November 6, 2006 at 11 PM
Inu
Two weeks in Japan was just enough to crack the shell, throw it on the grill, eat it, and wash it down with a splash of nihonshu. It was a tease really. But what a wonderful tease.
I’ve posted a rather lengthy collection of photos from our trip. We tried to edit it down, really, but the best I could do was still over 300.
There’s lots to talk about of course. The people, the cities, the food. But I think I’ll start with the dogs.
The dogs. They like them small. And they dress them in clothes. Cute little doggy kimonos! We saw lots of dog clothes for sale at a department store, although at first we thought they were for babies. Actually it looked like some of them really were for babies which is a little frightening — do people sometimes have their children and their pets in matching outfits? Several times in our travels we saw nifty doodads and intriguing looking shops only to discover that, lacking four legs and a healthy supply of slobber, we were not the target market at all.
Yes, they take their canine care seriously. How seriously? Well, seriously enough to die their fur.
And to provide the dogs with their own pets.
(You might have to zoom in on that one, but trust me, that dog is carrying its own dog. Or it’s carrying a rat. Or it is a rat.)
Naturally, the Japanese, being quite brand-conscious, have dogs that are quite brand-conscious as well. For instance, there was this Burberry-sporting dog:
And of course, in a culture that prizes uniformity, it was not surprising to find these little critters together:
Previously: Hairful Computer User
Subsequently: A Sweep!
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