Kamanoko is a goat from a in a zoo in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and he’s sure to be a hit with the lady goats thanks to his hip hairdo that sets him apart from the herd.
animals (Page 42)
Last month, we got our first peek at the brand-new statue of Hachiko, in which Japan’s most famous dog is reunited with his loving master after almost a century apart. But while Hachiko’s legendary loyalty is inspiring, we weren’t waiting 100 years to see the statue for ourselves.
With the piece now installed and open to viewing by the public, we made the trip to the campus of the University of Tokyo, and we’ve brought plenty of photos and video that we shot while looking at Hachiko through both our viewfinder and a constant stream of tears.
Japan is home to hundreds of animal cafes where guests are able to hang out with cats, rabbits, and even owls as they sip lattes and cups of herbal tea. These establishments give their patrons, often people who live in rented accommodation in urban areas, a chance to interact with animals that they would not be able to keep at home due to a lack of space or strict “no pets” clauses in tenancy agreements.
In Korea, however, one particular cafe has upscaled the experience with something much bigger and fluffier than the common bunny, cat or pup. Check out this unique cafe which houses a pair of beautiful, friendly sheep!
Cat lovers in New York City have rejoiced since mid-December, when Meow Parlour, the city’s first cat cafe, opened its doors.
For the uninitiated, lets explain what a cat cafe is. It’s not a place where you take your own cat to hang out and have coffee. It’s not a restaurant that has cats on the menu. It is a place where you can enjoy the companionship of cats while sipping on coffee and munching on a cat-shaped macaron.
What are some popular cat names in your country? Back in the UK, where I’m from, you can hardly step outside without a Tigger, Smudge, Felix, or Sooty crossing your path. It stands to reason that Japan also has a dedicated pool of much-loved kitty names to choose from, and pet insurance company Anikomu recently conducted a poll to find out which ones are the most popular.
In a landmark case, the owner of an elderly Chihuahua who tragically died on an everyday walk in Osaka has successfully received 220,000 yen (almost US$2,000) in damages from the owner of a German Shepherd alleged to have brought about the death of their pet.
But what exactly happened that day, and was the German Shepherd – or rather its owner – really to blame?
Even in a country that adores its pets, none have captured the hearts of Japanese animal-lovers like Hachiko. The Akita dog touched the hearts of people across the nation by devotedly waiting every day for more than nine years in front of Tokyo’s Shibuya Station for his master to return from work, not knowing that he had died from a cerebral hemorrhage and wouldn’t be coming back.
Today, a statue of Hachiko stands in Shibuya, showing the dog patiently waiting. But while the bittersweet quality of the story made Hachiko famous, it overlooks the fact that before his master’s passing, the two would happily reunite every evening and walk home together. Now, it’s that moment’s turn to be immortalized, with a new statue showing Hachiko as he’s rarely been depicted before, bursting with joy upon seeing his owner.
If you’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time on the internet over the past few years (haha, who are we kidding, of course you have), then you’ll probably be familiar with the trend of balancing stuff on your pets. It’s practically an old meme now, but for some reason it seems to be having a revival on Twitter in Japan. Two doting pet owners tweeted some choice snaps of their fuzzy buddies practically buried under a mountain of… stuff, and it’s totally squee-worthy! Join us after the jump for some very unamused but amusing pets!
Whether our parents like it or not, food is an art form. Playing with food is awesome, and we’ve seen some spectacular examples of shaved-ice masterpieces, printed designs onto food, or corgi omelets.
But if you’ve been looking for a quick, easy artistic recipe you can do at home, look no further. Get ready to make the cutest little appetizers you’ve ever seen: fried poodles.
We’ve already talked at length about the complex feelings we have whenever we see an anthropomorphic mascot for a food joint shucking his own kin as delicious, greasy human grub. We bet you can’t even count the number of times you’ve walked by a chicken joint whose crazily grinning avian mascot was holding up a bucket of deep-fried drumsticks, or a contented pig sitting down – fork, knife, bib and all – to a barbecue rib feast and never really thought much of it.
Well, if the usually slapdash, cartoonish mascot on the sign of your local wing joint wasn’t in-your-face enough to disturb you with implications of animal cannibalism and the idea that you might just be eating animal protein that was once a creature with enough intelligence to talk and use kitchen utensils, maybe this Kanazawa, Japan pork restaurant ostensibly managed by a live, miniature pig is just the thing to kickstart your conscience, you monster.
In a lot of ways, convenience stores in Japan are more like miniature supermarkets. So while they still sell a lot of the candy and canned beverages their counterparts in other countries specialize in, you can also find plenty of edible, even gourmet-sounding food.
