Abandoned Kansai

Despite their often more than questionable reputation, Japanese animal cafés. aquariums, zoos, and other animal parks are super popular – some of them have cartoonishly long lines that can rival those of branded theme parks. One of the most bizarre stories I’ve heard in recent years was when a high school classmate told me at a reunion that their daughter has been to Japan recently and that her favorite place was a capybara café in Tokyo, because, as we all know, nothing says Japan like large South American rodents that are hunted for their meat… I’m not really a fan of animal prisons (or animal ownership, for that matter – and if you unironically refer to yourself as the mommy of a fur baby, you don’t want to know what I refer to you… not to be mean, but to keep the terminology consistent!) and even after 20 years of living in Osaka I’ve never made it to the local and super famous aquarium, let alone any of those animal cafés, but during an urbex trip in late 2018 I basically passed by one of the more unusual and “off the beaten path” parks that is actually rather mainstream by now – the Zao Fox Village near Sendai. So I had a look. *And you can read all about it here.*
Three years later, during the best time to “explore” Japan (Covid…) I spent a spectacular week in Hokkaido. On route from Abashiri (to see the drift ice and the prison museum) to Asahikawa I made a stop in Kitami (for the mint museum – not coins, peppermint!) and took a bus from there with an overnight stop in Sounkyo Onsen, which held its annual ice waterfall festival, despite being mostly shut down at the time. The bus ran 3 or 4 times per day back then, so I decided to get off and on again in Onneyu Onsen to check out the local Michi no Eki, the freshwater aquarium and the Kitakitsune Farm.
Like I said, I usually avoid animal prisons, so I’m in no way qualified to judge how good or bad the Kitakitsune Farm is run. To me the foxes looked healthy and peaceful. But in comparison to my visit at the Zao Fox Village the weather was sunnier, it was colder outside, the ground was snow covered, I was there earlier in the day, the variety of foxes was much lower (1 VS 6), there was a lot less fighting among the foxes (none that I can remember half a decade later…). I spent an hour there and had a good time. Nothing I would travel to Hokkaido for, but it was a nice way to break up the day, considering that there were also other things to do in Onneyu Onsen. On GoogleMaps the Kitakitsune Farm has a rating of 3.9 after almost 2000 reviews, the Zao Fox Village is at 3.8 after more than 7000 reviews – predominantly in English… 500 Yen and open every day (Farm) VS 1500 Yen and closed on Wednesdays (Village) are important differences though you might want to keep in mind, As for the photo gallery – most of the pictures were, of course, taken at the Kitakitsune Farm, but I also added some bonus snapshots of the other locations I mentioned in this article. The next one will be all urbex again… and following few most likely, too. (That being said: My favorite animal place in Japan is still Barbacoa. Just kidding! It’s the *poison gas / rabbit island Okunoshima*. 🙂 )

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