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Museum exterior
Peppers
Me eating amego fishLocal supersition - Raccoons
To the Japanese of Tokushima Prefecture, the raccoon is a somewhat supernatural or mystical animal. Their local legends tell of raccoons transforming into people and causing mischief, telling lies in order to split lovers, tempting husbands or wives by appearing as beautiful women or handsome men, stealing sake and food etc.
Raccoons are generally represented like the fellow I'm standing beside. Quite frequently, they are shown revelling with sake bottles or in other happy, mischievous poses. For some reason, they also wear straw hats. Generally speaking, as you travel around Japan, if you see the raccoon represented, it means there is some kind of fun or pleasure to be had in the establishment displaying it, not always with a naughty twist.
