I’m more inclined to think that if Mossie is a real creature, whatever it is, it is likely a water breathing, quite possibly benthic animal that rarely comes to the surface.

DWA- A couple of submersibles wouldn’t hurt. The water in these lakes is so clear compared to a place like Loch Ness, that there’s a chance that they could turn up something interesting. I do find it curious though, that as far as I know, no scuba divers in the lakes (of which there are quite few) have ever reported anything out of the ordinary.

Sounds like Nessie to me, minus the publicity push. Right down to what-the-heck-is-it? and that sneakin’ suspicion I always get that sometimes shapes in the water are no more than that.

But could a couple submersibles hurt things any?

Of course I would love for it to be #1

The phonetic limitations of the Japanese alphabet will often mean that some words will not directly correspond to their English spellings or pronunciation. In my example above with “Mossie,” the difference concerns the lack of a “si” (pronounced see) in Japanese. The closest in Japanese is “shi”. (シ　in katakana for loan words, and し　in hiragana). For example, “Nessie” becomes “Nesshi” (ネッシー), “seatbelt” becomes “shiitoberuto” (シートベルト）and so on. Incidentally, the consonants of Japanese words will almost always have a vowel attached (except for a lone “n”), as you can see in the “seatbelt” example above.

Any Japanese words I use in these articles that are from foreign words (like Mossie), will have sometimes have these differences I’ve described. This is why the two spellings or pronunciations may not always be the same between languages.

Not to go into a language lesson here, but I just thought I would clear this up. The differences you may see lie in the inherit limits of the languages involved, not because of laziness or inaccuracy on my part.

The exact same thing goes for “Mossie” becoming “Mosshii.” It has to do with the phonetics of the Japanese kana. “Mosshi” is a corruption of “Mossie”, due to the phonetic limitations of the Japanese kana alphabet, of “Mossie,” which is what they are really trying to say and which is how the name is meant to look. Same as what happened to Nessie’s name when transferred to Japanese.

So often with foreign words written in Japanese, such as Nessie or Mossie, you will get these differences.

Oh yes, you most certainly should have gotten out of Tokyo! Japan has some of the most beautiful wilderness areas I’ve ever seen.

A lot of these cryptids that I write about are obscure, but not all. Many of them are well known by Japanese interested in cryptozoology, and written of extensively on Japanese UMA (Unidentified Mystery Animal) sites. Even the obscure ones can be found in Japanese cryptozoological literature, where is where I get a lot of my information.

Many Japanese people may only know about the big ones, and only know the others if they have an interest in such things. If they are not into this stuff, then I’m not too surprised they would not have heard much of Kappa, or Tsuchinoko, or Hibagon for instance. You might be amazed how many people here are unaware that there was once a type of wolf in Japan (the Honshu wolf), even though it was a known animal. (It’s now thought to be extinct). One of my main goals with writing these pieces is to share information on these cryptids (including for Japanese ), and hopefully expand the English literature on them while I’m at it.

I suppose it is the same with cryptids anywhere else. Someone who knows what Bigfoot is might not have ever heard of something like, say, a Ropen. Likewise, it’s not as if all American cryptids are known to all Americans. I’m very well read in cryptozoology, and I still often come across cryptids I have never heard of, even ones from my home country. For awhile, many Australians had no idea what a Yowie was. The same thing holds true in Japan.

Your friends may be very intelligent, but if they are not out reading up on the cryptozoology of their own country, then of course I wouldn’t expect they have heard of some of the creatures I’ve covered.

Shumway- I also meant to address what you said about the clarity of the lakes. I wouldn’t say that all lakes in Japan are that clear, but the Fuji Five Lakes certainly are. They are all known as being very clear lakes. Indeed, Lake Sai (Saiko), is often called “The Lake of the Maiden,” and is considered one of Japan’s clearest with its beautiful blue, highly transparent water. Lake Motosu is also known for being extremely clear. This good water visibility makes the lakes popular with scuba divers, who go down to see craters and lava formations from the great eruptions, as well as huge, preserved trees from the time. Interestingly, I have not found a single report of Mossie being seen by a diver.

Perhaps Mossie is a type of cryptid from the ocean that happened to have the habit of following salmonoid fishes up the rivers to feed on them, and when the lakes were formed by lava blocking off the river, the creatures were trapped in there. A very similar hypothesis has been suggested by some for the presence of Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia.

The problem I see with that idea in this case is that the lakes were formed in the 9th and 10th centuries, a time frame far beyond what I would expect for the life span of such a creature. It seems that there would have to have been more than one trapped in the lakes when Fuji’s eruptions occurred, a breeding population.

The net is curious, because there was a whole network used, and the type used are typically very sturdy. However, they may just not have been a type strong enough to handle a huge, non native fish like a sturgeon. There is also the possibility I suppose, that the damage done was exaggerated. It is a detail of the case that does make me wonder though.

Shumway- Well, Mossie was popular enough at the time for boats to use sonar equipment, but I’m not aware of any effort to use mini subs. It seems to me that perhaps most efforts to track the creature were more based on whimsy and an effort to drum up tourism than out of any real effort to find anything. I’m fairly positive no one was throwing a lot of money into it. Mossie also fell into obscurity pretty quickly and nowadays it is one of Japan’s more little known cryptids.

It appears that locals have been seeing strange things in the Lake since before the 70s, but it is really difficult to track down any sightings reports from before then since it wasn’t really in the public eye and I suppose not taken seriously. The creatures were known to the people of the area, but these people either felt no need to report it, or no one was willing to publish it. It seems it wasn’t until the flap of tourist sightings in the 70s brought Mossie into public consciousness that some locals were coming out and saying “Well yeah, we’ve been seeing this thing for years.”

cryptidsrus- I suppose it could be Fortean in nature but I’m more willing to look at the more rational possibilities first.

As for the depth of the lakes, the deepest of the Fuji Five Lakes is Lake Motosu, which is 138 meters deep (453 feet) at its deepest point. That is a far cry from Loch Ness, which reaches a maximum depth of 230 meters (754 feet).

If the creature was mostly a benthic, bottom dweller, then this would be more than deep enough to hide it, though. If it stayed at the bottom, it could avoid tourists’ prying eyes and cameras. If it is a bottom dwelling water breather, this could also explain why the creature isn’t seen in full view at the surface very often.

Could the scarcity of reports from the lake be due to “Fortean,” i.e., supernatural reasons? Maybe it knows we’re watching. Kidding.

Worth thinking about anyway. I know we tend to emphasize “scientific” explanations so we’ll stick to that, then. Just throwing out a suggestion.

Anyway, how deep is the lake? Is it as deep as Loch Ness?

That could be an explanation. Easy to hide in the deep lake.

And I do agree that not even catfish can get that big.

As always, great post, Brent. Keep it up.

I should have left Tokyo when I lived in Japan. I thought their nature was rather boring and rather went to South East Asia as soon as I had a bit of time to spare. Seems I made a mistake:) I read these guest blogs and asked my Japanese friends about the creatures. No one has ever heard of them. Even Kappa is not very known among the people of Tokyo as far as I know. Maybe my friends are ignorant despite all of them being educated and intelligent:) As a side note I can recall that I have heard Kappa being used in the context of making fun of mentally handicapped people.

Interesting though is that my ex-wife claims that she saw a kappa when she was around 13-14 up in Miyagi. Of course she did not refer to a mentally handicapped person but to the strange creature.