking parkour and they're just adorable.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I'll tell you where. It's huge these days, and the
most of my raccoon exposure is from meme pages on
oh yeah, in the internet, on Instagram. They are beloved
and there's so many delightful raccoon goofy raccoon meme pages.
If you're in.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Washing your hands, just getting into all kinds of little
misadventures before you give it, yes Skins, ne'er do wells,
Dennis the Menace types. So before I give a little
anecdote about raccoon experiences in my old life, we've got
We've got none other then mister Max Williams here, who
(05:01):
may have a story to tell.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, it's a few years ago now, but it was
like one night, my cat, Sylvia was sitting by the
glass door, just like looking out, you know cats do,
and a raccoon just like sat right next to her
on the other side. And the raccoon was very well
aware there's a glass between us. The raccoons like whatever
Sylvia was not and Sylvia, you know, she's solid white fur.
(05:24):
So she just I look over and see the giant
cotton ball. I'm like, Sylvie, wait, oh, there's a raccoon
right there. And the raccoons like, I'm a lot bigger
than you.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You want to go? You want to go?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
The glass between us?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
We can go. They can be chonky boys, for sure,
the raccoons.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
This was a quite chonky one too.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I remember growing up in the Southeastern United States. I
spent a lot of time outdoors in my childhood, and
raccoons always, to me seemed so inquisitive and clever. You know,
they washed their food before they eat it. And we
were talking about their little hands off air.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
They like to keep those clean too.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
They're always rubbing them together, and it does make them
look a little bit mister Burns esque, but they are
doing it out of a need for cleanliness. They've got
in good hygiene. To your point, Ben, unfairly maligned is
like trash creatures.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Right, Yeah, But they do eat trash to be cle
that's also true. That's also true. They also do eat
a lot of trash. I love when they rub their
hands together because they look like they're scheming what we're
saying is raccoons are not uncommon sight in many parts
of the United States and across the country. If you
are in the US, you have probably accepted these little
(06:36):
rascals as a fascinating part of the natural world because
they're they've got pinashed, they're just sort of We did
an episode on what makes things cool recently on Stuff
they Don't Want You to Know, And raccoons are kind
of cool, right they are.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
They're very cool. They got a lot of personality. They Yeah,
that's what it is. They I think they're they're so
big on the internet is because of that copious amounts
of personality that the little fellas have.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, and we anthropomorphize the heck out of them, right,
because of that personality, that sass and that swag. Yet,
it may surprise a lot of us to learn their
relatively positive reputation in the United States doesn't always translate
to other places, including Japan, where right now, as we record,
raccoons are a very divisive life form. They're considered they
(07:31):
are still considered cool by a lot of the public,
but the government doesn't think of them as a nifty
little woodland scamp. They are seriously concerning invasive species. As
we record right now, raccoons are wreaking havoc across the
nation of Japan. And get this, folks, it's all due
(07:53):
to one cartoon.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Oh geez, which one.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
It's Rascal. It's a cartoon about a raccoon. Now I
go on a tick. You might be saying, hasn't Japan
always had raccoons? Why were nol and Max and Ben
able to get that kick ass power suit in Super
Mario THREEI Mario Tanuki Mario. There's also the one that
(08:19):
just gives you the ability to kind of float where
you're still Mario, but you.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Have a tail.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It just sort of like beats the air back and forth,
and it allows you to sort of float around.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Oh yeah, Mario three tail flip move.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah. I mean it's this gets us to our first
common misconception, and this might be surprising to a lot
of us. Japan does have a native mammal that looks
a whole heck of a lot like a raccoon. That's
the tanuki uh commonly known as the Japanese raccoon.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Dog m okay.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
They are endemic to Japan, and they, as we mentioned
earlier with the giant, the testicleed cartoon ghibli characters. They're
big in Japanese folklore, similar to how other cultures regard
actual raccoons. The tanuki is seen as the sort of
mischievous king, puckish trickster type figure, a master of disguise,
(09:17):
and a real Bachanalian kind of fellow.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Right yeah, lover of good times. We pulled up in
our research just just for reference for us, a side
by side look at the tanuki and the actual facts
shout out law and vocal bomb raccoon, and they look
so alike Noel, that I would argue if someone made
a police sketch of a raccoon criminal, the cops would
(09:43):
probably end up profiling and arresting an innocent tanuki.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I mean, hence your twin ref earlier. I think it
makes a lot of sense they do.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
They both have those dark kind of shaded circles around
their eyes. They both have ears that are approximately the
same distance apart. They've got kind of little puffs tufts
of white hair, the same kind of patterns of color.
