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.

Posted on October 20th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: people, pets. Comments: 1

On the day before Loud Park was to begin, Ace Frehley backed out. To fill in for his spot Loudness was added to the bill. I was so happy. I saw Ace before, and have seen Kiss with him. I’m not a fan of either his solo act or Kiss. Loudness, on the other hand, was one of my favorite bands in the 1980s. “Disillusion” and “Thunder in the East” are their best two CDs, IMO, and they played a few songs off of them.

Before a band hit the stage the giant screen between the two main stages flashed their name as seen in the above picture.

This was the scene a moment later before Loudness made their first public appearance in quite a while.

Loudness’s long-time drummer, Munetaka Higuchi, died in 2008. Their new drummer is Masayuki Suzuki. Minoru Niihara is the vocalist.

Akira Takasaki is the brilliant guitarist of Loudness. One of his guitars had glowing frets. You can see the glowing frets better in the video at the bottom.

These pics aren’t great, but given that I was more than 100 yards from the stage and the lighting was poor, they aren’t that bad.

The setlist (set list?) was something like this:
Fire Of Spirit
Hellrider
Crazy Nights
Heavy Chains
Crazy Doctor
In The Mirror
Are’s Lament
Like Hell
S.D.I.
Hit The Rails

There is another image of Loudness in this entry.

Finally, a video showing what the small, Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 (ZS3 in some countries) can do. The audio is very good given the size of the arena (absolutely HUGE) and the fact that it is indoors. The sound bounces around quite a bit, but the TZ7 captures the audio pretty well. When in focus (which the TZ7 sometimes had problems with given the low lighting and hands occasionally thrusting into view) the zoom on the TZ7 sometimes provides a clearer picture with video than stills shot with the same camera.

Posted on October 19th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, people, tz7 zs3, video. Comments: 2

Although I’m still a Seibu Lions fan, I almost instantly became a fan of the Yakult Swallows as well. Luckily the Swallows, in the Central League, are in a different league than the Lions (who are in the Pacific League) so cheering for both teams should not be a problem most of the time.

One reason I became a fan is their nearby location. Another is their edgy attitude, demonstrated by the player’s faces on the screen when announced.

There are many other reasons, but the overall one is they remind me of my favorite team in the US, the Oakland A’s. Both teams don’t spend on high-priced free agents. Both have a nearby team known as the Giants (I hate both). I’ll save some of my other reasons for later when I have pictures to better explain them.

A 9th inning, 3-run home run by the Hiroshima Carp caused the Swallows to lose on this evening, but my daughter and I had a great time anyway. The Swallows made the Climax Series playoffs this year.

The half-empty stadium on a weeknight also reminded me of the good old days at the Oakland Coliseum in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Posted on October 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: baseball, meiji jingu stadium, people, yakult swallows. Comments: 2

Just a small glimpse of some scenes from the first day of Loud Park 2009… I’m off to Day 2 in a bit. Day 1 was loads of fun. I will post more photos and videos (of Outrage, Loudness, Anthrax, Arch Enemy, Megadeth, Judas Priest, etc.) once I’ve sorted through them.

Posted on October 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, people. Comments Off on Loud Park 2009 ラウパー – Day 1

Waseda University has the largest number of international students in Japan at almost 3,000. Although the vast majority are from Asia, and hence don’t stick out in a crowd, it isn’t as uncommon to see Caucasians walking between Waseda University and Takadanobaba Station as it is in most other parts of Japan. There aren’t nearly as many gaijin faces as you’ll see in Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Hiroo, or Roppongi though. That said, shops on Waseda Doori, linking Waseda University and Takadanobaba Station, aren’t very surprised to see us. However, if we stray off the beaten path a bit, things change rather dramatically.

We live on the border of Shinjuku-Ku and Bunkyo-Ku. A three-minute walk to the north puts us in Bunkyo-Ku. Outside of Ikebukuro, there don’t seem to be many Caucasians in Bunkyo-Ku. So when we walked into the above restaurant in Bunkyo-Ku it felt like we were the first foreigners to have ever entered their doors.

The couple that ran the place seemed slightly worried until they realized I could communicate with them just fine. The lady was so sweet. She kept bringing more and more side dishes over even though we hadn’t ordered them. We received the “special” treatment.

I ordered sukiyakidon (thinly-sliced beef with raw egg, onions, and a sweet sauce over rice). Everything else you see in the above photo was a free “gaijin” bonus.

My wife ordered ebitenpura soba (battered and fried shrimp in a soup of thin noodles) and had a few freebies tossed in as well.

Posted on October 15th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, nishi-waseda, people. Comments: 2