People And Animals: Almost Perfect Partner
August 26, 2010 by Ryo Kubota
Some animals have been important for people. To improve their relationship, Japan’s ancient practice could be a good example
“It is completely wrong to think that everyone loves dogs”, says one Japanese man angrily. When he was a child, a dog attacked his leg, which caused a trauma in his life. Nevertheless, animals such as dogs and whales are important for business and society.
Animals are good partners for people to make money. According to The Economist (“Cue the fish”, August 14th 2010), the Discovery Channel “has been churning out shark programmes for 23 years. Yet ratings are sound. Nature sells”. The newspaper also says, “It is one of the best businesses in media”.
Japan has been whaling since the Stone Age. As it is said that one whale prospers seven towns, the activity has provided Japanese people with food and whale oil.
There are zoos around the world, some of which private companies run. Zoos have a museum aspect. A zoo in Tochigi prefecture, which Transpheric Management (TM), a PR consultancy, visited the other day, see animals as items like art works. But its employees try not to hold its animals in leash. As a result, creatures have become fertile. Besides, using the zoo and animals, its ambitious workers are planning to promote a town development. The manager of TM was impressed by them.
Animals have developed cultures in the world, too. Horses, for instance, are necessary to transport people and goods. Horse racing is widely popular around the world.
In this context, it can be said that animals are a subject that people can control and exploit. This does not, however, explain everything about the relationship between men and animals, as the opposite also happens.
Animals influence how people act and behave. The Economist says, “Dogs improve office productivity” (“Manager’s best friend”, August 14th 2010). That is, they improve relationships among people in the workplace. That proves that animals act as “social catalysts”. Japan’s practice of whaling has a cultural aspect. To strengthen the solidarity of local communities, whale hunters organised ritual activities. And whaling, which is dangerous and formidable, made them have a faith in Ebisu (one of the seven gods of the good fortunes). For them whales were divine so that they should be grateful for consuming the mammal.
That social and cultural aspect of animals is linked to psychology. There was a pet boom in Japan a few years ago. Among pet owners were businessmen who saw their pets as healers. Rika Koyama, a psychiatrist at Rikkyo University, analysed that pet owners were looking for the good in times of social and economic difficulties.[*]
But, as she points out, there are also some owners who open up their mind only to their pets. That is ambivalent to animals as social catalysts. So it is not clear to what extent animals can make people social.
Understanding psychology may be difficult for animals because some people do not give enough care to animals. Animal welfare issues are becoming increasingly prominent around the world. BBC (August 20th 2010) reports, “An animal protection charity has called on the government to ban zoos from importing elephants….The organisation said the creatures were “suffering””. In Indonesia, a zoo killed hundreds of animals this summer. A newspaper says, “Neglect and infighting between the management of Indonesia’s largest zoo cost the lives of hundreds of animals”.
Those cases may suggest one thing. Although whaling is controversial today, Japan’s traditional attitudes towards whales and the practice could be a model of the ideal relationship between people and animals. ■
memo
[*] Rika Koyama (2008) ‘People who open up their mind only to dogs and cats’ Gentosha Shinsho