I would argue the tanuki is a little more hound like,
with the snout a little more elongated snout and the raccoon.
(10:18):
Raccoon has a little bit more of a squished face,
such a little wider face, a little more distance between
the eyes, but the color patterns very similar if you
ignore the whiskers.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And this is the thing. The Japanese raccoon dog, the
tanuki is not an actual raccoon. The raccoon and the
raccoon dog or actually not that closely related. Japan had
tanuki forever. Japan did not have the raccoon until the
nineteen seventies, and when the raccoon did reach the shores
(10:53):
of that country, things got nuts so quickly. But how,
pray tell no, how on earth did raccoons make it
all the way across the Pacific Ocean from the United
States to the nation of the Rising Sun. Well clearly
they flew with their magical raccoon tale, of course, yes,
(11:14):
and that's our episode of folks. Theakes has always so
much for tuning.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
In yep, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
It starts right before the seventies, nineteen seventies, with a
Wisconsin worn author named Sterling North. In nineteen sixty three,
North wrote a young adult novel called Rascals, A Memoir
of a Better Era about his childhood, and in that
book he adopts a baby raccoon for one year. And
the book was a huge smash when it came out.
(11:47):
And admittedly I was not aware of this this work.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Hey, same and Max, had you ever heard of this
as well?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
No, I had not heard of this one myself. So yeah,
this is all new news.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, this is strange because for us, we're not of
the generation that would have encountered Rascal the young adult novel.
In the book, as he said, he adopts our protagonist
sterly and adopts a baby raccoon for a year, And
a lot of us might be surprised in the audience,
(12:22):
especially the younger amongst us, to realize that this is
part of the reason people in America still frequently describe
raccoons as rascals. Look, this was such a big hit
that The Tale After was published in nineteen sixty three.
By nineteen sixty nine, it was made into a live
(12:45):
action Disney film. I don't know if the mouse will
let us play the theme song, but it's very nineteen seventies.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We better act in deference to the mouse. You know,
we don't want to get We don't want to get sued.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
We don't want to get moused. Yeah, so you can
fast trapped, even mouse trapped. Even better, so you can
find on your YouTube of choice any number of clips
from the live action Disney adaptation. At this time, this
is all great for our author, mister North, and it's
also great for kids growing up, both the readers of
(13:20):
the original book the fans of the film adaptation. Yet
this is just the beginning of the story. If we
like we're starting in America, how about we fast forward
to nineteen seventy seven Japan.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
So here we are, fast forward into nineteen seventy We
did it. We made Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The Japan based animation company Nipon Animation creates a cartoon
series called aria Guma Rasukaru.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Which isn't that kind of one.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Of those Japanese sort of americanized words, because the word
is rascal. Rasukara almost sounds like a phonetic kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, Yeah, I like that. I think you're onto something.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Rascal the raccoon is that would be the translation.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, And unlike the young adult novel, unlike the I'm laughing,
unlike the Disney film, Oh my gosh, it's so it's
so of its era. Please just please check out the
Disney film, even if the mouse won't let us do it.
Unlike those things, this is an epic anime series. It
(14:30):
runs for fifty two episodes. The Disney film tried to
be a little more playful. There are lots of bucolic
fun shots of this boy and his dog playing with
the raccoon, But this adaptation says, no, we're gonna cut
to the quick. We're getting to the dramatic roots of
(14:51):
this young adult novel.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Okay okay.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So kids in Japan, originally this was kind of alien
to them, this creature. They certainly never read the original book.
But something about the kid featured named sterling Uh and
his animal sidekick is familiar. Rascal it It really took
(15:13):
the the nation's children's hearts and minds by storm.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Airing all year round, the show was a huge hit.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Think of it like almost a precedent setting the type
of property for something like Pokemon or other big pop
cultural crazes there in the country.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Absolutely, yeah, people were cuckoo for raccoon puffs. I guess
you could.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Says there were rococo.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So uh. This is where we see a turn in
the story because arguably Ari Russell Power became a little
too successful, And to tell you why it became too successful,
we have to spoil a book from thenineteen sixty three.
