For anyone with a passing knowledge of animal rights, or even a concern for the humane treatment of animals, Japan can seem a cold and uncaring place.
Miserable-looking dogs chained outside houses, kittens abandoned in parks, starving sickly cats roaming the streets, mutilated puppies, ducks pierced with arrows, wild animals shot on sight -- cases of neglect and cruelty toward animals are all too common, and though one may protest that Japan is no different from anywhere else, one soon feels especially powerless here, where laws to protect animals are virtually nonexistent.
For many foreigners, the response is one of outrage. Can't anything be done? Doesn't anybody care? Anger often turns to despair.