Comments on: A pet is just for Christmas, not for life

By: Pets in Japan « Japan Q&A

Pets in Japan « Japan Q&A — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:49:24 +0000

[…] a survey about pet-keeping in Japan, see What Japan Thinks and for an earlier survey about how Japanese people treat their pets, see this other […]

By: Ken Y-N

Ken Y-N — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:54:47 +0000

Hi Temoshi & Thomas,

What I think is different about Japanese versus Western attitudes is the fad, especially amongst city dwellers, for selecting pets, in particular dogs, based on the cuteness factor. Most Japanese females I know (not just 20-somthing airheads), whenever they see a smallish pet will exclaim “kawaiiii!!!!”, whereas IIRC most of the Scottish people I know would be more interested in the character of the beastie in question. This attitude is reinforced by the media in both countries; Japan’s pet shows are horrible on the whole, highlighting pets driven (IMO) to “cute” obsessive behaviour, whereas the UK shows would always try to promote sensible ownership, hence the story headline, a twist on the cautionary slogan “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas.”

If you know of any similar research into Western attitudes to pets, I’d love to see it and have any of my biases corrected!

Thanks, Ken

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:59:06 +0000

I think I agree with Temoshi, you set this up with the comment about the uniqueness of Japanese perspective on pet ownership, but nothing in the data suggests anything unusual.

By: Temoshi

Temoshi — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:13:24 +0000

Perhaps it has been mentioned before on this site, but what exactly is so different about the Japanese opinion on pets as compared to the usual Western one? The results shown above seem pretty much the same to me.

By: seidenverg

seidenverg — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:28:35 +0000

A pet is just for Christmas, not for life

nice..