What is Kussie?
Kussie is a cryptid said to live in Lake Kussharo in Teshikaga, eastern Hokkaido. Lake Kussharo is Japan’s largest caldera lake; it freezes over completely in winter and is a tourist spot known for its island and the Sunayu hot sand beach. Its name was coined after Scotland’s Nessie.
Sightings in the 1970s
Kussie became famous in the 1970s. Sightings followed one after another of hump-like shapes floating on the lake and moving slowly, and there were even reports of a group of tourists seeing it together, widely covered by TV and newspapers. Around the same time, Issie of Lake Ikeda in Kagoshima Prefecture also became a topic, and a boom in lake cryptids swept Japan.
What is Kussie really?
Theories include driftwood floating on the lake, Ezo sika deer swimming across, flocks of waterfowl, and waves mistaken for a creature. Because of volcanic activity, hot springs well up from the lakebed in places, and strange ripples on the surface may also have contributed to the sightings. A statue of Kussie stands on the lakeshore, and it is loved as a local mascot.
