Fox

A red fox props its front paws against a reddish-brown wall of weathered concrete in Yubari, Hokkaido, neck craned upward as if inspecting something above the frame. Dark vertical bars in the foreground cut across the view, framing the animal between the fence and the wall. Patches of grass and scattered rocks sit at the base of the wall behind it. Its coat is rust-orange on the back, white on the chest and underside, and it is balanced on its rear legs in a posture that is part curiosity and part play. The fox is not in a hurry.

Hokkaido red foxes are common across the island, including in the abandoned districts of former coal towns. As the human population of Yubari has fallen, the fox population has expanded into the spaces that used to be busy with people. Foxes hunt the small mammals and birds that have multiplied in the empty buildings and overgrown gardens. They are not particularly cautious here; the regular human contact that would have kept them at a distance has thinned out. The fox in this photograph has come up to the building because there is nothing about the building that scares it any more.