The parade continues

Shima and Nicki have gone into foster care in other homes, yay! They're both doing a lot better and got well enough to move into quieter quarters. But just as they cleared out, here comes... Sakura!

Sakura is actually Chiro's daughter, and is from the same household in Namie, Fukushima. Her owners are still living in temporary housing and have still not been able to return home. Sakura came to us already a whole year ago, only six months old, and went into foster care in Tokyo with the wonderful Mrs. T. However, Mrs. T is having some health issues and needs a foster for her foster while she is getting them addressed.

So Sakura has moved in too.

Luckily, she and Poppy are getting along like gangbusters. Since Poppy is still a puppy and still doesn't completely understand dog socialization, Sakura is acting as a mom figure and doing some training. They wrestle and play, until Poppy bites too hard... then Saku-chan delivers the smackdown. Poppy is learning.

By the way, Nakio's family has decided to keep the name despite my exhortations to change it if they liked, and explaining that it was just a nickname. Crying Boy lives!

Veggie gyoza

I veganized a gyoza recipe from the "Men's Cookbook" Taichi X Kentaro Danshi Gohan no Hon and posted it over at Green Zebras. Handmade gyoza the best.

Kitty City

You may remember Yam-kun

Cat central around here. Hime got adopted, but Poppy is still here, and in addition to the sorta-feral-but-not-totally-but-enough-that-I-can't-really-wrangle-him-into-a-cat-carrier (Kuroneko) Yamato (aka Yam-kun), Nicki, Peetie, and Shima have all come down from Fukushima to have dental surgery.

Nicki is very demanding of your attention

They got their chompers pulled at the always fabulous TNR Clinic (I really need to do a whole post on them, they are an amazing, compassionate resource for animal welfare in Japan) and are now recovering at mi casa, aka the JCN satellite shelter. This place is a zoo. 

Sweet Shima was very finicky before surgery because eating was so painful. This skin and bones girl has put on some poundage (ounceage?) since the operation.

Hime and Poppy

Hime and Poppy have come to stay for a bit.

These rambunctious pups are about three months old, and come from the Namie area of Fukushima. Actually, we know their owner - a guy who has helped us on numerous occasions to pick up and care for his evacuated neighbors' dogs.

This man, Mr. K, has not evacuated. He is still living in his Namie home with his dogs. And like almost all the dogs in the entire prefecture (at least the rural areas), his dogs run free and are not spayed or neutered.

Predictably, his dogs have gotten pregnant. On multiple occasions. Did you know that a dog's gestation cycle is only about two months? This means it's actually possible to have more than one litter a season. Definitely possible to have more than one litter a year. That's a lot of puppies.

Now as much as I love - love! - puppies, I actually don't want them to ever be born on my watch. But they're so cute! And they are so precious! And precious life! I know, but the thing is, as much as I don't want more puppies to be born, they will always be born. In spades. And many many of them will die, because their owner drowns them in the river, or they are running around and get hit by cars (as some of our rescues' sibs were), or are attacked and killed by other, bigger animals (as some of our rescues' sibs were), or will go to the pound and be gassed to death when they don't find a good family before their adorable, snackable puppy faces mature into adorable, but less desirable, adult doggy faces. As so many are every single day all over the world. SO MANY.

So anyway, though Mr. K had resorted with previous litters to "returning them to nature" (via the river), he agreed to give us this batch, and think about letting us spay his dogs. One small victory.

There are five siblings. Three have been spoken for. Hime is going to a trial family soon. Poppy is available for adoption. She is extremely snackable.

Timothy

Rest in peace, my darling and most loyal friend. I miss you every day and love you forever. Thanks for 16 years of amazing. My boy.

sacred spaces

beautiful food

At the beginning of April we had a benefit buffet lunch at Kamejikan (Turtle Time? Whoever named that place wins) in Kamakura, a rustic old building refurbished into a guesthouse whose owners graciously volunteered the space to hold an event for us. The lunch was catered by the talented chef Nahomi Edamoto of NHK's Kyou no Ryori fame, and this lovely and eclectic lady prepared a stunning vegetable based meal from farm-direct organic produce, some donated from farmer friends of hers. She used a lot of Japanese vegetables like burdock, greens, and beans (I forgot their names - mizuna? uguisumame?) and told us their story.

The gorgeous  wooden guest house boasted rafters and a tatami room and a Japanese style veranda where the guests with dogs hung out. Only blocks from the beach, the doggies Nana, Hana, and Chibi (in between foster homes) had a grand old time trotting in the sand and splashing in the shallows.

