While we mainly want to share information about dogs in Japan that isn’t so easy to find in English, I thought that I would share these two articles. Many of my Japanese dog lover friends did not know that the first Akita dogs in the US came to the US as the dogs of Helen Keller. I won’t bother to explain too much about Helen Keller since she is a twentieth century American icon and inspiration to all of us.
After mysteriously going blind and deaf as an infant, Helen Keller went on to a productive and courageous life, learning to communicate through touch with her teacher Anne Sullivan. She graduated from college and embarked on a lifetime of inspirational leadership. She wrote 12 books, and advocated for equal rights around the world.
Her travels even took her to Japan in the 1930s, where she traveled extensively throughout the country, where she inspired the Japanese people with ability to advocate despite her disabilities. Because she had heard the story of Hachiko, Japan’s most famous dog, she decided to Akita Prefecture, from where the eponymous dog breed, the Akita, comes. I also need to share some information about Hachiko, but briefly, Hachiko greeted his owner, a Professor at Tokyo University, each day at Shibuya train station. One day the professor sadly passed away, but Hachiko continued to go to Shibuya station each afternoon to wait for the professor to return. The professor never returned, but Hachiko went to station everyday for 10 years.
Helen Keller’s love of Hachiko’s story led her to Akita Prefecture (incidentally, after 20 years in Japan, I still haven’t made it up to Akita). During her visit she seemed to bond with the large Akita dogs, and the Japanese government arranged to give her an Akita puppy named Kamikaze-Go. Unfortunately, Go had a short life in America, dying at 8 months old. However, he managed a close bond with Keller and because of his support, after he died Keller wrote Kamikaze-Go’s breeder, “If ever there was an angel in fur, it was Kamikazi. I know I shall never feel quite the same tenderness for any other pet…”
Despite growing tensions between Japan and the US in 1939, the Japanese government arranged to have Kamikaze-Go’s younger brother, Kenzan-Go, travel to America to become Keller’s new companion. Due to war breaking out, Kenzan-Go was the only Akita in the US until after the war was over, but his companionship with Keller became known in the US, and after the war he was joined by other Akita dogs.
Please take a look at Dr. Coren’s article to get some more details.