ESSAY

A Japanese Dog Story
by Audrey Lavin

Leading studies of U.S.-Japan relations, which examine history, politics, economics, and religion, fall short by failing to examine the popular texts used to teach English in Japan. These books are rife with hostility toward our decent dog-loving American values and consistent with anti-canine sentiments noted by Orientalist William Elliot Griffis in 1882 when he wrote, “In Japan, dogs are held in very little honor except the ‘Chin’ or Japanese Spaniel.”

Today’s Japanese leaders who studied English at Japanese schools in the 80s and 90s are indoctrinated with hate and fear of man’s best-friend. Examples abound. Here is one from Modern English: An Oral Approach-Book 7:

  Jill has three dogs on her hands.
  Jack was really mad when he saw the dogs.
  Both the cocker spaniel and the Dalmatian bit Jack.
  Maybe Jack smells funny or something.

Multiple references to people being bitten by dogs or strongly disliking them can be found in this 138-page textbook, which asks students to repeat practice sentences such as, “I can’t stand dogs” and “Jack threatened the dog” over and over again. Even the fictive teacher demonstrates an anti-canine bias with conversational gambits that combine grammar lessons with pedagogical advice, such as, “You’ll never learn English if you don’t practice.” She follows her sentence, “They’d better get tickets now or they’ll miss the concert,” with the sudden outburst, “I’ll kill that dog if you don’t get it out of here.”

What is the effect of this indoctrination? And does Modern English intentionally foster aggression toward only Western breeds such as the Cocker Spaniels and Dalmatians mentioned in the text?

After all, we know that all dogs are not created equal; the six related breeds of the Japanese dog, Nihon Ken, have been named National Treasures and Cultural Monuments of Japan, and certainly the Japanese dog could beat its American counterpart in a race. Step on its tail, and the result is an uncanny acceleration.