MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES:THE JAPANESE CRYPTID THAT WASN`T- A CAUTIONARY TALE

Folks

A few days ago I thought I`d discovered a new mystery animal in early twentieth century Japan until I dug a bit deeper. I found a reference on the net to a strange animal in Japan, mentioned in the North China Herald of March 12th 1902 quoting an issue of the Japan Times. Fortunately the British Library Newspaper Library has the newspaper for this date (which, unusually for a newspaper from that date, has a good index actually as part of the original paper itself, and I believe it really was a newspaper, not a periodical. I mention this for researchers' sake.), which was published in Shanghai.

Here is the story:

'The following tale is from the Japan Times”:- A strange animal was recently caught alive in a forest at Matsuzato-mura, Higashiyamanashi-gori, Yamanashi-ken. The animal has a body almost as large as that of an ordinary dog and is furnished with a membrane which connects each limb with the body and which is as elastic as if it were a piece of Indian rubber. The beast somewhat resembles a hare and has a white face, though it has short ears, very sharp claws, and a tail which is longer than the length of its body. It remains quiet during the day but when the night sets in it begins to display its savage nature. It is now being kept by one of the local people. Though at first the animal was afraid of human beings, it has since become tame, and acts in a manner as if to ask to be fed whenever any person comes near it.' (1)

Now when I first read this I was excited but on looking up Japanese mammals on Wikipedia it quite soon became obvious that this was actually a Japanese giant flying squirrel. Wikipedia says: 'The squirrel is endemic to the islands of Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku in Japan and in Guangzhou in China. It eats fruit and nuts and lives in holes in large trees. The female has a home range of about a hectare and the male about two hectares.' (2)

I couldn`t locate the towns or locations mentioned in the newspaper extract so I cannot tell if its location 108 years ago was significantly different from today.

1. North China Herald March 12th 1902 p.462
2. Wikipedia Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_flying_squirrel%20accessed%2012/10/2010


RICHARD BILLY BRAGG

Richard belongs to Jayne
And Jayne belongs to yesterday
How can I go on
When every alpha particle hides a neon nucleus

Neil belongs to love
And love belongs to no man
How can he go on
When no one answers the adverts in his mind

There will be parties,there will be fun
There will be prizes for everyone
And hey,hey,hey,here comes Richard
There will be ladies dressed in lace
I just want to see her face
When hey,hey,hey here comes Richard