I’m studying abroad in Japan for a semester and it’s been great, but this topic has really bothered me
When I walk to my classes I pass by a house with a tiny cage in the ally between the buildings. It’s an EXTREMELY narrow alleyway that I myself could barely fit in, and I noticed that the owners leave their Shiba Inu in the narrow cramp cage (no bigger than 1.5x the dog). It seems the dog is there all day and night with a little water and food dish in an opening for their head. I’ve never seen the dog be taken on a walk or be missing from the cage (but I hope he does get to go on walks). I’ve come by at all times of day and the dog just lies there looking sad.
It’s not my place to directly interfere but is this common in Japan? It’s very sad and cruel to me. Can anything be done??
28 comments
Ever been to a Japanese pet shop?
When I rented my pet friendly apartment the real estate agent told me if I didn’t want to use the wardrobe for clothes I can use it as my cats home so the apartment is so convenient I don’t even need to buy a cage for him. 🤬🤬😤🤬🤬
In 2019 a (long overdue) broadening of the definition of animal abuse was codified into law ([https://www.env.go.jp/nature/dobutsu/aigo/1_law/aigo.html](https://www.env.go.jp/nature/dobutsu/aigo/1_law/aigo.html)):
> 動物虐待とは、動物を不必要に苦しめる行為のことをいい、正当な理由なく動物を殺したり傷つけたりする積極的な行為だけでなく、必要な世話を怠ったりケガや病気の治療をせずに放置したり、充分な餌や水を与えないなど、いわゆるネグレクトと呼ばれる行為も含まれます。
Google Translation:
> Animal abuse refers to acts that cause animals to suffer needlessly, and includes not only active acts of killing or harming animals without justifiable reasons, but also neglecting necessary care or not treating injuries or illnesses. This includes so-called neglect, such as leaving your pet alone or not giving it enough food or water.
The phrasing specifically includes the word ネグレクト, so I assume it would be applicable to the case you mention. Japanese law enforcement tends to be notoriously slow to act on cases like these, but YMMV.
Here’s a per-prefecture list of phone numbers you can call: https://www.env.go.jp/nature/dobutsu/aigo/3_contact/reportcruelty/
Or you could try a local koban first…
Either way, if you don’t speak Japanese, you’ll probably need to find someone on your behalf who does…
Sadly many people put their dog in really tiny cages inside their home. Not as extreme as the one you see everyday but yes, dogs are often not allowed to walk freely at home.
Yes. It is. I have seen a lot of people treating their dogs like garbage. I’ve seen an old man kick his shiba because it refused to move. I’ve seen an old woman dragging her tiny dog, visibly annoyed it wasn’t moving the way she wanted it to. The dog’s leash was wrapped on its leg! But she didn’t care. My school had an axolotl in a tank literally the same size as it. It couldn’t even turn around. Every day I saw that poor animal in a tank with nothing in it except its feces. It looked like it was dying. And guess what, last week it died. I doubt they had him for even a year, and they can live for around 15 years if you take care of them well. They also have a turtle in a tank maybe double it size. The tank has a rock it can climb on. The rest of the tank is decorated by its feces.
Edit: typo
Yes.
I had a host family that left their massive Dalmatian in a tiny dog house outside 100% of the time. To me that was neglect. Such a sad life for the poor girl.
Also, one time I was hanging out with a friend and we stopped at their house for them to pick something up. In the driveway there were 3-4 cages with bloodhounds or a similar breed that were obviously being raised for fighting (friend confirmed their dad was doing it). I was shocked, never expected dog fighting to be a thing in Japan. Absolutely tragic.
https://preview.redd.it/arjt6cap5lqb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7fc8a7d87f49299f5dc80cc08ead3097316373f
I saw this the other day, and tried to sneakily take a picture. It’s a goat with what looks like the rope burrowed DEEP into its skin. I wondered if that stuff above it was exposed bone.
Most goats I’ve been around let people touch them, but not this one. I wondered if it had been beat or something on top of the messed-up rope situation.
