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Ridiculous History

Japan is Overrun By Raccoons Entirely Due to a Single Cartoon

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While the legendary Japanese raccoon dog -- or tanuki -- may look like a raccoon, it's a very different beast. However, these days Japan is home to actual raccoons: they're considered an invasive species, wreaking havoc across the country as they destroy temples, consume crops, and threaten indigenous wildlife. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max discover how these dastardly raccoons made it all the way over the Pacific to become an absolute menace to Japan. Spoiler: it all started with a cartoon about a boy and his furry sidekick, Rascal. Tune in to learn how a single show inspired thousands of Japanese families to acquire a raccoon of their own... only to meet with some serioulsy ridiculous consequences.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show.

0:28.0

Fellow ridiculous historians.

0:29.5

Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.

0:33.4

Kenichiwa, we might say hello, welcome.

0:37.0

Tanuki.

0:38.0

Tanuki. I love it, welcome. Tanuki. Tanuki.

0:38.8

I love it, dude.

0:39.7

I love a Tanuki.

0:41.6

That's our...

0:42.1

Balls of steel.

0:43.0

Balls of steel.

0:43.9

That's our super producer, Mr. Max Williams.

0:47.5

Is that a...

0:48.4

That's not a Miyazaki, but it's a jibli.

0:51.1

And there is about a family of raccoons that use their giant testicles as implements of magic.

0:59.7

I don't know how else to describe it.

1:01.6

It's true.

1:02.3

It's old school Japanese folklore as well.

1:06.1

You're Noel Brown.

1:07.2

It's me.

1:07.9

I'm Ben Bowling, and we are talking to Nookie right now.

1:13.6

For this episode, we're going to be talking raccoons.

...

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