According to Danwei, the Beijing City Government Food Safety Office reportedly is sending out notices putting restrictions on the serving, transport and sale of dog meat during the Olympics.

The main thrust of the notice is that all meat transported into Beijing during the Olympics will be thoroughly checked, and that the 112 official Olympic restaurants will not be allowed to serve dog meat, whilst other restaurants in the capital (especially those which serve Korean, Yunnan and Guizhou cuisines) are strongly encouraged not to serve dog meat during the Games.

Found at a pet shop the other day, sparkling wine for pooches.

The woman in the store confided in me that they do not sell much of the stuff.

An Osaka man has been arrested for a string of convenience store hold-ups that netted some 587,000 yen, which he used to feed his two dogs, five cats, five turtles, two snakes, and tropical fish.

Dubbed “The Dogman,” Takaharu Kawata would rob convenience stores at knifepoint while wearing an oversized black-and-white dog mask.

Mr Kawata, who is unemployed and living on welfare, was arrested in March while he was attempting to rob a convenience store. He is suspected of having robbed two stores previously.

Despite receiving monthly benefits of 120,000 yen ($1170), Mr Kawata said he did not have enough money to cover the basic necessities for him and his pets.

He was reportedly without the mask when he was arrested, saying that his beagle - which he apparently bought with stolen cash - had ripped it up.

Japundit noted that the number of dogs in Japan now exceeds the number of children under 10. During my last visit to Japan, I really noticed how many fewer children are out and about; they aren’t there like they used to be. At the same time, during Golden Weekend, I kept seeing dogs shepherded through the train stations in little doggie perambulators like the one above.

One writer for the Japan Times even went so far as to say:

The tininess and cuteness of the dogs, the care lavished on them, and the correspondence of their numerical growth with the decline in the number of babies suggest a kind of substitution at work. Are little dogs the babies of the 21st century?

At the same time that the birth rate in Japan is decreasing, and the number of pets are increasing, news reports cite the eerie trend that child abuse is rising. (Ditto for the US, some say). Let me be clear that I am not suggesting a causal relationship—at most, there would be a correlation. And obviously, one always wonders with these things if child abuse and other crimes are being reported differently than in the past, or if there is a true, statistically proven rise. Most people I spoke to in Japan this time felt strongly that the news really had become “worse” and more “bad things” were happening, but, as we’ve all noted, anecdotal evidence doesn’t rule the day.

Diane Rehm interviewed (audio) Martha Sherrill the author of Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain.  Sherrill spent some time in Japan and found out about the story of the Akita, its near extinction, and its preservation by Morie Sawataishi around WWII.  If you’re a dog lover, you’re sure to enjoy the interview and the book.

 Here’s the Publishers Weekly review via Amazon.com:

Morie Sawataishi had never owned a dog, but in 1944, when the Japanese man was 30 years old, the desire for one came over him like a sudden… craving. During WWII, snow country dogs were being slaughtered for pelts to line officers’ coats; working for Mitsubishi in the remote snow country, Morie decided to rescue Japan’s noble, ancient Akita breed—whose numbers had already dwindled before the war—from certain extinction. Raised in an elegant Tokyo neighborhood, his long-suffering wife, Kitako, hated country life, and his children resented the affection he lavished on his dogs rather than on them. The book brims with colorful characters, both human and canine: sweet-tempered redhead Three Good Lucks, who may have been poisoned to death by a rival dog owner; high-spirited One Hundred Tigers, who lost his tail in an accident; and wild mountain man Uesugi. To Western readers Morie’s single-mindedness may seem selfish and Kitako’s passivity in the face of his stubbornness incomprehensible, but former Washington Post staffer Sherrill imbues their traditional Japanese lifestyle with dignity, and Morie’s adventures (he is now 94) should be enjoyed by dog lovers, breeders and trainers.

I don’t know if this product is for cat lovers or cat haters. . . A Hello Kitty outfit for your puss.

Price: 18,000 yen

Via Rinkya

Check out this mouse pad for cat lovers.

The pads are arranged to resemble a cat’s paw, but they look to me like they would just get in the way.

Price: 1,800 yen

Via A Rinkya Blog

Straight from the Security and Safety Trade Expo in Tokyo is this emergency outfit for dogs. Designed to be either for a dog or cat, the coat includes pockets that contain emergency goods and food.

Why food? You would think that there would be plenty of fresh meat lying around for the enterprising dog or cat to eat following an earthquake or other disaster. . .

Price 28,000 to 50,000 yen

As everyone knows, we are quick here on JAPUNDIT to feature stories that highlight the Japanese love affair with their pampered pets. But here is one product from the U.S. that I have yet to see here. . . PetsCell

PetsCell is a GPS-enabled cellphone designed exclusively for dogs and provides two-way communication between you and the family pooch.

In addition to letting you dial up your dog whenever you want, PetsCell includes such features as a remote programmable geo-fence feature that alerts you whenever you dog leaves a pre-defined area, an ambient temperature sensor, and a variety of other “attachable devices.” The PetsCell is waterproof, and can be configured to automatically answer calls only from pre-programmed numbers. . . Which is sort of a disappointment because think it would be great fun for some telemarketer to call and have a dog answer.

Price: $499 plus activation and monthly charges

Via Popgadget

Got bugs? If not, no problem, since Bandai’s newest high-tech toy is a robotic cockroach. “This little thing has six legs, a touch sensor that tells it to change directions when it hits a wall, a micro monitor that makes it vibrate like a cell phone, and a mic sensor that lets it scuttle away when you make loud noises” according to Tokyomango.