So before you get mad at us on the internet,
(16:05):
this is the spoiler warning.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yes, indeed, we'll give you a little ten second countdown
ten ninety seven fourth or two spoiler time time.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, okay, Like like so many coming of age stories
in young adult novels, from Old Yeller to My Side
of the Mountain.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
No, racl didn't get Old Yeller, did he.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
He did not get Old Yellow.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh thank god.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So at the end of the novel, what happens instead
is our childhood hero Sterling realizes, Hey, I love my raccoon.
I love baby Rascal, but all raccoons are in fact
wild animals, not domestic animals. So as much as I
adore my little buddy, he isn't a pet. And so
(16:56):
with great regrets.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You gotta let those ponies run, you gotta.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Let those ponies ride. Yeah, ye, Sterling ultimately does the
right thing. He releases Rascal into the wild, so it's
definitely not as bleak as Old Yeller, which we're not
gonna spoil because.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, but it's you. You can tet you together, you
probably get there.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and it's still too close to both
of us, it sounds like. But the ending of Rascal
is bittersweet, and it's it's a good way to give
a lesson to kids. It shows our protagonists growing up
in the story. He learns his lesson, He loves his
time with Rascal, and he lets Rascal live his own
(17:35):
life as a wild animal.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And what, however, appear to the children of the pan
did not take the meaning or the message. It's d
art no, it's that led to an explosion in raccoon
importation for pet purposes.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Right, It's kind of like uh if. A film critic
saw the first twenty minutes of Titanic and said, this
is a film about it. A amazing boat.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Real luxury liner.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
So requiem for a dreams of feel good buddy comedy.
It's about friends.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It's about the friends we made along the way and
the limbs we lost.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Oh jeez, So all right, you're absolutely right, folks nailed
it here are Raskoru was so very popular in Japan
that the idea of having a real life raccoon pet
became like the hottest Christmas toy would be in the
States like an Elmo of yesterday.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, and this led to fifteen hundred raccoons being imported
from the United States every single month, to the delight
of children and perhaps the chagrin of parents all across Japan.
And just like the real life Rasukaru or Rascal, these
animals were very.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Much not suited for domestic life.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I want to backtrack real quick to my friends parents,
pet raccoon theirs was very much a rescue situation, right,
which could not have made it on its own in
the wild. So that was they were coming at it
from that conservationist perspective.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
It was probably acquired as a child, perhaps due to abandonment,
and it was tame and familiar, possibly through the Yeah
their research, Yeah, yeah, exactly, that makes sense, and that
still happens today across the country. As as you were saying, no,
from nineteen seventy seven on, we see so many raccoons
(19:39):
imported directly from the US to families across Japan per month.
These guys are lovable, furry balls of beat me here, Max,
fucking chaos, no cabinet, no drawer left unexamined, pooping everywhere.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Massive, they've got opposable thumbs. They can anything right, right.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
You would have to babyproof. You would have to raccoon
proof your house the same way you would babyproof a house.
And there's so much damage to these homes, this property,
these apartments. True stories, some families did get raccoon pets
in their apartments. And also just like the old Vietnamese
(20:23):
pot belly pig craze where everybody thought the pig would
say small and babyish for a moment, these guys do
grow up and they get bigger, and as they become
adult raccoons, they could also turn violent towards humans because
you know, they're wild animals and they're in a place
(20:43):
that is very stressfully different from their natural environment. So, dude,
just like Sterling North as a child, these kids and
their families are learning a hard lesson about wild animals
in your home.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, it's not quite as bad as like justin Bier
we were abandoning his pet monkey at the border, but
it happens.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
In It did happen. It's in the same vein.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
It becomes one of those irresponsible moments in pet ownership
where you sign up or bite off more than you
can chew and then all of a sudden you maybe
have to make the easy, easier decision, which you know,
while it is the plot of the book, and in
the context of the book, it does make sense all
of this happening at once, all of these creatures being
(21:27):
released back into the wild at once, creates a real
problem with the ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. And life imitates art, as
they always say, and they say it for a reason.
