A land without squirrels (I)

This is not quite true. Alan told me that there is a squirrel... in the Tokyo Zoo! I know I was only there 11-12 days, but I really didn't see many animals. Very few dogs, a few cats, and NO SQUIRRELS! Here's Alan's theory on cats in Tokyo. He said that a lot of them have short tails, and indeed I saw a couple like that. He thought maybe people had their cat's tails bobbed, kind of like people do with dogs. Why, I asked? Hmm, maybe to save space. Japanese living quarters are much smaller than ours!

We spotted this kitty at Taiyoin-byo, Nikko. He seems to have his whole tail. (Baker)

Here's a turtle and koi at Meiji-Jingu.








Then there was the Godzilla like Swan in Lake Chuzenji, near Nikko!

Oh, it was just a large paddle boat.

This is one of the many dragon flies we saw near the Daiya-gawa River in Nikko.




We also saw deer in Nara Park, also called Deer Park, as there are 1,000 tame deer there. They're kind of small deer, which again makes me think of Alan's theory on cats. These three are lounging in the very desireable shade, in front of 5-storey pagoda at Kofukuji Temple.These two were hanging out in front of the gate at Todai-ji. They getting ready to chase after the animal-deprived Japanese tourists, who buy biscuits for the deer, a "favorite pasttime."
Although the cicadas everywhere were downright deafening, I didn't hear that many birds (or maybe that's why I didn't hear birds!) although maybe I just wasn't in the right spots. We did see a couple of very pretty doves, which I think were rufous turtle doves. Alan got some pictures, but they didn't turn out too well. To see one, please go here.

We did see this crane posing nicely for us at the Itsukushima-jinga on Miyajima.

Then of course, there were the monkeys. There are macques(?) that live up on Mt. Misen, on Miyajima. There was a warning in my guidebook, and up at the station for the cable car there were signs about the monkeys, you were instructed to put your belongings in the free lockers provided, and there was an announcement, in Japanese, that I had to assume was about the monkeys. While Alan went climbing Mt. Misen, I sat inside the station (AC!!) and listened to this tape recording over and over. Anyway, some of them finally made their appearance... (Baker)And they were the most lethargic and sad looking group. It was hard to imagine any of them aggressively ripping someone's bag off of them. Maybe it was just too hot... I have mentioned the humidity haven't I?

There were also legendary animals. This is the entrance to a cave in Kamakura where a white deer emerged to listen to the Priest Mugaku's preaching shortly after he founded the Enjaku-ji Temple in 1282. All I can say is, mighty small deer.