Fox bullying.
This is amazing.
I don't like cute things.
In fact the word 'cute' makes me physically sick...
all over this, this chair.
But once in a while even I'm overcome with cuteness.
Up until last week I'd never seen a fox up close before.
I'd only ever caught a glance of them from a distance as they're notoriously shy animals.
So when I heard of a remote place hidden away in the mountains of north Japan known only as:
A place described online as:
Some friends and I set off into the countryside to see the village first hand.
It turned out to be a little bit surreal and surprisingly fun!
Heh, oh my god
It's literally a fox village.
Oh, god...
Aww
The first thing we noticed was how the foxes reacted to our presence.
Some foxes switched to vibration mode...
Others tore up the floorboards in disgust.
But most just seemed confused as to why we were there.
He's so cool looking.
What is it you seek in fox village?
And having been warned about being eaten by foxes at the entrance
I was a bit wary of how to respond to them up close.
Time to get the perfect selfie...
With a fox!
Oh my god, I'm scared.
I'm too scared.
And I had reason to be scared!
The village has been around for over 20 years and contains over 200 foxes.
And when I say village, it genuinely is the size of a small village.
Set in a forest with lots of huts and shelters, and even a fox shrine.
Shortly after we arrived in the village we found ourselves surrounded by many curious foxes.
You are truly at one with the foxes today.
This one's eating my sweater.
If you can't beat them, steal their camera!!!
Come over here, its much better than over there.
Your reward.
Yes, come, come with my friend...
No! F*ck. No! Come back!
However, the foxes seemed rather interested in harassing my friend Rachel.
After they overheard her refer to the rapper, 'Pitbull' as a good artist.
Fox bullying.
This is amazing.
They stole all your clothes!
Having dragged Rachel off into the forest
I suddenly found myself surrounded by another group of foxes...
Which I took like a man!
Oh no.
Oh no!
Arghh!!!!
Help me Rachel!
Help me!
No!!!
Okay, okay...
Ah!
Clever girl.
No!
What are you doing?
What's going on?
Enough of this nonsense.
After wrestling back my bag we stumbled across a random area with various animals.
Including some rabbits, and the surprise highlight of the day...
A mischievous crow.
Oh my god, you can literally touch a crow.
Do it again! Do it again!
No!!
Hi mate.
He likes it when you stroke his beak.
Really?
Sharla did demonstrate.
Am I allowed to touch it?
Yeah!
I don't trust anything you say.
You should, look.
What if he stabs me?
He's not gonna stab you, he's a crow.
He likes people touch his beak.
What a lad, what an absolute lad, well done.
Having been assaulted by foxes and crows next we were to discover what noise a fox actually makes...
As we made our way to a nearby feeding area.
There's no doubt fox village is one of the coolest and most unique places I've been to in Japan so far.
It was pretty surreal to be near animals that are usually so shy and hidden away.
And all the foxes were so friendly and beautiful, and better than cats.
Even if you don't like foxes, I can't recommend fox village enough.
If you can get there its definitely worth it, to be surrounded by lots of wild animals...
That you wouldn't normally see.
And to be able to pick them up, touch them, stroke them, feed them, and be bitten by crows.
That is literally a pile of foxes.
I can't even count how many there are there.