I forgot to mention, Noel Max, You guys will both
love this fact because we're I think all three big
fans of Studio Jibli. Was it pomp Poco?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Is that what it's called?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Pomp Poco?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Pomp Poco is the Jibli film that we were talking
about with the anthropomorphic talking, big bald raccoon. Sorry, I
don't know if that's what you're talking about. Record they do,
you their testicles to fly around. They inflate them like
like parachutes or zeppelins or something.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's it's odd, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
But it's historically accurate for the folklore. What will interest you, guys,
I think, is that a Russell Korro please partner our
pronunciation here. We're not native speakers. The anime of Rascal
also has a sleeper Easter egg in it. It features
(22:28):
very early work by none other than Miyazaki.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Okay, okay, So back around, like Pompoko was not a
Miyazaki directly created film, but it was part of his
animation studio.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, and High Walt Disney of Japan.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
He's often yes, yeah, and it seems a little bit
cooler than The Big Mouse anyway, So maybe there is
a sort of artistic or esthetic through line here from
Arima Russel Caro to Pompuro because Miyazaki was literally working
(23:03):
on this anime cartoon anyway. So like you said, they're
these well meaning families, right, tried to get their kid
the coolest present. It didn't work out. It caused pandemonium
in the home. They let them out, you know, drive
to the edge of the city, just like the old
trope of letting a dog go free, or dogs probably
(23:27):
would just want to get back in the.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Car, but we don't watch you anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Rocks. All that means, yeah, everybody's crying. So the thing is,
the raccoon friends here are hardy, resourceful. They're real mcguvers
of mammals and most Importantly, they're omnivorous. They don't turn
down a free lunch, so they quickly begin to thrive
in areas across Japan. And this is where we see, uh,
(23:58):
something that we will call naturalization in the world of biology.
They're an invasive species, but they like where they're moving in.
They like the neighborhoods. So they're going across through the
nineteen seventies and the eighties to all different prefectures of Japan,
even unto the very far northern part of Japan, Hokkaido,
(24:23):
which is just so everybody knows, it's very far away.
It's tough to get there. And they did a great job,
and they became a menace. There's no other way to
say it. They're popular. Like, look, you're raccoon. You just
did your time in a Japanese home based on the
fact that this one cartoon compelled the nation. You get
(24:46):
out and then you meet a lady raccoon who's been
in a similar situation, and you say, oh, hey, babe,
we had a lot in common. You know, we're not
doing raccoon ginder.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Oh wow, yeah, we're.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Not doing raccoon hin. We met naturally. I like your vibe.
So these raccoons trying to settle down, it's not a
raccoon family. Yeah, they start a family of their own.
Their population shoots up so quickly, and they engage in
continual acts of crime. These are all all raccoon families
(25:21):
in Japan now are considered crime families.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, and it makes sense, you know, with the whole
bandit look of them, you know what, it looks like
they're doing crimes, tippy toeing around.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I thought that was a funny bit on Uh what
was it.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
It was John Oliver recently where I was talking about
crime rates, and uh, it's it was something like a
It was a it was a publication for crime and
it was called Reasons to Tiptoe or something, and it
showed like a criminal with a mask and a bag
of cash, just like tiptoeing.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Oh, a domino mask. Yeah, we're just exactly which raccoons
naturally have. And also I want to say it does
folks correct us if we're wrong here? Do you like
how I encouraged you guys to be wrong with me?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Of course, let's all be wrong together.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Let's all be wrong together. A domino mask seems like
the most inefficient mask, you know what I mean, Like
the one that just goes over part of your eyes
and the rest.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Of the Superman rules right, Like it's like, come on,
we know it's you Clark somehow. And the crux of
his secret identity.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That's another question too, and not to derail us too far,
but riddle me this. If Superman's glasses are his only
real disguise, does his optometrist know his real identity?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
You know who I saw pose that very question, Ben,
Who's that? It's a singer. She's her name is Aurora,
and she's a delight. She's from Iceland and she gets
compared to Buick a lot. But okay, she has some
really fine hot takes and that may well be a
thing that's been floating.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But she asked that very question. Uh, does his optometrist
know his secret identity?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Does he have to go to the optometrists? Even well?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Vision argued, are a prop drug.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Store reading glasses or what are they? What do they
call it? Readers?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Another question that she poses in that same vein is
why is it that superheroes are always trying to keep
things the same and super villains are always trying to
change things.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, I love that. I have a philosop that's great,
that's deep. What was the name of that musician, Aurora? Aurora?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Just one real cutie like metal, Yeah, Aurora.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Okay, I'll check out the music. These guys. The raccoons
are reading crops across the nation of Japan. They're doing
it as we record right now. They're causing hundreds of
thousands of dollars US equivalent every year. The government does
(28:01):
eventually ban the importation of raccoons, but it's too little,
too late. The Invasive Alien Species Act, which they've had
for a very long time, now includes raccoons, and in
two thousand and five they were called an invasive alien species,
which means that you can no longer watch a sick
(28:23):
anime and buy a raccoon from the US. You also
can't transfer it, and if you like, you can't sell
it to someone else in Japan, and if you have one,
you also cannot just throw it out into the woods. Dude.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Anytime you see these crazes that involve like living creatures,
they're almost always ill informed and really rushed without thinking
about the aftermath for humans and for the creatures.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Themselves and you really do hate to see it.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, exactly, So it doesn't sound like we're casting stones here.
