Fox spotted in Tokyo’s 23 wards, Japanese Internet wonders if it’s a shapeshifting spirit [Video]

Foxes rarely venture this close to the Tokyo city center…unless kitsune spirits are here all the time .

You can spot lots of representations of foxes in Tokyo.

Fox spirit sculptures often guard the entrance to shrines, and with the Japanese word for fox, “kitsune,” also being a way to describe soba or udon noodles served with fried tofu as a topping , it’s not unusual to come across illustrated foxes on restaurant signs, menus, or instant noodle packaging. ▼ You might even spot a fox tail accessory on someone keeping classic gyaru fashion alive .

But a real-life fox, walking around on the streets of one of Tokyo’s 23 central wards? The deforestation of the downtown and downtown-adjacent area over the past few generations means that’s something you won’t see very often at all, but that’s exactly what appears in this video recorded in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward on the night of September 13.

Nerima is more or less the northwest of the congregation of Tokyo’s 23 wards, but while it’s not as developed as, say, Shinjuku, Shibuya, or Toshima Wards, it’s not a rural outpost either, especially in the neighborhood shown in the video.

Much of Nerima consists of residential housing for people who commute deeper into downtown for school or work, and deforestation means it’s been many years since foxes were a common sight in the area. ▼ Nerima Ward Now, the scientific explanation for the fox seen in the video is that it’s what zoologists call an “urban fox,” meaning a fox that’s adapted to finding food and shelter in ab area primarily habituated by humans.

However, several online commenters have floated alternate theories drawing on Japanese folklore.

According to legend, Japanese fox spirits have the ability to transform, and they sometimes take on the guise of humans and walk among us without anyone noticing, until they have a lapse in concentration and reveal their true form .