For example, the chain FamilyMart sells pouches of fried scallop meat, specifically the mantle, or part of the animal that attaches it to its shell. There’s a certain level of risk that comes with eating any mass-produced foodstuff, though, as one customer found out when he found what he felt was a foreign object in his pack of marine mollusks. And while generally the only thing you want to find in your food is, well, food, we suppose if we had to find something else mixed in there, we’d want what he discovered hiding in his snack: a pearl.
Many animal lovers are already familiar with Akita Inu and Shiba Inu, Japan’s two most prominent breeds of dog. But while they’re both popular choices as pets, there’s another special type of pooch in Japan, the Kawakami Inu.
Extremely rare, the Kawakami Inu are said to be descended from Japanese wolves. And while they have the courage you’d expect from such lineage, that doesn’t mean they’re not also adorable as puppies.
With all of the advanced technology intelligence agencies can employ, plus the fact that so much information is now stored digitally, it’s easy to make the assumption that modern espionage is all hacking and drone surveillance. In fact, though, there’s still plenty of room in the spy game for carbon-based operatives working in the field.
As such, it’s the responsibility of militaries and police forces the world over to be on guard against organic espionage threats. So while you can admire the diligence and zeal shown by a group of citizens and police in Vietnam who captured and detained what they thought was a ring of 16 Chinese spies, the suspects turned out to be innocent.
They also happen to be pigeons.
Staying warm during Japan’s chilly winters can be tricky, especially when it’s time to hit the sack. A lot of Japanese apartments don’t have the best insulation, so if you don’t want to blast the heater on high all night long, a nice warm blanket or down comforter is essential.
Unfortunately, six months later the weather becomes hot and muggy nationwide, so all those blankets need to be put away. And while you could just wrap them in plastic garbage bags and stick them in the closet until next winter, the far cuter option is to use a specialized case that looks like a snoozing bear, panda, or wolf.
Sometimes, it can be hard to tell exactly what you’re getting with a video just from its title. For example, we recently looked at one called 100 Sizzling Japanese Maids in Action, which sounds like it should be a saucy little romp, but actually has more to do with frying pans, since it’s a cookware advertisement (albeit an awesome one).
On the other hand, the title of Scratching Many Capybaras lets you know exactly what it’s about. What it doesn’t tell you, though, is the adorable thing that happens next.
If you head out to the countryside in Japan you’re likely to notice that there’s a whole lot of wildlife to be found on these myriad islands. Whether it’s brown bears (Hokkaido), venomous snakes (Okinawa), or stinging centipedes (Everywhere), it’s important to be aware of what might be lurking. It’s not all creepy crawlies and bitey-stingies, though – there’s a possibility you’ll bump into capering monkeys, wild boar trotting down residential streets, and other adorable and fuzzy members of the animal kingdom. If you’re extra-lucky, one might even seek you out as a special friend, which is what happened to one bloke on Twitter when a deer decided to take up residence under his porch!
Just like how families in the west put lights on their homes and ornaments on trees for Christmas, Japan has its own traditional decorations for New Year’s. One of the most common is kagami mochi, a stack of two or three rice cakes topped with a mikan or daidai, both orange-like citrus fruits.
No one’s exactly sure why it’s called kagami mochi though, since even though the name literally means “mirror rice cake,” there’s no mirror included in the display. As a matter of fact, in the minds of some animal lovers in Japan, the design options for kagami mochi are wide open, as shown by this collection of photos where adorable pets take the place of the rice cakes.
Perhaps the (in)famous pigeon dating sim Hatoful Boyfriend has given the nation a soft spot for the feathered creatures, because Japanese people have been going crazy for cute pics of pigeons all fluffed up in the cold.
Tales of animals exhibiting unusual behaviour are too often the result of being kept in unnatural conditions in captivity – like that poor “headbanging” bear that was doing the rounds last summer. So we’re pleased to bring you today an interesting video of an animal being a total badass hero and rescuing his friend from a dangerous situation.
After a monkey was electrocuted and fell onto train tracks at a railway station in Northern India, another monkey spent 20 minutes resuscitating him, to the delight of cheering onlookers.
Join us after the jump for video of the dramatic rescue.
As anyone from a multi-pet household can tell you, trying to feed several hungry animals at once without ending up covered in stinky, sloppy pet food and teeth marks is a serious task. If several of your fur buddies have special dietary requirements and/or special medicine that must be skilfully disguised in the morning’s Fancy Feast, then it gets even harder. If you’re looking for a way to make the whole operation a lot less of a hassle, you could take inspiration from this company president’s method of feeding his nine kitties. All you’ll need is a flight of stairs!
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