A young bearded seal has been hanging out in the Tama River bordering Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture since last week, drawing daily crowds of onlookers during the Bon holiday week.
The light-gray mammal is of a species usually found in Arctic waters that on rare occasions may be seen off Hokkaido around ice floes, according to experts.
"Tama-chan," as the seal has come to be called, apparently strayed several kilometers inland in search of fish, they said.