About this website
People in Asian countries have long believed that there is a hare/rabbit on the Moon. The rabbit on the Moon is called "jade rabbit” or “yutu (玉兎).” Recently, yu-zu was used as the name of a lunar rover (exploration vehicle) launched by China. The Moon rabbit pounding rice cakes is also well known in Japan.
Why is hare/rabbit thought to exist on the Moon? This site examines the origin and culture of the Moon rabbit (jade rabbit).
Shoji, D. (2026) "Thought of Lunar Rabbit" Kanjin-do (in Japanese)
About history of the Moon rabbit
Shoji, D. (2021) "When and how did Japanese jade rabbit begin to pound rice cake?" Geology and Culture vol. 4 (2), 42-56. (PDF text in Japanese, abstract in English)
About classification of lunar surface pattern by AI models
Shoji, D. (2024) "Classification of the lunar surface pattern by AI architectures: does AI see a rabbit in the Moon?" AI&Society. (PDF)
About machine learning and the Moon rabbit
Shoji, D. (2022) "Rabbit, toad, and the Moon: Can machine categorize them into one class?" arXiv:2203.16163. (PDF)
Shoji, D. (2017) "What does a neural network recognize in the moon?" arXiv:1708.05636. (PDF)