Toad story
On Monday, June 26, 2023 I saw a toad in Japan for the very first time. It was a big one, too. I was on my way to work and was walking away from the Kotake-Mukaihara Station in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward. It was a very warm morning. I was walking along a paved path with adjacent bushes, heading toward a major intersection where I needed to cross the street and change direction. There is a 50cm-high retaining wall containing the bushes, and at the base of this wall I saw this very large toad, not moving. Where did it come from? If it did not fall from the bushes onto the pavement but got there some other way it means that it had to hop an awfully long way - from somewhere. Because of the retaining wall, it was impossible for the creature to return to the safety of the shrubs (if that’s where it came from). Should I do something? If yes, then what?
I think the opportunity to act plays a large role in the morality of a thing. I mean, if I have the chance to do something, and it's a thing that needs doing, then I have an obligation to do it. I would be greatly bothered and fee guilty later in the day when, returning to the station after work, I saw the dead, bloody, mutilated body of the innocent creature.
If I have the chance to do something, and it’s a thing that needs doing, then I have an obligation to do it.
So, after taking a few pictures of it for my album, I picked it up and moved it off the pavement to safety in the bushes. I worried that the creature might pee on my if/when I tried to pick it up, but it didn’t. After corralling it with my feet it was all done in one quick motion.
Its skin was soft, cool and dry, and it was surprisingly heavy. It made me think of touching a woman’s breast for the first time - but a lot uglier, and with little feet sticking out.
Then I washed my hands in the first public washroom I could find.
Immediately, I knew that if I told this story to Japanese people, they would not understand the difference between a toad and a frog - the way some people don’t understand the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, even though there are distinct words for these creatures. And, I was right.