Thank you so much to the Kamejikan staff, Chef Naomi Edamoto, Miku Sano, and Andy Wainwright for helping us put together such a lovely and successful event.

photo by SeeMoreArt

Meanwhile, only about 15 minutes' drive from the shelter in Inawashiro, a stately white lady (the white lady loves you more) rises above Aizu Wakamatsu, gazing out at the valley over the baby in her arms.

The Aizu Dai Jibo Kannon (会津慈母大観音) is not so old, the locals will say scornfully. Anything less than a few hundred years old doesn't really rate in Japan, and she was only built in the 1980s. Still, she's impressive, rising 57 meters into the air, hollow down the middle, with a spiral staircase and windows at intervals to look out into the surrounding hills. You can get up to shoulder height, peering out of porticoes in her spinal column.

The grounds are beautiful, with terraced sculpted gardens stretching out far enough for a good stroll, with plenty of spots to pause with a picnic. Koi bubble and undulate under the bridge that backbends over a pond with wandering canals, letting the carp meander around the park.

We hope she sends her merciful gaze our way, just a few kilometers to the east.

Thanks to Ian, who sent me a donation with which I've paid for medical supplies. We've done spay/neuters, administered antibiotics, fought off fleas and ticks and worms and scabies, and much more thanks to you.

Puppy Galore

Taku is the friendliest.

We had a flea market.

Taku, even younger.

We had a picnic.

Sibs stick together.

Taku and Tessa and Kumi came.

Darwin has a bit of shut eye.

 Torro and Darwin came. Torro left. Darwin left.

Kumi and Yamato make friends.

Kumi left. Tessa hid under the couch. Bucket and Sydney and Alfie came. Alfie left. Bucket left. Sydney left. Tessa left. Taku left. Bereft.

Addy came.

She tore up the house. She doesn't like electronics. Take that, vacuum cleaner! Take that! DVD player! Take that, lamps! Hoo boy.

I love this poster campaign advertising travel to Tohoku. Great!

Iku ze!

Thanks this week to Michelle, who sent a donation. Thanks, Michelle, for helping to get all these puppies vetted, transported, and placed!

Here's an article about ganbanyoku that I wrote for Tokyo Weekender.

Out and About

It's still cold as balls up in the radioactive north, but spring is starting to rear its head, for which I am hella grateful.

This week, my mask-wearing mug is appearing in The Big Issue (Japan), a magazine sold by homeless vendors outside of major train stations. The article is about the work of Japan Cat Network in Fukushima, and features a big fat picture of yours truly feeding cats in the zone, as well as an inset on dear King, who we hear is frolicking happily among the hot springs of Beppu.

The issue in question came out on February 15th and will be available until the end of the month, and features actress Norika Fujiwara on the cover. If you've never checked out The Big Issue - do. It's got well-written, interesting articles by journalists, they throw in a mixture of pop culture stuff and serious issues (sometimes in one story - the cover two issues ago featured famous – and schizophrenic – artist Yayoi Kusama {Whoa - when I clicked over to her link I discovered she's designing lingerie for my favorite undies shop, une nana cool, which already has great design}). And they are also providing homeless vendors with an opportunity to make an income. They receive about half of the mag's 300 yen cover price.

The monster puppy ended up being called Nakio, for lack of something else. I tell ya, if you don't decide on something in a reasonable amount of time, something ridiculous will stick. I took him to his trial home last week, and told them that they really should change his name if they keep him. I will report back on his progress. I missed him terribly the first night, I want him back. But if he and his family are happy with each other, it's the best I can hope for.

I also want to start introducing cool places I've found while being in Fukushima – this prefecture has a lot of unexpected surprises, beautiful and stylish spots that you never thought you'd find in what looks, at first glance, to be a backwater.

The first of these is a little bakery right across the street from Club Lohas, called Comaya. This calming café puts on French airs with its Brigitte Bardot on the hi-fi and its use of Swiss and French butter in their excellently delicious croissants (my unrefined palate can't tell the difference between them, but my favorite is the chocolate croissant). They are decked out in carefully edited vintage furniture, with painted wooden chairs and comfortable sofas, and one wall looks out onto a small fishing pond, ringed with hydrangeas in the spring and summer. They make a mean homemade English muffin-based lunch plate, with a heap of fresh salad and gorgeous local tofu sprinkled with herb salt.

Thank you today to Alexandra, who sent me a donation. Thank you!!