Odd

Even coming from Britain – which is supposed to be a nation of dog lovers – the current fad for all things dog related in Japan has taken me completely by surprise.

It has to be said that doggie clothes of all descriptions and prices have been available for a long time. As have restaurants offering dog menus – compete with mineral water and special dishes. Plus for the truly demented dog lover, wedding services are an extravagant option. I’m not joking either. The dog wedding I witnessed on TV had the full works. Including dog guests, an aisle (of sorts), and a foreign ‘religious man’ to oversee the proceedings.

The latest craze however is renting a dog. For a rather steep 1,575 yen (7.5 pound), you can take your dog of choice (so long as it’s a cute Chihuahua, toy poodle, or miniature dachshund) for an hour’s walk. Puppy the World in Odaiba – one of the shops that offer this service – supplies customers with a leash, some tissues, and a plastic bag should the dog need to do a spot of business along the way.

Now personally, if I was paying that much just to take a dog for a walk, I wouldn’t expect to be cleaning up its excrement too. However the shop’s happy customers don’t seem to mind this one bit. On the contrary in fact, as it all seems like an enjoyable part of the experience. A 25-year-old woman called Akaike saying, “I want to raise a dog in the future, so this is like practicing.”

And for those who want to do some serious practicing, for a hefty 10,500 yen (50 pound), customers can take a dog home for a ‘sleep over’. With the kind people at Puppy the World supplying a day’s pet food, a water dish, and a cage for the animal to sleep in.

If this is all too sickly and sweet for you, I should add that despite shops such as Puppy the World, dog rearing in Japan does have a darker side. Dog fighting is still legal here, and whilst it’s not as popular as it used to be, fights are still held annually. For a bit more information, click on the picture of the cuddly little Tosa below.

As the Japanese take a rather relaxed approach to town planning, finding your way to someone’s house, a restaurant, or bar can be a tricky endeavor to say the least. More often than not a map is a necessity, as are numerous telephone calls, as you inevitably find yourself going round and round in circles.

Because of this, using landmarks is essential. Now in this department I’m quite fortunate as I live near a school and a well-known karaoke complex, so people usually have no trouble finding my humble abode. Yet I’m nowhere near as lucky as the people that live in an apartment building I came across yesterday. First off they can say, “My place is above the opticians.”

Or to make things really easy, they can simply point out that they live below the giant gorilla.

Police in Osaka have launched a manhunt for a knife wielding trouser thief. Now whilst stealing trousers may not seem like the worst crime in the world, it’s a little worrying when they are taken from someone who happened to be wearing them at the time.

Last Tuesday night, an unsuspecting 18-year-old cook was leaving a public toilet when he was confronted by the thief. At knife point the young man was forced to remove his trousers (which also contained a mobile phone and 10,000 yen [50 pounds] in cash), and give them to the armed criminal. After being handed the trousers, the plunderer, who was described as about 30, fled the scene clutching his ill-gotten leg wear.

Unfortunately this left the victim trouserless in a city centre public toilet. Not an ideal situation to say the least. After hiding out in the restroom for a while, the cook eventually mustered up the courage to venture out and rushed to a nearby store where he somehow managed to borrow a pair of trousers. Unfortunately the report didn’t give any details about how he explained his predicament, but one can only imagine how embarrassing the whole situation must have been.

Some cooks with trousers yesterday

It’s a commonly asserted stereotype that the Japanese (and especially those residing in Tokyo) live in tiny little houses and apartments. And whilst it has to be said that this is true in a fair number of cases, the situation is not necessarily all that different from many other big cities around the world. I for one distinctly remember my time spent looking for accommodation in London, and being surprised at some of the box-like abodes on offer. Although perhaps more surprising was the inordinately expensive rent that was being charged for such compact apartments.

So whilst in this respect Tokyo may not be that dissimilar to many other big cities, don’t expect Tokyo Times to shy away from reinforcing tried and trusted stereotypes. Especially as the other day I came across this little lodging.

Now I don’t know how an estate agent would go about promoting a place like this, but I guess for starters you could say it is a detached property. And whilst it’s not all that clear in the photograph, the house is situated next to a clean and relatively pretty river. Although unfortunately due to a lack of windows, there won’t be much of a view.

So shall we start the bidding?