Monkeys, Wild Boars, and Deer, oh my:"Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"

 Seeing as we live up in ye olde hills, the local wildlife is a bit of an issue.

I.     I-House  has saru, otherwise known as Macaca fuscata, macaques, or "those hot spring monkeys." The entire area around here has monkeys, as you can see from the street warning sign. There are signs posted up all around the I-House as well, especially near the laundry room and roof where people often line-dry their clothing. The warnings are as follow:
1) Don't leave food scraps on the balconies or around I-House
2) Don't approach the monkeys
3) Don't make eye contact with the monkeys
(I especially like that last one.)

We actually had a monkey sighting my second day in I-house--it was poking around on the roof of the boy's dormitory across the street--but by the time I'd got my camera, it had lumbered away. Apparently the monkeys will steal laundry sometimes as well. Take your underwear and bras and wear them. Or leave nice brown presents out on the drying area of the roof.

II.    There are also supposedly wild boars. No sight of Okkoto yet.

III.   There are also deer, or shika, and the picture I took of the one I saw near the Operetta was absolutely terrible, because it was hiding in a little opening in the woods in the evening. Lighting was terrible. But I can confirm there are deer as well as monkeys here.

IV.   Cats/Neko. There are stray cats EVERYWHERE--there's not much concern about spaying or neutering cats either, so the stray problem seems pretty rampant.  There are some adorable kittens, a Russian Blue, a Ragdoll, and a Maine Coon, in the small pet store inside the Vivre department store. (There are also some amazingly cute puppies.) I haven't seen any being kept as actual pets thus far, in windows or doors or anything, but I haven't been inside many private residences either. There are about 10 strays that seem to hang around the university. There are signs up around the university telling us not to feed or pet the strays (they have fleas, of course.) Here, they're all gathered around the jidouhanbaiki near the cafeterias.

V.   Dogs/Inu: Contrary to all my expectations, Kyoto loves dogs. It's not dog-friendly the way America is, with certain cafes where you can actually buy a dog cookie and sit at an outside table with your pooch while you eat pastries, but you're likely to see at least one person walking their dog or dogs if you go out for a decent stroll. You see smaller breeds a little more than the larger ones, which makes sense when you consider the size of the average home in Kyoto--a bit more vertical than horizontal. Breeds like dachshunds, Japanese chins, pugs, poodles, and beagles are pretty common. And of course there are lots of people with spitz breeds. You'll see some larger breeds as well though: I've seen labs, whippets, and golden retrievers (but still shorter than your average American golden). When I was downtown once, I saw a man walking an ENORMOUS white dog which I believe was a Great Pyrenees. When we got lost trying to find Kamigamo shrine the other week, we passed a house with about 6 or 7 yorkies--when we approached, they started running in a counter-clockwise direction, up to the gate to yip at us, away to the front door, and then back again. Call me a critic, but it seemed pretty rehearsed to me. =P