By Tim Binnall
In the face of significant depopulation and economic stagnation, a struggling Japanese village has turned to an unlikely 'hero' in the hopes of revitalizing the community: a legendary cryptid that had been something of a phenomenon decades ago. The curious creature reportedly entered the country's zeitgeist back in the late 1980s when sightings of a mysterious animal began circulating around the town of Shimokitayama. Dubbed the tsuchinoko, the peculiar cryptid was said to have been snake-like in appearance with venomous fangs and a beer bottle-sized bulge at the center of its body. Beyond its physical attributes, some made the fantastic claim that the creature could actually talk, though its words were often dishonest, and that it could easily leap six feet into the air.
As the tales of the tsuchinoko quickly spread, a full-blown frenzy erupted in Shimokitayama with village officials offering a sizeable reward to anyone who could capture the creature or produce evidence for its existence. This led to an expedition being launched in 1988 and hundreds of people from around the country flocking to the small community in the hopes of being the one to bag the mysterious animal. Japanese media outlets soon swarmed Shimokitayama and the quest to find the tsuchinoko was the talk of the country with several other towns offering similar bounties for the elusive talking snake.
Alas, the failure to find any sign of the creature combined with the faltering of the Japanese economy around 1990 caused the tsuchinoko craze to fade and the creature was relegated to the proverbial cryptozoological history books. However, over the last year, the legendary animal that captivated the public decades ago has made a surprising comeback thanks to efforts by Shimokitayama residents yearning to return the village, which has seen its population dwindle to around 800 people, to its previous glory. This past March, officials in the community established the Shimokitayama Tsuchinoko Park which features an exhibition revisiting the cryptid craze from nearly forty years ago.
Explaining their strategy, the director of the park mused that "no matter how attractive a village is, it is difficult to convey it to a third party in a way that's easy to understand. Tsuchinoko is a powerful draw." To that end, the community has even gone so far as to create a cartoon mascot, dubbed Tsuchinoko-kun, which is described as "a fairy transported through time from 35 years ago." Not unlike similar cryptids adopted by cities and towns around the world, the character now adorns all manner of merchandise for sale to people visiting Shimokitayama to learn more about the village's legendary creature.