The Pet boom is in full swing across Japan seeing steady and then astronomical increases since the late 90’s nationwide but especially in the Tokyo metro area. For a population in declining numbers it seems to some analysts that having pets, especially dogs, has replaced having children (or at least having more than one child.) According to pet survey data as recent as 2004 there were some 19.2 million cats and dogs in Japanese homes now outnumbering the17.9 million children 15 years of age and under. Pet purchasing power is surpassing the market for spending on children. A closer look reveals that the pet boom has both positives and negatives- and it certainly has already progressed to some amazing and disturbing extremes.

Positive Pet Power

On the upside, for decades psychologists, doctors, and social workers have done studies that have proven that having a pet in your life reduces stress, lowers heart rates, and it can even help keep patients with Alzheimer’s and serious age related diseases stay more connected and more energetic than patients who do not have pets or exposure to domesticated animals.

Many groups in the USA and Japan bring pets to retirement homes and nursery schools to bring happiness to children and the elderly alike. With the largest population segment in Japan being over 60, the health benefits of pet ownership are an important aspect of current pet trends. Even 20 minutes a day of petting and caring for a cat or dog has been shown to lower high blood pressure and reduce hyper tension. Plus the extra exercise required to walk a dog may give the retired set more of a reason to stay mobile and get physical every day.

There are tremendous benefits for young people sharing their lives with a pet as well. Having a dog at home can teach young Japanese students responsibility and commitment to walking and feeding schedules. In the fast-paced modern world of Tokyo this kind of natural grounding may be the only contact students get with living things other than their tightly packed neighbors. In a metropolitan area this large interaction with any sort of animals (other than large black crows) can be rare indeed.

Sit up and Take Notice of Pet-Passionate Small Business

Economically the pet industry here is raking in literally piles of cash, not just on the sale of expensive so-called pure bred dogs, but more on the side of new businesses springing up everywhere. The typical pet food stores and accessory shops are doing well of course, but what is more surprising is all of the more fringe businesses centered around pet ownership.

There are pet psychologists, surgeons, trainers, daily dog-walkers, and even pet detectives who are paid to find lost or missing animals. There is huge growth in the entrepreneurial business of pet grooming. Fifi and Fido don’t just get haircuts any more- they can get hair styles- complete with colored dyes, mousse and sculptured fur. To show just how trendy that sector has become you can take a walk into the newest high rent, high profile shopping center and mega office building TOKYO MIDTOWN. On one of the main floors in MIDTOWN there is an entrance for pets and their owners that leads right to a high-end pet shop, grooming business and doggie spa. The pet industry Japan has increased to about 20 billion dollars annually and this figure is going up at a rate of more than 15-20% monthly- the trend is not likely to slow down anytime soon. Bookstores, and magazine shops are selling hundreds of pet related books, manga and magazines, and pooch- and kitty websites are everywhere on the internet.

Some of the more outlandish-seeming pet accessories and services include dog and cat videos showing parks and outdoor scenes to keep your pet entertained while you are at work, designer pet carrier bags from Prada, Dolce and Gabana, Vuitton, and clothes for your pets all the way down to doggie raincoats and boots!

Is your pooch stressed out? Now there are also scientific pet pads, that you can stick on your dog’s feet to let you know if Fido or Fi-Fi are experiencing high stress levels, and Japan opened the first in the world “nursing home for dogs” in June of this year. The Soladi Co. plans to open a total of seven such nursing homes across Japan in the coming three years. Still looking for doggie stress relief? Pet massage is another new trend and some doggie day spas even practice acupuncture on hypertense city dogs.

There are of course plus sides to the pet boom for those who take real care of their pets - more restaurants and stores are becoming pet friendly, which means you don’t need to leave your loved one at home in a small apartment all day. And there is a rising consciousness in the responsibility of pet ownership. Unfortunately that rising consciousness is not rising fast enough to keep up with the huge expansion of pet ownership.

Japan’s Shame

The dark side of the pet boom takes many forms here in Japan. Over breeding is one of the most egregious. Pets, especially so called designer dogs, are bought here following seemingly arbitrary trends. Almost out of the blue, one dog or cat breed will suddenly become one of the must-have items for the trendy Tokyo-ite and to meet this sudden demand, breeders over breed to capitalize on the trend. Recently Nissan co. featured a Weimaraner in a recent tv ad. Sales of that breed of dog tripled almost overnight. There was a mad rush to breed more puppies to capitalize on the sudden demand. This kind of dog breeding is unsafe and unhealthy, but perhaps even worse is that Japanese consumers are not considering all the important factors in choosing a dog that fits the climate, lifestyle and conditions in their home.