Two of the most famous and sadly continual examples in
the United States are going to be rabbit sails in
Easter and black cat sales around Halloween. Those things continually happen,
(29:20):
and unfortunately it doesn't always work out for the rabbits
or for the cats. In addition, however, to the agricultural terrorism,
all right, it might be exaggerating a bit there. Invasive
raccoon crimes also include the following, and maybe we do
it like a hit. Listen, all uh, these guys are
getting everywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
They are now. They're they're doing crimes, they're taking names.
They are destroying historic sites, including temples, which of course
have you know, incredibly important cultural and historical significance.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
A lot of those are built of wood. The raccoons
are also stealing fruit and fish from human vendors, usually
because they're getting into storage spaces. After me that they
of business. Yeah, but sometimes sometimes it's a land version
of a seagull who just swipes something from a tourist
(30:19):
eating at the beach, you know what I mean. A
raccoon looks at you when you are selling fish or
buy fish, and thinks can that person get goat?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
I think they can. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
They're also you know, similar to the issues you might see, well,
raccoons do this here in the States too, campsites and
garbage cans and mountain areas or like kind of more
like camping type areas. People put locks on their trash
cans and their dumpsters because of bears and other critters.
Raccoons you will see often with like overturned trash cans
(30:50):
spilling refuse every wish where. And that's what they were
doing there too, messing with garbage cans and dumpsters. And
then I think most importantly in terms of the overall
ecosystem question of it all, they're pushing out native species
with their sheer numbers. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, And sadly, ironically, paradoxically, one of the native species
under the most direct threat is going to be none
other than the humble tanuki.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah, the irony is thick.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Despite them not being super closely related, the tanuki and
the raccoon are competing for a lot of the same resources,
which means that these American invasive species raccoons are moving
in on the native tanuki's territory.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, and it's it's a country wide phenomenon. By twenty
twenty one, raccoons had provably naturalized in forty four of
Japan's forty seven prefectures. A prefecture imagined it like a
state basically. So these populations are now widespread in relatively
(32:03):
relatively more remote areas like Hokkaido, as we mentioned across Honshu,
and the crisis continues today. So this is a p
s A and a plea to protect your local tanuki
if you are in Japan. Luckily, if we want to
end on a positive note, the humble tanuki has some
serious balls, and because we are grown people literally figured
(32:27):
we haven't. We have alluded to this in a very
responsible way through multiple times thus far.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yeah, do check out Pompoko.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
It is a children's movie, uh that does depict these
magical members doing all kinds of crazy crazy stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Standing scrotum is how you put it here, Ben?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could learn a lot about
this due to the the folklore here. So we mentioned
that the tanuki have, similar to the kasuni or the fox,
have long been treated as an animal of myth with
magical symbolic powers in Japanese folklore. And yes, one of
(33:14):
the ideas for the one of the like stories you
see about tanuki in the wild is that they can
stretch their ball sack to the size of eight to
Tommy Matts, I love.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
How is that the metric, benc I don't think, I know,
is that like a futan?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
What is like you remember when you see the traditional
Japanese rooms and they've got that semi sitting Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
it's it's a measure that maybe native to Japan.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Uh, go go gadget balls is kind of what we're
talking about here.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
That's well done. Yeah. So just like in the film
we were mentioning earlier, Uh, they're depicted using their scrotums
as boat sails, as nets to catch fish or umbrellas.
It's very go go gadget, go, go gadget godads. Right, Yeah,
it's really good. It's true.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, it's and this isn't just and it's that's the
thing that's so interesting. It's it's i think because of
the cultural you know, awareness around this lore, like it
would not have been shocking to a Japanese audience, but
when I was watching it, like with my kid.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
We were both sort of taken aback because we did not.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Know about this and did not expect there to be
expanding Harlem Globetrotter's esque Macgiver balls you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Know likely Yeah, and this also just for the note here,
this dates back to the Ede period. In the like
in the sixteen hundreds. Oh, people you could find.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Like calligraphic kind of you know, scrolls and things depicting
these various parachute sacks.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
And uh and Max our good friend, Max, our brother,
Max's off camera and off mic and I'm having such
a great time imagining your facial expression. There, yep, there
it is dead.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Go go gadget goads.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, that's good. That's good. It's not our best work,
but we're working live, and so are the Tanuki. So
is the government of Japan. So are the raccoons. Despite
all the problems caused by the Rascal boom, which is
the again, how ridiculous is this nineteen seventies a cartoon
(35:33):
is the entire reason raccoons are an invasive species in Japan.
