I went to Akita just to have a look, since I had a spare day left on my leave and my Tohoku Shinkansen pass still had one day remaining. I simply wanted to stroll around the city without any specific purpose - a relaxing walk to wrap up my northern Tohoku trip. There happened to be a dog show organized by the city at Senshu Park near the city center, and I got to see a few young Akita dogs in action - their figure and their movement 1. This is not the first time I’ve seen Akita dogs in real life, but somehow I never noticed how charming they are. In Tokyo at least, Japanese Shiba dogs are more popular among the people, so I got swayed into thinking that Shiba Inu is my favorite breed. But I think after I saw this, I belong to the Akitas. I also learned that the famous story of the Hachiko dog in Shibuya - known for the dog’s loyalty - was actually about an Akita Inu.