What can you do about something like this? Would the police investigate it?
I would not say it is common, but unfortunately it happens. I don’t have any statistics but from what I can observe, elderlies tend to not take care of their pets very well. In many cases elderlies in Japan have different perception of how to treat their pets, or they might be physically incapable of taking care of them.
Girlfriend’s family has had a turtle for 20 years. The poor thing’s been in the same 20 gallon tank the whole time with just enough water to make sure that it can’t rest or else it’s head will go below the water. They never even gave it a name and don’t seem to remember it’s there even though it’s constantly clawing at the side of the tank trying to get out.
Her dad got a shiba last year. Loves him more than anything but he’s never not on a leash. Even in the house he’s constantly tied to the couch. To the point that the leg is almost worn down from all the times he’s tried to pull away. Every time he acts up, they give him treats. To the point that’s most of his diet.
This is only one family, but from what I hear from my students about their pets, the average sentiment isn’t much better.
[Update: thank you everyone for your concern. I’ve struggled with this since I saw it and no one I’ve talked to seemed too worried about the turtle’s well-being. It’s nice to see that there is still compassion out there. I’ve ordered the appropriate sized rock for the turtle and it should be arriving shortly so hopefully he’ll be able to get some rest soon.]
Extremely common. Ridiculously common.
I would suggest not going to a zoo here
Yes. Animal cruelty is pretty common. There’s still a lot of old school pet owners who treat their dog like a piece of furniture or an appliance or something. Rural people are the worst. Dogs are tools used to keep wild animals away and serve no other purpose and aren’t treated any better than a dairy cow.
But then at the opposite extreme, a farm hand was recently arrested for kicking a cow and posting it to X or TikTok or whatever, so they’re trying to improve things.
Most Japanese people who have pets view them more as accessories or moving puppets than anything. The amount of people who put their dogs into “cute” dresses even when it’s 38°C is disturbing. Many people do not even walk their dogs.
Note: So I’ve lived in Japan most of my life (I’m Japanese) My mother is Korean so I’ve been to Korea a lot. And I’ve lived in the United States for about a year. (In high-school)
So take some of what I say with some salt.
Also sorry if I get some English wrong.
But “Common” is very general.
It happens yes. I would say that the general kind of Neglect that people are asking about happens more often in Japan then in the USA yes. And that it’s about the same in Korea. But I would also say out and out abuse most likely happens slightly less, but only slightly.
I would also that this is Very Generational in Japan/Korea at least. And I don’t think I got that impression in the USA.
A know a lot of younger people in Japan will tell you that they would like pets but don’t have them specifically because they don’t think they could provide them a live without this kind of neglect, older generations would never even give that any consideration in my mind.
Now this is all of coarse on a person to person basis. My grandfather has always had two dogs in his family as long as I can remember, but he lives a life that has more room and gives him more times to care for them, so they are companions.
But many people in his generation will have pets, get the affection they want from them and then ignore them the rest of the time.
There are no “animal rights” in Japan.
I’ve seen chained up wild monkeys and stuff you don’t expect to see from a “developed” country.
One time we found a shiba chained under a car in the hotel car park. In the summer. It was 2 am but still very warm and the poor dog only had a water bowl. Wanted to report it but local koban was closed and I don’t speak enough Japanese for a phone call. As an owner of dogs it makes me sad.
Basically if you own a dog and don’t live in a house or large apartment I would say its animal abuse so many people here get dogs with small apartments and the dog is always stressed out.
All the pets that I personally know are treated very well. But like any country, treatment like the one you describe is not unheard of. Try the koban like others have suggested, or maybe ask a local animal welfare charity what you can do.
Years ago, when I first came to Japan and was living in Aomori Prefecture, my American friend’s Japanese boyfriend lived on “the farm” with his family. To this day, I still have no idea what they were farming. It just seemed like a big plot of land with a house and few falling-down sheds on it. There were no farm animals except for two shiba dogs: one un-neutered male and one un-spayed female. These dogs lived permanently outside on “the farm” all year, their only shelter being their dilapidated doghouses.
