VOL.209 NOVEMBER 2025
ENJOYING JAPAN’S MARKETS [Native Creatures of Japan] Japanese Badger

The Japanese badger is a species native to Japan that inhabits low-mountain forests and digs tunnel-like burrows in the ground. It inhabits satoyama (zones between mountain foothills and cultivable flat lands) areas adjacent to relatively populated regions on Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It measures 40 cm to 70 cm in body length and weighs about 12 kg. It has a stocky body, with short limbs and large claws. The Japanese badger digs holes in the ground with its front paws, and often hibernates from November to April. Overall, its fur is grayish-brown to yellowish-brown, with blackish-brown from the chest and limbs, and a white snout ridge and black markings around the eyes. While active during the day, it is fundamentally a nocturnal omnivore that eats mostly earthworms, insects, and fruit. In Japan, it is also called mujina and has long been familiar as a satoyama inhabitant. The Japanese badger’s habit of sometimes sharing burrows with tanuki (raccoon dogs) is said to be the origin of the expression, onaji ana no mujina (“a mujina from the same hole,” which is the Japanese equivalent of “birds of a feather”), a phrase which describes seemingly unrelated beings that are actually of the same kind.

Photo: PIXTA