Legend tells of Issie (イッシー / Isshī), a lake monster said to inhabit Lake Ikeda in Kyushu, named in playful homage to “Nessie.” In 1978, over 20 witnesses (including schoolchildren) reported seeing two black humps submerged and spaced apart, each about 5 m long. A man known as Mr Matsubara captured what he claimed was the creature in photographs taken with a telescope, sightings continued into the 1990s and beyond; with some describing it as up to 20–30 m long.