Shibuya Show-Offs

渋谷の目立ちたがり屋

Shibuya is one of Tokyo's youth districts, and definitely the most commercial of the city's centers of youth culture.

Shibuya is very much a place to be seen. The biggest concentration of people there to be seen are no doubt in Yoyogi Park, about a kilometer north of Shibuya station. However, the trendy streets of Shibuya around the station have no shortage of people trying to attract attention.

Walking the streets of Shibuya on the weekend, I came across two people remarkable for their attachment to creatures we humans don't usually get intimate with.

The first was a "pigeon man," seen here placidly feeding them as they hungrily clamber over him, (hopefully repaying his kindness with a little continence).

Then minutes later, I encountered an equally strange sight, the owner of a turtle, who had brought his pet along apparently just to let people (especially school girls!) gawk and ply him with questions.
"How old is it?"
"10 years."
"How heavy is it?"
"21 kilograms."

It reminded me of another surreal scene involving a pet turtle that I saw near the Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo's Bunkyo ward three years ago.

© JapanVisitor.com


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Beyond the pet cemetery

ペットの仏壇




Where does Fido go when he dies? A pet cemetery? Well, just in case there is a doggy heaven, get him an altar too! This product was spotted in a Tokyo department store, and in a country that is pet-crazy, has to be one of the more way-out pet accessories on the market.

This pet altar was on sale in the Buddhist accoutrement section of the department store, along with the sutra books, candles, incense, prayer beads, and small altars for humans.

Buddhism is one of the two main religions in Japan, native Shinto being the other one.

Most Japanese do not consider themselves to be exclusively one or the other, but generally identify themselves as Buddhists who practice Shinto rites at the times and occasions when Shinto rites are traditionally called for, such as births and weddings.

In many ways, Shinto is less a religion than a historically accrued body of rites to appease and beseech gods of the traditional Japanese pantheon. Although, even here things become confused and the provenance of the respective Buddhist and Shinto gods can be uncertain, or at least not considered discrete. (Read more about the Buddhist/Shinto distinction/confusion here.)

But the Buddhist idea of the soul has it inhabiting every living thing, and transmigrating once the body it inhabited has gone. In this sense, having an altar for your pet makes perfect sense, if your lavishing of care on, and entreating heaven on behalf of, its soul will ensure it as least as good a life, hopefully better, in its next incarnation.

And for only 1,000 yen plus goods and services tax of 50 yen - what's that in the context of eternity?

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