Butterfly Effect #2: Raccoon Invasion in Japan

Even very small changes in the initial data of a system lead to large and unpredictable consequences in chaos theory. In the famous example of Edward N. Lorenz, who tries to explain the subject to people in the simplest way, it is said that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon Jungle can cause storms in the USA. Therefore, this situation butterfly effect has been named.

The Butterfly Effect is a series of events that have a very small effect or seem very ordinary. how they made such a big impact we will explain. From time to time, we will go to the World Wars, and sometimes we will examine some events in different countries. The second event in the series is when one wrong turn puts the raccoons in trouble for Japan.

Don’t come back from there, don’t come back…

As the event that ignited the fuse of the First World War Assassination of Franz Ferdinand is displayed. Gavrilo Princip, who would attempt to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, would not actually have the opportunity to shoot Ferdinand. Princip was able to reach his goal because the driver made a wrong turn.

After this event, the First World War began. Countries that lost after the war under very heavy loads agreements were made. As Turkey, we tore up agreements such as Sevres imposed on us and succeeded in establishing a new country. No one else in Europe could do this. Those who evaluated the treaties at that time, “These are not peace agreements, they are the foundations of war 20 years from now” he said.

He fought in the First World War, because of the agreements made an unhappy german soldier later on, he would start a new era with his management philosophy known as fascism and gather others who would like to become a military superpower like himself.

One of them was Japan.

While we often know the atrocities of the Nazis, World War II was a struggle for the people who wanted absolute domination in Asia. Japan’s many inhumane operations It had been the scene. Its aim was to occupy the islands in the region and most of China. Saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend with the Nazis had gone to war.

The outcome of the war and the discarded atomic bombs we all know. What is not very well known is Japan’s economic approaches. For too long, Japan had run a closed economy and granted trade concessions to very few countries. After the Second World War, the country number one trading partner USA had happened.

During this period, the USA sells its surplus products to Japan, bought new products produced by the Japanese using these products, and then converted them and sold them back. While there are many products where we see this cycle (Yes Transformers one of them, I swear I will write, promise!) one of the most important examples of this situation was manga.

Are the manga American? What?

manga of course not american made, but one of his inspirations is definitely American comics. The Japanese used comics, which was cheap entertainment at the time. to their communities integrated. As a result of this integration, manga emerged and became very popular. In fact, the manga has also found great success in the rest of the world over time.

These manga have diversified quite a bit over time. to offer different types of content started to be used. Nowadays, you can find a manga or anime about any idea that comes to your mind. Even the anime about making bread Unlike today, more usual stories were told in the old days. One of them is the hero of our story…

Rascal the raccoon started a trend

Although raccoons are very cute creatures, they are essentially North American creatures. They are not a species seen before in another region. Raccoons do not exist in Japan’s own ecosystem. Japanese people are he didn’t know the cute creatures, until 1977.

Prepared that year by Nippon Animation Raccoon Rascal (Araiguma Rasukaru) It was published. Set in Wisconsin at the beginning of the 20th century, the story featured a young boy and a raccoon he named Rascal. The boy was taking a raccoon, whose mother was killed by hunters, as a pet. Although a bond is established between the raccoon and the raccoon after losing its own family, the animal’s wild nature It made things very difficult over time.

The anime was a huge success. almost everyone in japan getting a raccoon as a pet wanted. They didn’t just want to, and they brought a lot of raccoons to the country. The Americans of the period also supported the situation until the end, as they found a product to export out of nowhere.

Come see that not everyone can keep a pet

Unfortunately, when we look at the history of humans, we see that they were not a very successful breed in pet care. This situation was no different in Japan. After a while, the raccoons that were taken as pets were thrown out of the houses, and most of those who were not thrown away fled. However, “You’re Japanese, you’re smart” the Japanese we call, “by nature pet raccoon” with a themed anime.

The plan to release the raccoons into the wild was not very successful.. Raccoons without a natural enemystarted to multiply as it multiplied, like any other species that does not encounter an obstacle, almost killing the ecosystem on the island.

Raccoons began to feed primarily on bird eggs. will hunt themselves without giant cats or coyotes or wolves The raccoons that multiplied began to scatter everywhere in the cities and to overturn and rummage in the garbage. Most importantly, Japanese temples were damaged. in the country 80% of temple structures attacked by masked bandits.

So it seems unrelated Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the problem of the raccoon invasion of Japan are actually the first and last links in a chain of events that directly affect each other. Were it not for that assassination, we would not have entered the period of two world wars one after the other. As a matter of fact, Japan is not with the USA, but with Europe – especially with the Netherlands– would continue to cooperate.

You can access the other article in the series from the link below.