AR-News: (Japan) Pooch paradise

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Dogs lead the way in Japan's latest boom in 'companion animals'

By HIROKO KIMURA
Staff writer

A dog's life in Japan can be about as close to canine heaven on earth as it 
gets. 

Index Corp. President Yoshimi Ogawa with her company's Bowlingual, developed 
last year with toymaker Takara Co. to "translate" dogs' sounds and emotions 
into phrases like "I can't stand it" and "I have a favor to ask." 
Sure, just like anywhere, there are losers, too -- the unfortunate ones who 
are abused, neglected or abandoned to their fate, perhaps passing through a 
pound before being put down. For the vast majority of pampered metropolitan 
mutts, though, being a "companion animal" means being treated like a royal baby, 
with no expense or effort spared to ensure they lead long and happy lives. 
It's all a long way from the country's agrarian past, when Japan was not a 
particularly dog-friendly place. In those days, most animals were kept as guard 
dogs, and even today the lot of a countryside canine can be a miserable one.





full story:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040229x1.htm 







"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing."
Albert Einstein    

                         /\   /\         
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         There is no justice, just us!  
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