Ever since then people have been trying to fight against it,
trying to save the native animal population. These ancient wooden
temples and so on. But if you ask members of
the public who are not experts in biology or invasive species,
(35:56):
they're going to tell you they love Rascal the Raccoon.
There's a video game that came out in the nineties.
There have been pop up stores that people have spent
a lot of money at. It's the merchandising is crazy.
You can still see plush dolls, cell phones. It's a
brand now, Rascal is a brand.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
This would probably be of the same era as like
the kind of animes that I grew up watching on
Nick Junior, like David the Gnome and those fairy tale
those Grim's fairy Tale Maybe those are more like early eighties,
but this is late seventies, so seventy seven, and it's
got the same vibe of that era of animember. Remember
(36:39):
those ben they were huge, like on Nickelodeon and Nick Junior,
because I guess they were cheap, they could acquire the rights,
and they just you know, were dubbed. But I remember
some of those Grim fairy Tales ones that are very
much in the style of this Rascal cartoon.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Pretty dark stuff.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, yeah, which I think was appealing to a lot
of a lot of kids when you saw a darker cartoon.
It's kind of like when you go to the Scholastic
book Fair, which we're always big fans of, and you
saw scary stories to tell in the dark.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Right, So Grim's fairy tale Classics. Oh, yes, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
I remember that was more or it was a little
little later than what I was talking about, But it
very much is the same style, and almost wonder.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
It's by animation. Yep, it's like it's a house style.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
There we go, there you go, and here we arrive
at the end of our show. We hope you appreciate it.
There is a parable here. We could argue in that
the story of the American raccoon in Japan has a
ridiculous origin, but it has real world consequences that continue today.
(37:53):
So we'd love to hear your thoughts on other ridiculous
origin stories of invasive speed or just weird pop culture,
or let's say, weird fascinating pop culture. In the meantime,
it's a.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Little bit of a different vibe. But I can't help
think of the cobra story.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
The cobra, Oh, the cobra effect, the cobra cobra effect.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Yeah, it's just you know, it's just not the same,
but it's just the knock on consequences remained similar.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Oh yeah, yeah. If there's one thing human civilization loves,
its consequences that they did not foresee, uh we do foresee.
The close of the show, thank you, as always so
much for joining us, fellow ridiculous historians. Thanks to our
super producer mister Max Williams, as well as his brother
(38:43):
Alex Williams, who composed this slap and pop and nope,
we got to get Alex back on the show. But
he's even more nomadic than me. He sure is.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And speaking of you, Ben, huge thanks to you as always,
but in this one for your research prowess coming to
us from that region of the world. Not to docks
you too much, but I know this is close to
you and something that is very much on your mind,
and I was really fun to talk to you about.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Oh Man, same same, big thanks to our favorite invasive
species on this show, Jonathan Strickland aka the Quizzer and Nola.
I gotta tell you not to big, not to big
up us to ourselves too much, but I think we
have on a metal level, we've been doing a great
(39:30):
job sliding in one insult for the for the quiztor
related to whatever we're talking about per.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Episode, It's sure it's on theme. I do appreciate that.
Ben a huge thanks to Christopherraciotis and needs Jeff Coots here.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
It'spiat Rachel Big Spinach.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Lamb, who we owe an email back to to get
her back.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
On the show.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
She just pinged us again this morning, so I'm super
excited to bring her back and.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Talk about underwater explosions again.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yes, it's a true story, folks. We know the world's
foremost expert on I'm.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Not crediting this person in every episode after having her
on one episode like five years ago, and we just
were that impressed by her.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
And it's all coming full circle, y'all.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Yeah, the hugly right, check out that episode.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Also, no big thanks to you as we were. The
energy is really great today as we were hopping in
to record. You have not just a statue at action
figure or a small German boy, but you've also been
acquiring some pretty cool choskis. Could you play a little music.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Bhudo wishes you a happy and productive life.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
We'll see you next.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Tip folks.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
For more podcasts.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
From iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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