This lack of considered and responsible pet ownership led to tragic results a few years ago when Siberian Huskies were all the rage. Husky dogs are bred and have developed over hundreds of years for extremely cold climates and for large spaces. They need lots of outdoor activity. It will be obvious to anyone who has survived a Tokyo humid summer that this breed is a poor match for this environment. But much like this year’s fashion- Japanese dog buyers often purchase the trendiest breed without researching the dog’s needs and health issues. To go a step further to realizing the cruelty caused by irresponsible pet purchasing one needs to comprehend what happens to these mismatched pets when the trend passes. Even though Huskies have a 10-12 year life span and the Husky trend was rampant less than 8 years ago, you don’t see very many of them out and about. Many died early due to health conditions and still more were euthanized when their owners were tired of them.

Like last year’s show fashion dogs that are no longer trendy are often discarded. Figures from 2004 show that more than a half a million dogs were destroyed at local facilities. Most of these dogs had no health issues and were not strays but were given up by their owners who were moving to new apartments or who had simply decided that a large, furry, artic canine was not a good match for their upscale small Tokyo apartment.

Genetic Cruelty

Perhaps worse than over breeding is the so-called “trend breeding”. This cruel practice has become very obvious recently in the super, tiny, toy breed trend. With small apartments comes the view of some dog owners that lap dogs are an accessory like a handbag or new pair of shoes- the breeders in Japan have worked hard to breed ultra tiny toy breeds. Some are almost ½ the size of the normal super small breeds, like Chihuahuas and Yorkshire terriers.

Over breeding and pushing the envelope on genetic engineering of our pets has led to some serious and cruel side effects. The New York Times reported late last year that inbreeding and hyper breeding has resulted in Japan’s dogs having up to four times as many genetic defects as those in the U.S. Some dogs are bred to be so small that, in a normal litter only one viable pup will be born. The rest of the pup’s litter mates have horrible birth defects and deformities, some even born with no actual bone structure and unable to move. At that point of course the rest of the litter are destroyed or sold to medical labs for experimenting and the one viable pup is sold for hundreds of thousands of yen. Even some of these thought to be healthy pups develop genetic issues related to their breeding later in life.

There are very few responsible pet stores or breeders and counseling for pet choice and teaching about pet needs is practically unheard of. Even this lack of knowledge creates a business opportunity- veterinary hospitals and specialists are also growing at unprecedented rates and pet owners are spending more and more on pet health care. The irony is that simple research and better understanding of breeding and pet purchasing would create healthier happier home pet companions and less of a need for expensive vet bills.

The law has more teeth but still doesn’t bite back

In 2000 the largely nonexistent laws regarding pet and animal cruelty were made stronger and given some teeth. After the law amendments, pet advocates were happy to learn that the new laws would impose a maximum prison term of one year or a fine of up to 1 million yen for people who killed or maimed animals intentionally and abandoning animals now would carry maximum fines of up to 300,000 yen, which was 10 times higher than previous regulations. There was hope that this would lead the way to legal means of regulating the pet industry and creating a country of more responsible pet owners.

Almost 7 years have passed and still little is being done to enforce those 2000 laws. There were no additional staff and budgets brought to bear on the problem and most local officials still turn a blind eye on even the most obvious of pet offenses. If the country of China should be under watch for Human Rights offenses then animal activists of the world certainly have a case to make that Japan should be cited for animal cruelty.

Things are looking up

This is where groups like Animal Rescue Kansai (ARK) come in. According to their homepage “ARK is a non-profit, non-governmental private organization formed with the aim of forming a network of people who love animals, believe in sharing their lives with them, and who work actively to rescue them from suffering. ARK was established in 1990 and became officially recognized as an NPO(Non-Profit Organization) in September 1999.”

ARK helps people adopt abandoned pets, shelters dogs and cats that are impossible to put up for adoption and probably most importantly they work with Japanese authorities and outside agencies to shine a light on the issues of over- breeding, cruel pet store conditions, abandoned dogs and cats, and the ways that Japanese society can change its relationship with domestic animals. On their links page you can find out about many more sites, services and organizations acting as pet advocates here in Japan and around the world.

The keys to solving the pet crisis and enjoying the pet boom here in Japan are, as with most things, education, responsible consumers, and better industry standards and regulations. Having a pet share your life is a fantastic way to relax and give and receive love- but it come with real responsibility and requires thought and attention. Let’s hope the rising awareness of pet related problems begins to keep pace with the rising numbers of pet family members in the modern Japanese home.