Richard's blog

Japan is sometimes spoken of as the world’s most developed consumer culture. Certainly, in Tokyo at least, the extent of differentiation in goods and services is fascinating, mesmerising, and frequently baffling. If an idea can make money, chances are someone is making money from it in Tokyo.

Recently I read in the Metropolis magazine of a dog-rental shop where, for a small fee, you could hire the canine companion of your choice for an hour’s stroll. I’m a big sucker for dogs, so the opportunity to commandeer my very own doggy for a while was always going to be too good to refuse.

So it was yesterday that I wandered down to Puppy The World in Odaiba. The procedure was not complicated: choose your dog from a menu, fill in some forms, understand the conditions (thoughtfully available in slightly-garbled English,) provide identification, have your photo taken. Pay a fee (¥1890), and your dog arrives, complete with doggy-do collection kit.

Dog rental, in a city such as Tokyo, does seem to make a fair bit of sense. Living in cramped surroundings, it’s not always possible or permissible for people to own a dog. (Many apartment buildings ban dogs on noise grounds, but most people simply wouldn’t have the requisite space.) On the other hand, the companionship of dogs is something that many people enjoy.

I settled on a miniature dachshund named Sharon. Kawaii!!! Dachshunds are chou popular here in Japan (how could something that cute not be?) However, I soon discovered that cute does not equate with obedient. I’m not sure how old Sharon was, but she sure as hell behaved like a puppy. Everything seemed to require an inquisitive bout of nasal investigation, and she stayed blissfully oblivious to my attempts at walking in a meaningful direction. (This might also reflect my lack of understanding about how to control a dog!) This caused some problems crossing a road: when Sharon steadfastly refused to follow me across and the lights turned red with us in the middle of the intersection, it became necessary to pick her up and carry her. But it’s very hard to muster hard feelings for something as cute as a dachshund. And she was pretty up for patting. It was all good.

It’s probably been about 16 years since we owned a dog, so it was interesting to see the social reactions. EVERYONE looks at the dog. Most people get a little smile out of it. Most interesting of all, Tokyoites, normally reserved and unintrusive (and triply so with foreigners) suddenly dissolved into affable, chatty types in the dog’s presence. Of course it was all a ruse on their part to get a pat of the dog, but I actually can’t remember a social situation in Japan where I’ve been spoken to by a true stranger, outside of the business transaction.

So that’s how my world was puppied. (Someone please ring the OED and tell them that puppy is now a verb.) *Bliss* Additional photos click here.

Listening: Forellenquintett (Schubert)

Reading: One World Divisible (Reynolds)