The female dog was constantly either pregnant or about to get impregnated by the un-neutered male. According to what my friend’s boyfriend had told her, the female had had several litters throughout her life, and the boyfriend’s father would subsequently kill the puppies shortly after they were born. When my friend asked her boyfriend why his family hadn’t bothered to have the dogs spayed and neutered, apparently, according to the father, it wasn’t necessary because “the dogs were just doing what dogs naturally do.”
I was walking in the streets of Kyoto full of shops and restaurant and all of a sudden there was this very small pet shop with freaking real puppies and kittens living in 1 square meter window boxes!
The poor babies were just there so people can knock on the window under the flashing white light it was so so sad it broke my heart… I was so disgusted these kind of things are forbidden in EU cause this is animal abuse !! But nobody bat an eye here they were just taking pictures and giggling … so yeah I guess animal abuse here is common sadly. I truly hope it is going to change…
Yeah. I’ve seen fully grown barn owls in tiny mall pet stores here, in the middle of a brightly lit crowded store, visibly miserable while screaming kids grabbed at it. Same goes for dogs, cats, reptiles you name it.
And it is cultural. Animal neglect happens everywhere, undoubtedly, but having seen and spoken to people about the attitude towards pets here, it’s obviously part of the culture. There’s just less of an awareness of it here, compared to other countries I’ve seen. Animal care and abuse (or should I say animal *neglect*)is not prioritized as much, which is why you see fish rotting in half an inch of filthy water in someone’s house.
Of course I’m making a generalization, but that’s appropriate for the question.
I remember one time riding my bike, then about to cross the street, I saw a dog on his leash crossing a red pedestrian stoplight. Cars stopped for the little dog and I immediately got off of my bike calling for it. On the other side of the crosswalk, three high school girls screamed and we looked for the owner together. The owner happened to be an old man, who wasn’t even worried about the little guy. We told him to properly hold onto the leash and make sure it doesn’t escape his grasp. We were both leaving him and dog alone, then he gives him somewhat hard tap on his head. We both turned our heads to watch him and that was it.
In short, this old guy (he was slow at walking and didn’t even run to us when we held onto his dog, looking for the owner) wasn’t even worried that the dog was about to get hit a by car… Literally, I couldn’t believe I saw that in front of my very own eyes.
You can report it to the police. In fact, they ask you to report it. Animal abuse is a criminal offence with 1 year in jail or 1 million yen at maximum. If it involves the death of the animal, 5 years in jail or 5 million yen at maximum.
I remember the anime Silver Spoon had a whole line about how silly it was for foreigners to not want their chickens to sit in cages all damn day. “We’re just more sensible here.”
Has anyone gone to “Zoo Shin Okubo” before? I was curious and looked inside. It’s a pet shop with so many exotic animals crammed in cages, even a meerkat for sale that was kept in a fishtank. There were arowana fish in tanks way too small, they couldn’t even then around. There was an owl tied down who kept getting spooked by a dog roaming. The chickens had half their feathers plucked off and looked boney. Bizarre experience and it made me feel awful.
A friend of mine in Japan got a small dog. He took it to the vet to get it checked out, and the vet told him to keep it in a crate and that he only needed to let the dog out *15 minutes a day*.
This vet recommended this dog eat, sleep, and SHIT in the crate. I told him this is absolutely not how you treat a dog and showed him some dog training guides.
So yeah, I’m not surprised you saw this.
Japanese treat pets the same way they treat their romantic partners and kids: accessories to fill some internal void.
My home country has its problems but holy shit I have yet to find a Japanese person (in Tokyo) that has genuine empathy rather than tatemae empathy, any self-reflection skills, and doesn’t treat people or animals as things to provide some benefit to them. Probably going off on a tangent but that’s been my experience here.
Japan has the worst rating for animal welfare out of OECD countries