This is a difficult topic. We love dogs! We have always had dogs, but we actually know very little about dogs, so we don’t want to say too much here.
Although we can say there are quite a lot of dogs in Japan. More in the countryside of course, but even in the cities people do have faithful companions. In the city one tends to see more “cultured” pooches, while in the countryside we saw lots of what turned out to be typical Japanese dogs.
Our first impression is that these so-called Akita and Shiba Dogs have a dingo-look about them. (There must be people cringing in the aisles, but there you have it! Sorry, no offence intended.) We added links so that you can follow it up by yourself.
秋田犬 あきたいぬ Akita Inu
For some real dog information:
Hachikō, the dog in front of Shibuya Station was an Akita Dog.
柴犬 しばいぬ Shiba Inu
For more information:
Dogs about town
Dog is man’s best friend,
if man is dog’s best friend.
PS: For crying out loud: Japanese people don’t eat dogs!
It’s illegal! OK?!
Lami Japan 