The salamanders are awesome and apparently smell a lot like rhubarb!
I wouldn't try and pet a tanuki though, that would just be asking to be bitten.
Hondo Stoats are stoatally adorable, though I don't have a picture. They're little and go completely white in the winter. Horribly endangered though.
This is a pretty good site for other animals:
Japan's #1 Animal Blog - Japanese Animals, Fish, Birds, Reptiles, Insects and Wildlife