I dont think the dogs enjoyed Japan very much.
After we left, I counted that they had perhaps been off the lead and running twice - once in Tamagawa River and once in Kamakura where we went for Christmas lunch. It was freezing and we let them off on the beach. They ran up and down once, and stopped, as it was too cold.
However, we did walk them almost everyday, was introduced to our favourite restaurant Burger Arms and met many people. I also got to observe the pet world in Japan.
The most outrageous activity was what my friend did. She rented a dog for a day so her children would experience owning a pet?? The dog she 'rented' was a maltese cross and after collecting it, they set off to take it for a walk at Yoyogi Park. They put the dog on the leash, and she said after 20 minutes, it stopped walking and needed to be put back in its pram. The poor dog was kept in a cage for most of its life, that it didnt know how to 'go for a walk'.
My neighbour who I call the 'white one' because she likes wearing white and she drives a white Audi TT, she owns a miniature white poodle who is properly groomed and visits the vets/pet shop once a month in the least. She taught me a few pet owning etiquettes and recommended the vets/pet accomodation place we used whenever we travelled. She told me she fed her pet poodle a little kumara or sweet potato to cleanse her as she ate dog biscuits everyday.
When walking a dog, I seldom saw a Japanese person carry anything else other than their dog 'small bag'. Unlike me, they didnt double their dog walking with another chore, like shopping or looking. Their dog 'small bag' was filled with all the things required for walking the dog - a doggie bag - to pick up their poo, small treats and a bottle of water with a small bowl for their thirst. The 'white one' would also carry a spray bottle to spray the its urine, to wash it off or to dissolve it. Later I learnt that dog urine can indeed be poisonous to plants as its too concentrated. Urine dissolved in water, though can provide fertilisation.
One man, I observed walking his dog in shirokanedai made me smile. He had a boxer and he was as round as his dog. He would walk his dog with a large dog bag. The dog would always defecate on his walks and when he did, the man would stop for the job to complete. Then look in his bag for a plastic bag and toilet paper. Use the toilet paper to pick up the poo, then use more to clean the dog's anus. He would take his own time to do all this, his labour for his dog!
