Japan is known to be a country associated with many unique culture elements, but one often forgotten aspect is the dog care. Dog ownership has evolved into a trending lifestyle which is increasingly competing with parenthood amongst Japanese people. However, according to statistics from The Ministry of the Environment, almost 1,2 million dogs have been placed into rehoming shelters across Japan year 1974, of which 97,7 % of the animals were euthanized. Up until 2006 more than 90 % of all the to-be resheltered animals were still euthanized. The primary purpose of this study is to access and examine the living conditions of the dogs in Japan, how the Japanese animal laws are distinguished from Swedish counterparts and what actions that have been taken by animal welfare organizations located in Japan. The question at issue is “What are the current conditions of the dogs in the Kansai and Kanto region with regards to breeding, selling and rehoming shelters (hokenjo) and how are they held up against current relevant Japanese laws?”. The sources of information that have been used to answer the question are Swedish and Japanese laws, news articles, official websites and documents. The theoretical approach that have been used is based on linguistics and animal laws. The yielded results shows that the formulation of the law contents is able to be interpreted according to the personal needs and economic priorities. Due to the lack of concrete formulations of laws regarding dog care, there is a risk that people who are involved can run their businesses in favor of their own likings despite that the laws are broken. This has led me to question the current written Japanese laws. After comparison between Swedish and Japanese laws, it can be stated that dogs are seen differently in Japan and in Sweden. Animal welfare organizations are working primarily to help dogs to be resheltered, but also to be sterilized. Other priorities in the country are focused on teaching its population to care and handle dogs, and to transform the hokenjo to an equivalent of Germany’s “Tierheim” and the restricting of laws. Keywords: Dogs, Japan, laws, living conditions, animal rights, animal welfare.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-157881 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Kawecki, Karolina |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Avdelningen för japanska |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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