On 18 June in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture, 48-year-old Kaoru Kurosawa came home to find a 1.5-meter Japanese rat snake on the second floor. Kurosawa quickly took a picture of the serpent before it slithered down a gutter and escaped.

Now, netizens across Japan are heralding this event as a sign of good things to come for Japan or at least for Kurosawa.

In parts of many Asian countries it’s considered good luck to find a snake in your home. Rather than simply being one of those consolatory superstitions like “a bird crapping on your head is good luck”, this probably stems from a snake’s ability to kill other pests such as rats.

This superstition had branched off in various ways such as the belief that finding a snake in your house meant you would come into money, especially in a year like 2013 which is the year of the snake according to the Chinese zodiac.

While finding a snake alone is good luck, finding a golden snake is the equivalent of finding seven four-leaf clovers growing on a rabbit’s foot. Experts point out that a golden snake is just the result of an ordinary pigmentation abnormality that happens all the time. Gold is rare, but it happens.

As the photo spread across the internet, people all over expressed their excitement and jealousy with comments such as, “Something good’s gonna happen at that house”, “time to play the lottery”, and “golden snake, come on!”

Thankfully among all this superstitious talk one commenter gave a detailed explanation of the golden Japanese rat snake: “It’s certainly strong. It gives 10 times the exp and rare item drops… simply amazing.” Wise words, sir.

Source: Chibanippo via Hachima Kiko