Tokyo, especially, must be the tiny dog capital of the world. In my neighborhood alone I'd say that about 30% ~ 40% of the families have a small dog. Trust folks, when I say, "Small dog" I do mean a very small dog. Many of these dog breeds are smaller than cats.
Tiny Chihuahuas that look like mice (with brains no larger than a peanut) are quite common. People treat these dogs better than their own children. I've never seen such pampered pooches in my entire life! The Japanese go crazy over these dogs and their spending shows it.
The Japan Times Reports:
The article goes on to break down the money spent:
Recently, I have been working with a very popular online wine service in Japan called iwine.jp. iwine.jp is Japan's online wine superstore. You can order wine online and have it delivered anywhere in Japan. It is very simple to use.
Well, what does that have to do with dogs? Bear with me for a second. This gets funny.
Recently, iwine.jp made a deal with the #1 most popular and widely read women's magazine in Japan, "Josei Jishin." Josei Jishin is a gossip magazine for housewives. It is the oldest women's magazine in Japan and is read by over 1.5 million Japanese ladies a week! It is one of those magazines that you see at every beauty salon, nail salon, doctor's office waiting room, well, you get the picture.
There is not a girl in Japan over 18 who doesn't know Josei Jishin. Of course, there isn't a woman dog owner in this country who doesn't know that magazine too!
Anyway, Josei Jishin and iwine.jp have started a wine club together and it includes a fortune telling service. Besides dogs, the women in this country LOVE fortune telling. At the fortune telling part, women will be able to enter their birth date, etc., and get their fortune told by a very famous fortune teller and be recommended different wines to drink if they want, say, romance, beauty, luck, success.
This sounds like a lot of fun and I hear it is the first time in Japan that this sort of thing will be launched.
What does this have to do with dogs? Well, besides wines for luck, fortune and love, women will also be able to find...are you ready for it?... Wines to drink with their dogs! I kid you not.
Laugh now, my friends, but I think Josei Jishin and iwine.jp have a wild but winning combination here...
And, when you realize that the pet industry in Japan is a $14.4 billion dollar industry you realize that people like iwine.jp and Josei Jishin know what women like.
I'll report more on this as this "pet" project gets going....
But, I must admit, I just can't imagine giving my pooch a $150 dollar a bottle Dom Perignon, but, I wouldn't put it past the lady next door.
See iwine.jp website here.
See Josei Jishin website here.
Funny, I thought dogs love beer...
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