It’s still too early in the season to definitively say what the song of summer 2022 will be. In Japan, though, a surprise contender has emerged — a nearly decade-old tune going bonkers online thanks to a silly dance.
Much of the credit goes to Nippon Professional Baseball’s Nippon Ham Fighters. The Sapporo-based ball club introduced a new between-innings segment to games several weeks into the current season. Mascots Frep the Fox and Polly Polaris (a squirrel) join the team’s Fighter’s Girls dance troupe for what has become known as the kitsune (fox) dance. They do a simple but fun boogie over the bleating sound of Norwegian duo Ylvis’ chart-topping 2013 hit “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?).”
Before smartphones and social media, this ritual would have been nothing but filler while the pitcher gets a few warm-up throws in. Yet in the age of constant content, the jig soon found its way into the spotlight. The Pacific League TV official YouTube channel — focused primarily on highlights from the Fighters’ league but no stranger to more oddball uploads — started sharing clips of the kitsune dance in May. One upload, which included members of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks imitating moves from their bench, blew up. It now has over 2 million views.