The Power of Crows

Yesterday, I was riding my bicycle and passing a book store. I just realized, they had put a new sign on the window.

カラスにご注意

自転車等に荷物を乗せたまま離れないようお願いいたします。

Caution, Crows!

Please don't leave your things on your bicycle, etc. 

I had never seen any crows before I came to Japan. My idea about crows were the big black birds which become a sign of dead people or a body of the dead people on movies, Here, in Osaka, even in my dorm, there are so many crows flying around. They're so big, almost the size of a chicken I think, but their meat are not edible as many people said. Also, they're really really noisy. You can try to hear the sounds here. Well, but I think I will miss them when I go back home this August :'( , please don't remind me.

Crows are not nice creatures. They're so powerful and aggressive whenever they smell some food. One day, I went to Mba Tri's house. I parked the bicycle in front of her boarding house and left my groceries in my bicycle's basket. "Beware of the crows, they could eat your vegetables and fruits, rip the plastic, and your things would get scattered," she said. I didn't believe it at that time. But then, one day, my another senior had some bento in a plastic bag in Banpakukinen Koen. She left it in a bench for a while because she wanted to take some pictures of the tulips. Several minutes later, there was a hole in the plastic bag, and some of the eggs were scattered outside the bento box. Apparently, the crow had a powerful beak and powerful nose. There was also once when there was some one put two plastic bags of halal 2kg frozen chicken meat outside the prayer room in Suita campus. Another person who had finished praying saw me in the prayer room and asked, "Do you put the chicken over there? It is ruined by the crows, I think." Of course it wasn't me, so I said, "No, I don't know." Then, I checked it, and it was really ruined. The culprits were the crows which were five meters over, I thought. Too bad... 

Compared to Indonesia, you should be careful of the stray cats. But in here, the stray cats were rarely seen, and they are kind of bulky and have thick fur. Crows are the number one animal you should watch over when you want to left your things, especially your groceries, somewhere outside.