Non-porcine traffic forced to use the slow lane.

Each of Japan’s major cities has its own claims to fame. Tokyo is where mainstream entertainment and business trends emanate from. Yokohama is the breezy, multicultural city by the bay, while Kyoto, of course, is the heartland of traditional arts and culture.

And Osaka? It’s known for boisterous comedy and hearty fare, which made the scene Thursday morning on Osaka Prefecture’s Hankyu Expressway perhaps not totally surprising, although it was still plenty weird.

At roughly 9:30 in the morning, a truck en route from Nanta City in Kyoto Prefecture to Osaka City had made its way over the prefectural border and was passing through the town of Ikeda, roughly 30 minutes north of downtown Osaka. However, driver failed to notice a car that was parked on the road’s shoulder. The truck crashed into the stopped vehicle, in the collision some of its cargo of 37 pigs got loose.

In total, 19 hogs were given temporary freedom by the collision, in which the driver of the car sustained minor injuries. Between chasing the animals down, investigating the crash site, and clearing away debris, the authorities shut down the section of the expressway for five and a half hours.

Fortunately, none of the pigs showed any signs of injury, and they were all recaptured without further incident. Unfortunately for the pigs themselves, they were then loaded onto another truck to continue on their journey, with their ultimate destination almost certainly being a a pork cutlet, steamed pork bun, or Osaka-style okonomiyaki with pork strips.

Source: NHK News Web via Jin, Twitter/@fishing_life1