Just a ways north of Fukushima Japan (Yes, THAT Fukushima), in the foothills of Mt. Zaō you'll find the Miyagi Zaō Fox Village. If you've just arrived from the Andromeda galaxy, you may not of heard of it. For the rest of the furry world, it has doubtless come to your attention unless you've been in an enforced media blackout of some sort.

Regardless of your opinions of a fox village where foxes are kept, I defy any true furry to deny the desire to see, up close, and perchance to touch a vulpine bundle of adorableness given the chance. (Okay, maybe you're a scaly or some such, but if you like furry critters, foxes pretty much take the cake-- and the fried chicken. ALL the fried chicken!)

So getting there is a bit more involved than lots of well-known places in Japan. You can't just take a train to the fox village. Instead, you have to stop in Sendai or Shiroishi and make the last leg by bus, car or taxi. As we were staying in Sendai at the time, we took JR East (Japan Rail East) rail line to the Shiroishi-zaō station and from there we took a taxi to the village.

The taxi seemed preferable to a bus which would make myriad stops, and as we found out, would have eaten considerably into our "fox time" at the village as they only operate on a set schedule. We found a taxi waiting eagerly at the train station for fares and were on our way in a short time. The taxi ride cost about ¥4000, or roughly $40 USD, which paid for us both. Of course the return trip was another ¥4000 so all told about $80 USD travel cost there and back.

Admission to the fox village was around ¥1200 to ¥1500 (~$12 to $15 USD) which gives you access to a petting zoo of sorts, which contained goats, miniature horses and some other critters which you could see but not pet such as ravens, a badger, bunnies and others.

If you wanted to pet or hold a fox, there was another small fee of ¥400 (~$4 USD) for that and the staff would take about 10 or so photos of you holding/petting the fox using your own camera if you wanted. Another expense you would encounter were bags of foxy treats you could then dispense to the slavering maws of a hungry mob of foxes who would jockey, fight, steal and beg for the little snausages (about 10/bag at perhaps ¥150 a bag) tossed from the relative safety of a raised feeding/observation platform.

Finally there was a gift shop where you could buy all manner of schwag with foxes on it, or purchase food and beverages and even order ramen and such, though it didn't look like the food would be so great there. We didn't try it as the restaurant was closed anyway.

All in, you're looking at a cost of around a minimum of just about $100 USD a person for a trip to the village and to pet a fox, not counting getting to the rail station and finding accommodations. If you share a taxi, you can cut the cost per person, but 3, maybe 4 would be the max you could fit in a regular taxi. If you spring for the foxy treats, buy stuff in the gift shop, get snacks or food, then you're in it for as much as you care to spend.

I was delighted to visit, though seeing foxes in cages will make you sad. That said, many were roaming "free" in the large open-air village and not confined by any other means. If you go on a rainy day/season, the foxes will be all wet/sad/muddy and so will you, so it's best to plan for the late Spring when it's not too damn cold/wet/shitty and not too damn hot/humid/shitty.

About These Photos

This cute fluffball was lounging on a plank half-dozing and had gorgeous fur and an awesome tail and seemed content to have us all up in his face taking pictures so of course we did. Now, without rolling a fox over or lifting its tail, I can't really be sure if this was a tod or a vixen, so I decided it was a boy fox and his name simply had to be Mr. Fluffernutterz.

Mr. Fluffernutterz made it extremely difficult to keep oneself from touching his beautiful fur, booping his adorable nose or messing with his cute little feetz-- or, the most tantalizing of all-- stroking his awesome tail. Though nearly unbearable to resist, I was certain that this placid-looking sleepyhead would uncoil like a sprung trap and nip the shit of of my hoof should it so much as graze his glorious fur.

I resisted, just barely.

So now that I wanted to share this fox, I thought I could pick one or two images of him, but I soon found I couldn't bring myself to really discard any save for a few that were nearly identical. So one or two images became about 25. =P

More of Mr. Fluffernutterz coming up. (I saved the best for last of course) I hope you will enjoy his cuteness. ^^

I mispelled 'Part' as 'Prat' on purpose. I do that shit. x3