Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

  Found this little peeping Tom hanging out right after I turned off the shower! There was definitely a bit of screaming from the bathroom at that point, but only because I thought it was one of the infamous cockroaches that are so prevalent here. Newts/lizards/salamanders don't really scare me. Good thing, since I had to catch this cute little guy and put him outside! I looked up the various types of Japanese newts/salamanders (who knew that there is actually a Japanese Giant Salamander?? THAT would have made me scream for sure), and I think this one is a Tokyo salamander. Whatever the case, apparently it's a right of passage to discover one in the house, seeing as the people I've mentioned it to this evening have all replied that they hate finding them in the bathroom. How this one got in is beyond me, but if he's smart he'll stay outside: he narrowly missed a long, slow, and painful death at the paws of Wasabi and Sushi!