TravelJapanBlog.com » pets

Sakura

acase — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:04:06 +0000

As promised, I took some cherry blossom (sakura) pictures of the Kanda River this morning. In the above photo some people are staking out a spot for flower viewing (hanami). Blue tarps are always used for some reason.

We sat on one of the blue tarps this past weekend at a hanami we were invited to attend. There weren’t many flowers yet, but the food was great, the company much more pleasant than the non-smiling faces above indicate, and we played loads of tennis with them too.

Everyone (except those suffering from allergies I suppose) loves sakura, but there are three groups who really love the cherry blossoms. They are the photographers, …

… the kids, …

and especially the (old) ladies (with a camera).

Kansenen Koen (甘泉園公園) has only one cherry tree. What it lacks in numbers it makes up for in magnificence as that one tree is really spectacular.

Basho’s hermitage is in the background of the above photo. The river is once again the Kanda.

Watching this guy try to get a picture of his bulldog along with the cherry blossoms brought a bigger smile to my face than the blossoms themselves. Everyone is happy when the blossoms are out. It’s a great time to take a walk and see everyone smiling, even if you can’t get your pet to grin.

More pets than children in Japan

acase — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:09:13 +0000

A recent article in the Japan Times says that there are now about six million more pets in Japan than there are kids under 16 years of age. This is very different than my experience in Japan during the late 1980s. I’m guessing there were probably 10 million more children in Japan than pets back then. That’s quite a change is just over 20 years.

Jizo (the six statues) are associated with children so I’m trying to show you a bit of irony in the above photo. I took this picture at Gokokuji.

Taking your pet for a walk in Tokyo

acase — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:55:54 +0000

While out for a walk along the Kanda River (神田川) we came upon some Tokyoites taking their pets for a walk.

Someone had a dog on a leash. Another had his pet tortoise walking behind him, no leash required.

The tortoise was almost as fast as the dog and seemed to know exactly which way to go.

The tortoise sported some fancy booties. I’m not sure if the booties were just for looks or if they protected the tortoise’s hind feet.

Another time I was out in the rain, without a camera, and watched pet owners walking their dogs. The dogs had on raincoats. They looked rather miserable–not because it was raining but because they had to wear raincoats. I think they wanted to enjoy the rain hitting them, but that wouldn’t have been fashionable in this town.

Japan’s pet craze

acase — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:29:39 +0000

Japanese attitudes about pets have changed rather dramatically in the past 100 years–especially the past 20. A few years back I read a book called Yankee Hobo in the Orient. The author describes the inhumanity of the Japanese toward dogs in pre-WW2 Japan.

A few decades later Mishima wrote about the torturing of cats in 午後の曳航. A couple decades after that, in the 1980s when I lived in Japan, I observed not much progress. Few people had pets, and those that did didn’t seem to treat them well.

All of that has now changed. The pet business is booming in Japan. Pets seem to be treated as well as children, and pampered, little, “cute” animals can be seen everywhere. Girls bring them in their purses on trains, older people are out walking them, and a large share of the population seems to own at least one–despite the limited space. I saw a guy just yesterday with a tiny dog in a purse. The dog was white but the ears had been dyed purple.

On a recent holiday, I had to wait an hour and a half for my bus (which usually arrives every 20 minutes when it isn’t a holiday) at the Ebisu Station so I killed a little time at the nearby shopping center. A dog show was taking place so I captured a few images of the pet craze. Not only were there dogs on stage, but there were hundreds in the audience as well.

At this show the dogs are auditioning to become a “Dog Idol.” I’m guessing this is like “American Idol” for dogs?

Everyone at the shopping center on this day seemed to own a little dog (or two or three).

On a recent walk around the Okubo part of Shinjuku we happened upon our first Japanese pet store. I didn’t have a camera at the time. Sorry.

The pet store was the strangest I’ve ever seen. Many, if not most, of the animals can not be legally sold in the states I’m guessing. There were owls, falcons, pigs, rare birds, monkeys, ferrets, hedgehogs, chinchilla, and about a dozen species I have never even heard of or seen before. It felt like a pet store one would find walking down Diagon Alley. The prices also seemed fictional, with many animals being listed for the equivalent of thousands of dollars.

Life Style With Dog

acase — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:21:32 +0000

When a foreigner first visits Japan they will undoubtedly be surprised by the differences. Some of these anomalies may even seem more than a bit wacky. After a while the wackiness becomes commonplace and the shock factor wears off. Soon it would seem strange for things not to be so consistenantly out of the ordinary.

With that intro, I’ll present to you one of the countless crazy shops we have encountered. This one, called “Howl’s Cafe & Shop: Life Style with Dog,” is a mere stone’s throw from our apartment in Nishi-Waseda (which is in Shinjuku-Ku which is in Tokyo). These kinds of places (and associated Engrish) will be passé for those living in Japan but still may be of interest to those abroad.

As we were heading home the other night this Japanese girl and her dog were enjoying their ice coffee in this doggie cafe. She jumped at the chance of a photo op and beckoned my children to join her, passing her dog off to my son. Her dog immediately started to lick my son’s face (I have a picture of that too that I may post someday).

It is good to be considered a cute dog in this land of cuteness.