The Hex Bug will be infesting a store near you soon for only 1,995 yen each. Apparently the creators experimented with several types of bugs but finally decided that “the cockroach’s movements and speed were the most compatible with battery efficiency and design.” So even though alternate models that look like ladybugs are also available–they still move around like cockroaches.

With declining births and increasing pet ownership, Japan may literally be going to the dogs.

A recent news report revealed that the population of dogs in Japan (13.1 million) now is greater than the number of children 10 years old and younger.

Aren’t those precious expressions priceless? In this photo from the Mainichi, we have, on the left, Mariko Amano, “a sports and health advisor”, and on the right, Ram, a 3-month-old French bulldog.

Mariko runs “an oxygen salon”, Air Press, in Tokyo, which claims to “slow down human aging”, so it was a natural step to open “a ‘Dogs O2′ capsule for pet dogs’ relaxation.”

A 30-minute treatment for a dog costs 2,000 yen, and assuming that this is post-treatment, you can’t deny that our Ram does indeed look pretty blissed out.

I’ve never actually met anyone who has heaps of money yet doesn’t want it, but they’re evidently out there. I just wish I could get to them first.

It’s true that the Japanese are some of the biggest pet pamperers in the world. There are lots of examples, including dog popsicles, Pet Sweat, doggie foot Jacuzzis, various high-tech gadgets, stress test patches, aromatherapy and acupuncture for the elderly, and of course the Japan Dog Yoga Association. So it’s hardly surprising (but still is) that they want to drink too. Probably modeled along the lines of Kidsbeer (”the Popeye Cigarettes of children’s drinks”) Tokyo Times says that 9 out of 10 dogs prefer Happy Lager Pet Drink. There are many implications, of course, but as Scrooge remarked in A Christmas Carol: “I’ll retire to Bedlam…”

They have everything else that used to be reserved for human beings only, so why not popsicles too? Tokyomango says: “It’s hot as hell in Tokyo right now. Don’t you think your doggie deserves a popsicle, too? Here are some cool ice treats made especially for dogs. It’s produced by the same company that make human popsicle favorites like the soda-flavored Gari Gari Kun. Yummy!”

But–they may actually need these frozen delicacies. As you know, a dog always wears more clothes in the Summer season. This is because in Winter they only have their coat but in Summer a dog wears its coat and pants. (Or, maybe you’ve heard that one before…) But, after all, nothing is too good for Fido these days–I didn’t check but these are probably relatively expensive too…

Filed under “animal abuse” Gizmodo regretfully reports on the availability of a new Hello Kitty cat humiliation kit:

Oh… oh my. Japan, a country that never fails to blow my mind, has just seen the release of, according to Google’s hilariously inept machine translation, the “Hello Kitty transformation set.” It’s basically a hat, bib, collar and carrying bag to turn your cat into the saddest, most ridiculous-looking cat on the block.

Apparently capitalizing on the longevity of Pocari Sweat, now Pet Sweat is available for those crazy enough to buy water for their dogs, according to Tokyo Times. In the good old days, dogs used to drink out of toilets and mud puddles and were perfectly healthy–now not even ordinary tap water is good enough for them? But this is just a natural development considering services such as BowWow.jp, electronic gadgets for pets, and (of course) dog yoga. [Source: EBT]

Here is the perfect product for those days when the family pooch comes home dog tired after a hard day romping in the yard – a doggie foot Jacuzzi!

Ashi Kirei Kirei includes the Jacuzzi itself, along with a towel and mat in either pink or blue.

Get it Amazon Japan.

Price: 5,800 yen

Fido will love you for it.

Via Plastic Bamboo

Coming to a theater near you. . . Tamagotchi - The movie!?!

My good friend Tokyo Dan from the What’s Happening In Tokyo podcast writes in to tell us about BowWow.jp, a company that specializes in providing services for Tokyo pooches.

In addition to dog walking services (1,800 to 2,200 yen, depending on size), BowWow.jp also has vehicles that are equipped with dog baths that they will dispatch you location on demand.

Pet ownership is on a steady rise worldwide. In Japan, more households had pets than kids in 2006, and a slew of new products geared toward canines has come on the scene to meet this trend. Wired presents a bizarre roundup of some of the coolest tech for dogs from companies in Japan and the United States.

The article is titled “Doggie Style: Cell Phones, Webcams and GPS for Hounds.” Maybe it doesn’t seem bizarre to the animals and their owners, but I’m sure most dogs and cats don’t need half of this stuff? Here are a few of the Japanese products mentioned:

• A portable, durable camera from Takara Tomy can be hung from your dog’s collar and operated by remote control. You can set a timer, triggering the camera to snap photos every few minutes and auto-upload to any Japanese cell phone.
• Pet Pedometer. Designed to attach to a collar, this pedometer is also a timer and a dog tag, all-in-one. The top line of the display shows how many steps puppy has taken; the bottom line shows how long she’s been frolicking. You can fill in your information on the back in case she trots too far and gets lost.
• See the Pooch Eat. Hailing from Japan, the ISeePet is an auto-feeder with a built-in webcam. You can connect the device to the Internet.and program it to send out an alert noise when it’s dinner time, then watch your dog pig out from your work computer or cell phone.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the rise of Social Petworking: “Dogster.com is a networking site for dogs. Just like on MySpace, your popularity is determined by how many Pup Pals you have, and you can leave love interests a Bone to let them know you’re watching them. Currently more than 300,000 users are registered on Dogster and its sister site, Catster.” [Source: EBT]