The Hill Behind My Home | Yuko Takeda, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
April 30, 2021
It was this past January when raccoon dogs appeared on the hill behind my home.
Although my apartment is on the ninth floor, the north-facing slope is planted with trees and flowers that can be enjoyed throughout the four seasons, including azaleas and cherry blossoms, creating a view that feels like it overlooks a large garden. Since it extends over a JR train tunnel, a forest with no houses spreads out. The vegetation is diverse, with broad-leaved, evergreen, and coniferous trees, and it is also home to many birds. In spring, the calls of bush warblers echo across the valley, and Japanese white-eyes, pygmy woodpeckers, and wagtails appear one after another. Sparrows, starlings, pigeons, and crows, which come in flocks regardless of the season, have different active hours, and it seems that when these groups are present, other birds are nowhere to be seen.
I see not only birds but also mammals. The regulars are cats napping in the grass and squirrels nimbly moving through the trees. Judging by their size and markings, they are probably Pallas's squirrels. And then there are the raccoon dogs I mentioned at the beginning. I've also heard stories about masked palm civets living in vacant houses nearby, so there must be a considerable population of raccoon dogs as well, but this was the first time I had seen them from my home. Raccoon dogs are said to be monogamous, and indeed, they appeared as a pair. On a sunny winter day, the two of them seemed to relax and sunbathe for a while before returning to the forest. Sightings in Tokyo sometimes make the news, but it pains me that their habitats are shrinking, forcing them to appear in residential areas where they are often treated as pests.
In the March "Okashira Nikki" (Head's Diary), Mr. Hirota, the Campus Administrative Director, introduced the waterfowl of Gulliver Pond (Kamoike) and the plants around the SFC campus. If you take a moment to look around you at a leisurely pace, you will see things you don't usually notice. On a sunny holiday, as I gaze at the hill behind my home for a while, my heart feels lighter. And as a bonus, perhaps due to the effect of gazing into the distance, my eyesight seems to improve. (The titles on the spines of the books on my bookshelf become clearer. It's true!)
With the third state of emergency declared, for those of you wondering how to spend the long holiday, why not take another look at the scenery close to home? You might encounter unexpected discoveries and simple pleasures.