What's Happenin' In Japan

Dog-Raised Tiger Has Outgrown Mom

2007-08-18

posted by Akemi

A few months back there was a news story on a motherless baby Bengal Tiger who was "adopted" by a French Bulldog (our past mention, and video). How have things been going for this unlikely pairing?

FNN supplies an update. The lively little tiger and its surrogate parent are, in fact, doing just fine. The now four-month-old tiger has certainly grown, measuring 70 cm (28 inches) long and weighing in at 12kg (26 lbs)--3kg (7 lbs) more than "mom."

She's still doing a fine job caring for her not-so-little bundle of joy, but according to one of the keepers interviewed by FNN it's getting to the point where they're going to have to separate them. Not surprisingly, at some point a rambunctious growing tiger goes from being a handful to a danger to its undersized parent.

The plan, however, is to put them in adjacent cages so they can at least see each other, if not wrestle around.

Here's a brief FNN video update, sans subtitles.

Labels: animals, cute, update

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Heart The Dog Has Feline Competition

2007-07-19

posted by Akemi

Heart-kun, the puppy with the heart-shaped patch on his side, has become internationally famous, recently showing up on a Reuters story (check out the video if you like cute animals). But now he's got some competition: Chachamaru, a kitten with a heart-shaped mark on the other side.

FNN is reporting on Masako Nakaya, a resident of Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture and her unusual cat, Chachamaru. A month ago, an animal hospital was looking for a home for an abandoned kitten that had a heart-shaped patch of fur on its right side. Nakaya volunteered to take him in.

Now five months old, Chachamaru has, according to FNN, made the Nakaya house a lively place. Although someone abandoned Chachamaru, Nakaya says he's brought happiness to her home (not to mention her 15 minutes of fame). No word on whether they're going to try for the life of fame and fortune like Heart-kun, but they appear to be happy to just have him around.

A bit of video from FNN:

Labels: animals, cute

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Cloud-shaped License Plates

2007-07-02

posted by Akemi

In a bit of a turnabout on those boxy watermelons, Matsuyama City (J), in Ehime Prefecture, made national news by producing the first-ever license plate in Japan with curved edges.

The cute little cloud-shaped plates, intended for use on scooters and small motorcycles, became available on July 2nd. The cloud shape is a tribute to Ryotaro Shiba's historical novel "Saka no Ue no Kumo" (roughly, "Clouds Over The Hill"), about Japan's tumultuous 19th century Meiji Period. The novel takes place in the region, so the city has adopted it as something of a theme--they opened the Saka no Ue no Kumo Museum this April.

The plates come in three colors, depending on the size of the motorcycle. Matsuyama City plans on making 12,000 of the plates available through the coming year; they've already received orders for over 1300 of them.

Labels: cars, cute

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Heart The Dog

posted by Akemi

A pet shop in the northern prefecture of Akita lucked out when a chihuahua there gave birth to a puppy with a heart-shaped spot on its side.

The puppy, named "Heart," has already made the news and had a series of professional photographs made (link updated), and there's more planned. There's already talk of using Heart as the "spokesdog" for a dog health insurance company, modeling gigs, and a photobook, as well as numerous TV appearances. The pet shop isn't selling the little gold mine, but if you want one of his two siblings, they're available for 138,000 yen (about US$1100) each.

Here's a bit of video from an NNN news spot (no subtitles, but they're not necessary):

Labels: animals, cute

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Goofy Police Dog Kinako Gets Own Photobook

2007-06-02

posted by Akemi

Kinako, a Labrador Retriever in training to become a police dog, has become so popular for her less-than-stellar public performances and cheerful demeanor that she is now on tour promoting her own photobook to fans.

Born in May of 2003, Kinako belongs to a police dog training school in Marugame City, Kagawa Prefecture. Kinako, in training to become a police tracking dog, comes from a good bloodline--her grandmother was a national dog show champion. Kinako hasn't been quite so successful, however; for the past three years she's been trying--and failing--to pass the test to become a full-fledged police dog. Her trainer, 22-year-old Chisa Kawanishi, is herself a trainer-in-training, and has been working hard with Kinako to get her ready for police service.

Kinako's rise to fame began in 2005 when a TV station ran a piece on Kinako's clumsy performance in one of the school's public displays. The somewhat chubby dog became an instant star for her cheerful but spectacularly bad performance on the obstacle course.

She became so famous, in fact, that she not only has her own dog blog (J), but just had a photobook published (Amazon Japan's page, with a couple of sample images). Kinako hosted a "book signing" in Tokyo this May, where she posed for pictures with fans and "signed" copies of her book with an inked pawprint.

Here is a TV station's lengthy report on her training, aired back in 2005, with subtitles:

And here's a recent news piece from ANN on her book signing:

Labels: animals, cute

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Talking Sparrow Greets Customers

2007-05-16

posted by Akemi

There are plenty of talking birds in the world, but one grocery store has made a name for itself with an unusual talking sparrow in a story now making the rounds on various national media outlets, including a video report at ANN.

The elderly Yae Nakano and her three daughters run the small Nakano Grocery Store in Mie prefecture. The store had pet birds, so when a child living nearby found a swallow on the side of the road with an injured leg, they brought it to the store hoping they would care for it. The store decided to keep it as a pet, and put "Chibi-chan" in a cage out where customers could say hi.

What makes this story unusual is that gradually, in the six years since, the bird began to replace its chirping with words that it heard frequently. It can now say nine words, including "Good morning," "Good day," and "Irasshai," an all-purpose phrase meaning roughly "Come in" that is used to greet customers in stores across Japan.

The bird is popular with customers, and now has brought the store its 15 minutes of fame in the national media.

Labels: animals, cute

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Baby Tiger's Mom is a Dog

2007-05-09

posted by Akemi

In an interesting pairing, Asahi.com is reporting (J) that at the Shirotori Zoo (J) in Kagawa Prefecture, a female Bengal Tiger has been "adopted" by a French Bulldog named Nana.

The as-yet-unnamed tiger was born on April 26th, but for some reason, the tiger's natural mother didn't take care of her. The zookeepers took her out of that cage and put her in a bed designed for dogs in labor and began feeding her formula by hand. Then, six days ago, the two-year-old Nana was in a nearby bed when she gave birth to a stillborn puppy. Nana then started acting very interested in the baby tiger nearby.

Curious, the zookeepers put the baby tiger in with the dog to see what would happen. Nana immediately began cleaning the tiger as if it were her own baby, and got the tiger to nurse as well.

Since Nana isn't able to supply enough milk for a tiger nearly the same size as herself, the zookeepers are helping out with formula. It seems to be going well, since the two pound (900g) baby is already up to five pounds (2.3Kg)

The tiger's keeper was quoted (J) by the Asashi Newspaper as saying that the relationship goes both ways--the tiger has apparently accepted the dog as her mother. If all goes well, the zoo intends to display the tiger to the public starting in June.

As seen on YouTube:

Labels: animals, cute

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