NIPPO: Current State of Afairs

On the 5th of June, a news story was run in Japan about the illegal sale of dogs by officials/members of NIPPO. While it did not name any names, it mentioned three persons whom the reporter had interviewed. These three persons are easily identifiable to active NIPPO members in Japan, one as a board member, another as the head of judging, and the third as a Shiba Inu judge.

The Act on Welfare and Management of Animals governs the commercial sale of animals in Japan. I believe it was around 15 years ago that the law was updated to tighten up the licensing requirements and stipulations regarding the commercial sale of dogs. To put it simply, if you are selling more dogs more than twice a year, or more than 2 dogs a year, you need to be licensed. These three higher ups in NIPPO were reported to all be unlicensed. There were some statements given by people interviewed for the story that puppies were being produced for preservation and not for commercial sale, with some people not actually selling dogs but receiving a gratuity. However if these allegations are proven to be true, under the eyes of the law receiving any money whatsoever would make these commercial transactions.

I have had many people from all over the world asking me about what is going on, since every has seen comments about it on social media. As usual on social media, there is truth, untruth, misunderstanding, and a lot of personal opinion and conjecture. Since it takes a lot of time to reply to everyone one at a time, I have finally made some time to write about the basics of the story. I will not be naming names here (and I would warn people who have done so on social media) since if you do not have proof or firsthand knowledge of allegations you are making, you can be sued for libel (and I have heard that some people are currently being sued for comments they have made on social media regarding this issue).

The Ministry of the Environment has jurisdiction over this matter, and is currently investigating. My personal experience in this matter is that there are many older people in Japan, in all the many clubs and preservation societies, that have been breeding dogs for most of their adult lives. They did not make the effort some 15 years ago to become licensed, and according to the letter of the law they would be considered to be operating illegally. This is not a new issue, it is one that NIPPO has actually made continuous announcements about, but the fact that higher ups in the organization were still not licensed is definitely disappointing. 

Another separate issue that has been making the rounds on social media is regarding the sale of dogs by NIPPO judges, and one well known Shiba judge in particular. While this is not a legal issue, it is a NIPPO issue, as it is against NIPPO rules for judges to be involved in commercial canine breeding/sale. The allegations against this former head of NIPPO judging are not new, in fact they go back around 2 years ago when he had a very public spat with another NIPPO member (a Shiba breeder). Other complaints made against this judge are that he is the head of a NIPPO branch, but physically lives in a different prefecture (NIPPO members automatically become members of the branch that their registered address is located in). Another allegation I have heard is that his dogs were kept in unsanitary conditions, and that he is breeding/selling dogs while unlicensed (he is one of the 3 mentioned in the investigative news report).

In my opinion, NIPPO has been dragging their feet in investigating these allegations, with little transparency regarding the process. This has led to a lot of instability, and a general negative atmosphere. We're here for the dogs, or at least should be, right? None of the information I have just related is new news. This has been circulating in NIPPO for a few years now, but possibly due to frustration regarding the slow process, and NIPPO's seeming inaction, the information has made its way to the national media (and now to you on social media). 

So, with as little bias as possible, that is the basics of what is going on in NIPPO at the moment. I won't comment publicly on the politicking going on behind the scenes, and why all this started in the first place. When all this started 2 years ago, I was actually slandered, and had false rumors spread about me (which I'd be happy to refute if people had asked me directly about things instead of making guesses on the internet). I've had people ask if I'm ok, or if I need them to go to bat for me, or that I should sue people. Really, I don't care. I just want to continue enjoying my passion for the Japanese breeds. Anything I say or do, I want it to be constructive toward making the state of affairs for the Nihon Ken better. Some of this stirring the pot is overdue and necessary to create change I think, but there also has to be some discussion and ideas about how to move forward positively without just tearing people down and creating division.

Just like so many things in the world right now, I feel like NIPPO is in a state of overdue change, and a little bit of an upheaval. Hopefully this is the driving energy to get us to a better place.


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