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Welcome to the Year of the Dog!
These days, with Japan’s steadily declining birth rate it’s no exaggeration to say that dogs are becoming members of the family. Actually cats and dogs now outnumber children under 15 years old in Japan. Ten years ago dogs were for guarding the house. However, today they are being treated by the Japanese in a way that compares favorably with most human members of the family!
Of the 47 million homes in Japan over 40% own a pet. This is one of the highest rates in the world, and supports an industry said to have a market value of 1 trillion yen. And the most popular pets to own in Japan are dogs.
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| Living it up in Japan |
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Over 80% of Japanese dog owners keep their canine loved ones indoors and this number is climbing. According to a recent article in the popular magazine CREA (Feb 2006) more than half of dog owners have prepared a dedicated indoor toilet and allow the pet to sleep in their bed.
A whole new set of service industries delivering pet care has exploded on to the scene in recent years; massages, medicines & rehabilitation for aging pets, vitamin supplements, pet diapers, seasonal pet wardrobes, grooming and trimming services, schools that train students to provide grooming and trimming services, pet-friendly condominiums... you name it, pet owners are offered it! On average Japanese consumers spend 35% more per capita on their pets that do Americans.
More than ever before dog owners are taking their pets with them on trips to hotels and hot springs and even to bars and restaurants in town. A recent survey conducted by JMI found that 50% of dog owners said that it is becoming more acceptable to take dogs to such public establishments, with an increasing number of restaurants actually targeting this segment.
So how do the dogs feel about all this attention? Well a solution would be to ask them and in theory one hit product, from the toy company Takara, allows you to do just that.
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and after the massage I’ll have... |
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"Bowlingual" recognizes canine noises and translates them for the owners. A wireless microphone on the dog’s collar picks up its barks and transmits them to a handheld interpreting device. The device analyzes the voiceprint and displays the translation on a screen. It can display about 200 different sentences showing six statistically grouped categories of canine emotions, including: “This is fun”, “I’m sad”, “I want it now” and “Stay away!”. It’s said to be accurate more than 90% of the time!
Finally in Japan, you don’t have to own a dog to join in the fun. "Dog Forest"
(www.dogforest.com) is a theme park catering to the needs non-owners who yearn for some
canine company. Here its possible to rent a dog for the day or even adopt a dog while avoiding
all of the other inconveniences required when keeping the pet as a family member.
They used to say; “it’s a dog’s life”. But in Japan, in this year of the dog, it seems that there has
never been a better time to be ... um... a dog!
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