My sister recently went to Japan and came back to this side of the Pacific bearing Shiba gifts.
First, there was a whole sheet of bobble-headed puppies from the Mind Wave stationary company. And in the twisted Japanese convention of foodifying cute creatures, there was a sheet of Shibas as cheeseburgers, hot cakes, apple pie, berry shakes, etc. branded as “McDogs Burger” from the folks at Beverly.
More three-dimensional trinkets included a Shiba key cover from Leaps and a little metal charm from Nayutty.
The most interesting surprise was this January 2013 (vol. 68) issue of Shi-Ba magazine. The title has come to my attention before, but I’ve never actually looked through an issue. This appeals to me as a window into how Japanese Shibas are kept, discussed, and displayed for public consumption. It’s evident from the gorgeous photos that they are very much treasured as household pets, but apparently even the Japanese need feature-length reminders of breed history, what constitutes the true Shiba spirit, how “ancient” and “natural” and “wolf-life” this native breed is, and how the Shiba adapts to modern domestic paradigms.
… at least, this is some of what I gleaned from skimming with my limited Japanese literacy. There’s plenty of gratuitous fluff, but even cute stories which seem deceptively simple can be taken seriously. Maybe someday, when I have, uh, days to work on this, I’ll go through and take a closer look. Articles of interest include four pages on the Kai ken, another six pages on Jomon Shibas and the veteran hunter-breeders who keep them, more whimsical features like six pages on Shiba scratching (how and why they scratch themselves, and what owners can do to alleviate itchiness), how to prepare your Shiba to stay overnight at a friend’s house if they also have a dog (particularly adorable because the other party in this instructional article has a Kai), to more personalized narratives about a bear hunting episode with the now-gone Kouyasu-ken, and a triumphant story of a three-legged Shiba mix.
From the standpoint of someone who is interested in these kinds of visual and textual archives about human and companion animal relationships, this magazine is a goldmine. And I’m totally jealous of all the material this makes available to future canine historians, at least those who work in this particular niche.
Yup, sis had a pretty good idea of what I’d like!
Kawaii! I saw at least three to five shibas every day while I was living in Tokyo. They always brightened my day.
When my husband and I were in Osaka we saw Shibas all over, including a cute little sesame Shiba being loaded into a bicycle basket to ride home (I assume) from the park.
Is the first magazine photo from the article about the Jomon Shiba?
Blast, clicked post by accident! The Jomon Shibas look very interesting – larger and more athletic. If you find the time to translate parts of the magazine I’d love to read that article.
I think translating or paraphrasing for commentary purposes would be doable, at least from a copyright perspective. It would take me some time though… My sister is the professional Japanese-to-English translator, not me.
I’m intrigued by the idea of the Jomon Shibas, mainly because they’re different, though I don’t buy the claim that they’re more true to “primitive” type. Apparently they are kept and bred by quite a different group than people who are into “standard” Shibas. There’s not a whole lot of information about them in English at any rate, and I’d like to learn more.
Modern day Shibas can be very athletic too, though I suppose they don’t give that impression being so darn cute and all. Jomons don’t seem to be so squarely proportioned.
I love that keychain! B&T version would be cuter only see red one. hehe
I have a key cover and I love it.
The key cover comes in B&T! I didn’t see the keychain/dangly thingy in black and tan though. I’ve got to be very careful about what I decorate with that, since I have very bad luck with losing things like that. They always fall off.
Japanese Shiba trinkets are so adorable!
Shi-ba magazine was one of the reasons I got a shiba. A friend sent me a copy from Japan. I can’t understand a word of it, but the pictures are wonderful. Something I have noticed is that so many of the pictures are of the shiba’s backsides…is this the case in other issues of the magazines? Is there a particular reason for choosing this angle??
Heh, this issue came with a 2013 Shiba calendar, and the cover is graced with a Shi-butt! Not exactly sure how to explain the fascination… though Japanese dog bloggers think it’s adorable to put little covers over the duds to help “censor” the image.