Saturday 1 October 2016

Domesticated Animals - Link Up

September 30, 2016

The theme set for this weekend's Linky Party is Domesticated Animals.

I have actually asked that I not receive postcards with dogs and cats on them, so I will once again turn to my Gotochi Card Collection for this link party's post cards.  I think I have two interesting cards for you to view!

One of the representative cards for Akita Prefecture is the Akita-inu.  Reading through the Wikipedia Article it seems the Akita has a long and interesting history.  Helen Keller was given two Akitas as pets.  The first one, Kamikaze, was replaced by his litter-mate Kenzan-Go after dying of distemper.

The breed was nearly lost in Japan during the second world war as people were not allowed to keep dogs.  Food for dogs was considered a waste.  People were starving and sometimes dogs were used as food.

Even though I live just a little south of Akita, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a real Akita.  They are quite large and most people around here prefer their dogs to be a little smaller!



Below, you should see a photo of a Kagoshima Kurobuta, or a Kagoshima Black Pig.  Apparently, this is the Japanese version of a Berkshire Pig!  Pork is a very common meat in Japanese cooking and many areas are famous for their pork. (I live in one of them!)



I hope you have enjoyed my look at two different types of Japanese Domesticated Animals.  Please visit the other members of this Link-Up Party to see what they posted too.

Until next week!

8 comments:

Joy said...

I remember an Akita featuring on Japanese definitive stamps way back in time, the only time I'd seen one, until now.

Helen said...

Oh, thank you! I didn't know about that. I'll have a look for it!

Scriptor Senex said...

I learn so much from your posts!

Helen said...

Thank you! The longer I live in Japan, the more I learn too.

Maria said...

I saw akita on a dog breeds website and told myself, this is the type of dog I want! It's sad how dogs are made into food in some countries. Thanks for sharing more gotochi cards! I might come to Japan in Nov and I will find gotochi cards for souvenir.

Helen said...

I hope you have a good visit Maria! Gotochi cards are only available in post offices and you can only buy cards from that prefecture. There are a few exceptions, the season cards and the special issue ones, like Hello Kitty or Twin Stars and some special sets like trains or castles are sold in most post offices.

Sometimes they do sell out, so I hope you manage to find a Post Office that has a good stock!

Mail Adventures said...

It's a very interesting post, Helen.

Helen said...

Thank you Eva. I learned a lot too when I was researching the cards.