A traditional ceremony for children is catching on among pet owners in Japan, where dogs and cats are receiving ever more attention amid the nation’s plummeting birthrate.
Natsuki Aoki took her two Chihuahuas on a plane ride to Tokyo from the western city of Hiroshima so her fur babies could get a special blessing.
“There aren’t many shrines that welcome pets and allow them to walk inside, so I think it would be great to see more places like this,” 33-year-old Aoki said on Tuesday.
Photo: Reuters
The Zama Shrine, which dates back to the 6th century and is about 35km southwest of Tokyo, established a specific prayer site for pets in 2012. It now hosts Shichi-Go-San rituals where pet parents can pray for the health and happiness of their animals.
The rite, which means Seven-Five-Three in Japanese, is traditionally celebrated in mid-November for children reaching those ages. Parents dress their girls and boys in kimonos and bring them to a Shinto holy place for the ceremony.
On Tuesday, pet owners led their charges up the steep steps to reach the Inuneko Jinja, or Dog-Cat Shrine, to pray and receive a blessing from a Shinto priest. Six Shiba Inu dogs dressed in kimonos lined up for pictures at the event.
Japan’s birthrate last year declined for a seventh straight year to a record low, while deaths increased to an all-time high.
“The number of children is decreasing each year, and as a result, more and more people are pouring their love into their dogs and cats,” Zama Shrine priest Yoshinori Hiraga said.
“We want to offer the pet owners a place at Zama Shrine for them to thank the gods when their dogs and cats reach the age of three, five and seven,” said Hiraga, who estimated that about 120 pets would be brought to the shrine this season.
Among them was Masayo Tashiro, who brought her terrier and Pomeranian to the site as she made offerings and prayers.
“They are very important to me, like my own children,” the 53-year old caregiver said. “I came here to pray that they will have a safe and healthy life with us together.”
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other