The Traveller's Magazine
Japan is the place to go if you want to spend time with ridiculously cute animals. From their cat cafes to bunny islands, this Fox Village is at the top of the “cute” list for us. Check it out!
It’s called Zao Fox Village and it’s located in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture. Six different species of fox are free to romp and play together, battling it out for visitor’s attention (and no doubt food). Visiting is as cheap as chips. For 100 yen (50p), visitors are given a handful of food to give to the foxes. These are still wild animals though, so no hand-feeding is allowed and it’s not recommended to bring very small children.
Foxes in Japanese culture are sly tricksters, just like in the West, but some are also believed to have mystical powers or that they are messengers of Inari Okapi, the Shinto deity of fertility and prosperity. In ancient Japan, foxes and humans lived closely together, giving rise to many legends about them. Some folktales even say foxes have the ability to shape shift into women!
We just think they’re darn cute, don’t you? That’s another spot added to the Japan travel bucket list!
How to get there
Now that we’ve swooned you with the cutest pictures of foxes, it’s time to go! Start with cheap flights to Tokyo and then it’s off to Shiroishi on one of Japan’s crazy-fast bullet trains. From there, it’s just another dozen kilometres to the Fox Village. A city bus or a rental car will do the trick for the rest of the way.
Cutest thing you’ve seen on the internet today?
