A friend made me aware of an Akita Inu event/parade happening in Tokyo on 12/2 in Shibuya in honor of Hachiko’s 100th year. Ironically, I was in Shibuya for the week as I was getting a tattoo done, so the universe must have wanted me to go. I was supposed to leave that morning, but the event was to take place from 2pm – 4pm, me, knowing that if I didn’t go, I would be mad & regret my decision. I booked an extra night at the hotel – which meant checking out & then checking in to a much more expensive but nicer room. I kid you not, that room made me wish I booked it in the beginning even with the price difference!
Anyway, I got to Saturday’s event early as I was not sure what to expect. I’m glad I did as I was able to get close to the barricade to take pictures of the dogs who would be participating in the parade. It got crowded super quickly, which again I wasn’t expecting it to be packed, so I was glad I got there when I did. Unfortunately, I do not speak or understand Japanese, so I could not understand the speeches given before the parade started. But it was nice to see the Akita Inu and experience an event honoring the breed.
These are some edited pictures of the event, with this link having all the pictures I took. All the pictures are unedited except for the ones posted here (which are in the beginning of the album).
I wasn’t aware of an AKIHO show the next day, luckily for me it was in the morning, so I planned to leave Tokyo at 12:50 to get back to Chiba at a reasonable hour. It was supposed to start at 9am which I was planning on staying until 11 so I had plenty of time to see the dogs, catch the train back to Shinjuku, grab my luggage from the coin locker, and make it to the bus. Due to some technical difficulties the opening ceremony didn’t happen at 9 and the show started around 9:40 (cue my anxiety) but even with that little hiccup I was able to see a fair number of the dogs. I wandered unknowingly to what I assume was the adult male ring.
AKIHO shows are set up differently than NIPPO shows (which I was more familiar with). Again, this event was packed, most likely due to being tied with Hachiko’s 100th year. There was a square barricade, 6 tapes circles spaced out in this square space. Dogs were shown simultaneously in the rings, but it was near impossible to wander to get good photos of dogs in different rings due to the amount of people present. I again was lucky as I got up to the barricade to get photos of the males in front of me. I tried my best to get pictures of the other rings but due to location, people moving, and distance made it hard to do so.
Another thing that really stood out to me was the overall engagement of pet dog owners. The Akita seemed rather friendly and willing to socialize, there was a fair amount of tail wagging from pet and show dogs alike, although there was minor posturing & noise at the other Akita to remind us all that the breed isn’t just giant teddy bears. Outside of the show area there was a ton of pet people out & about with their Akita, who all seemed to love the attention from adoring strangers. Which I’ve never experienced that kind of socialization at a NIPPO show. Granted this might have been because, again, this was tied to Hachiko’s 100th year, drawing Akita owners and fanciers alike to the event. I also have no other AKIHO experience to compare this adventure to.
My time was limited which sucked, but I was happy that I was able to experience an AKIHO show as Akita were my first Nihon Ken crush. I wish I took more photos (a common occurrence for me) but here are edited photos from the event as well as a link to the whole album. All the photos except for the ones in beginning (same ones posted here) are unedited.
Boomlay Shiba Inu 