Happy New Year!

Today, I just want to wish all my readers a happy new year. I promise to keep up my blog for next year as well. Stay tuned!

Japan Gains Territory

A new Japanese island is forming outside of Tokyo, thanks to a volcano. The island is now almost 2.3 square kilometres, and it is still growing. Since it is growing due to continuing eruptions of lava, authorities recommend that noone should go there. It has been named Nishinoshima.

I think it is nice that Japan grows, that it gains territory in this way. No neighbouring countries can complain, either, as when China claims the Japanese Senkaku Islands. I wonder when humans and dogs may set their paws on Nishinoshima. Hopefully, it will not be too far off into the future.

Cuddling

tonight, I feel more like cuddling in the bed than writing in my blog. It was a rather uneventful day today, anyway. Please come back tomorrow.

Cold Weather

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We have got really cold weather now. We lit a fire in the stove this evening, it boosted the indoor heat and was cozy. It is winter, and Shiba coats can handle these temperatures. Still, it is better to be indoors. The cold weather is almost symbolic, now that there will be no extra election and the "political temperature" will not be so high as if we would have had campaigns from now on until March. Whether it is good or bad that there will be no extra election, I cannot say. I would, however, like to have a little less cold weather, winter or not.

No Extra Election

There will be no extra election to the Swedish Parliament this spring. I like this. It means Daniel will not be away campaigning so much.

The Colour of Jesus Christ

A debate has started on what colour Jesus Christ was. It is interesting, now that we celebrate his birth. Apparently, there are some scholars who claim Jesus was black. Others claim he just looked Middle Eastern, with an olive complexion. He was, most certainly, not white in the Western European sense.

To me, the colour of Jesus Christ does not really matter. Shibas come in different colours, and are equally good. So should humans be, regardles of colour. I would, nevertheless, be happy if further scientific investigation revealed that Jesus Christ was black & tan. That would really be something.

Fox Jewellery

The other dogs and I pooled our resources and bought a fox in silver for Paula for Christmas. Paula does so much good for us, so she is worth the very best.

You might wonder how we, as dogs, could buy jewellery. It is not possible for a dog to walk into a store and buy things, regardless of whether we bring money or not. Too many humans cannot speak with us dogs. We are not allowed to make contracts, under law, this means that we cannot buy things. What we can do, however, is to agree with a human whom we trust, to make the purchase for us. Thus, we agreed with Daniel that he would purchase a piece of jewellery for us. It could have the shape of a dog, a wolf, or a fox. What he found and bought, and which we also liked when he showed us, was a silver fox. This became our Christmas present for Paula.

We were very happy to hear Paula loved our present.

Meri kurisumasu!

Japanese is not an easy language. It does not help that I am of Japanese origin. I grew up in Sweden with humans who spoke Swedish, with a Mum from America who taught me English and a Dad from Norway who taught me some Norwegian. It was not until later I met dogs who had lived in Japan for quite some time and who knew Japanese. Kenny, my dear one, is one of them. Over the years since, I have learned a few phrases and words in Japanese, at least. Today, it is time to use one of them which is easy, because it is just borrowed from English. When you say "merry Christmas" in Japanese, you just say: Meri kurisumasu! This fits today, on Christmas Eve, doesn't it?

Walk

Yesterday, Karstuhl got to go on a long walk with Nils Olov. Today, it was my turn. I enjoyed it very much. Like Karstuhl, I got to walk with my beloved one, who is Kenny. Kenny is Karstuhl's father. I always enjoys his company. It was a great way to prepare for the Christmas preparations later in the day. We did well on that, as well.

Long Walk

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today, I got to go on a long walk with Paula's father Nils Olov and my dear friend Fuji. We walked the paths of the woods behind our house. It was a really nice trip with a lot of new things to smell, to hear, and to see. I like Nils Olov, he is such a great guy when he takes me on long walks. This really made my day. I wish I can get a walk like this in the close future again.

A Little Snow

Hello, Orange here!

We had some snow here tonight. It is still snowing when we are foing to bed. Unfortunately, though, I do not think it will be much. I am not even sure it will stay until Christmas. We just have to see.

Schedule

They called Paula on the telephone from her workplace this morning, asking her what she wanted for lunch. She said she was not scheduled to work today, but they said she was. There must have been some missunderstanding. Thus, Paula had to go to work, instead of going to a Christmas get-together at her aunt's house. We felt so sorry for her. Working and earning money is a good thing, but not anytime, not when you have to turn down a family celebration. We still do not know who made the misstake, but I do not believe it was Paula. I guess nobody will take the blame.

Herding Dog

We watched a show on TV, where a family from America was on vacation in Ireland. One of the things they did, was visiting a farm, where they saw a herding dog herding sheep. The family was very impressed of the herding skills of the dog. I was too, but I think I was less surprised than the family on TV was. Herding dogs in general are good at what they do. Still, it is always impressing to see it. This was the best part of the TV show. There were some seconds where you could also see some pups, but this was just flashing by.

Politics

Daniel is a member of the city council. He has been at a meeting there today, and it will continue tomorrow. He tried to tell me a little about it, but I think it is politics on a rather small scale. I am more interested in things like the Japanese national election last Sunday. the talk about an extra national election in Sweden is also a small thing in comparison, Japan having a larger population and the third largest economy of the world. Oh, well, it is a good thing Daniel and his friends in the city council want to put their time and effort on the small scale politics of Örebro, anyway. The city council is not unimportant. I hope Daniel's political party will be successful.

Noise

It is said that any unwelcomed sound is noise. The I guess any sound is noise, if you try to get to sleep. I do not mind much, though. Dogs generally have a good talent for going to sleep whenever we want to. This is good, it helps us staying awake whenever we need to. Luckily, we do not have much noise around. There are advantages to living a bit away from the centre of town.

Rain

It is in the middle of December, a month when you want snow to go with that Christmas feeling. We have had a few days with temperatures below the freezing point, but the little snow that has fallen has melted away. Today, we had a few degrees above the freezing point and a lot of rain. It feels more like autumn than winter. Grantes, many December months are like this, but I do long for a little white snow. It would make the surroundings brighter and give us more of a holiday spirit. We will see what happens in the coming week.

Nice Result

My granddaughter Soya got a nice result, in her debut in adult classes in the dog show today. She got Excellent, and was fourth in Junior Competition Class after older, more mature girls. I am proud of her. She will get even better results in the future.

Stockholm

Daniel has prepared to go to Stockholm tomorrow. Paula is already there. They will attend the greatest annual dog show in Sweden, and I am not invited. This is unfair! I could make such an excellent impression on the judges.

My granddaughter Soya will be at the show. I wish her the best of luck. She has to hold the Aangenaam name high, and I am confident she can do that.

Snow

Late this evening, snow started to fall. It is still not very cold outside and I am not sure this snow will stay on the ground. It would give us some more holliday feeling if it did stay, though. If it gets deep enough to play in, I am all for it. I know I am not young, but I still love to play in newly fallen snow. We will have to see how it looks tomorrow morning.

Christmas Food

Paula was away this evening, eating Christmas dinner with colleagues from work. She said she is almost tired of Christmas food already. I wish I could get the rest of her Christmas food, I would enjoy all of it.

Animals as Persons

A court of law in New York has ruled a chimpanzee is not entitled to rights, such as freedom. The case was specifically about a chimpanzee living with a human in New York. An organization called the Nonhuman Rights Project made his case before the court, claiming the chimpanzee had the right to freedom The court, however, said legal rights can only be held by someone who can also have legal duties, which a chimpanzee cannot have. There were also no legal precedence whatsoever.

I am not surprised by the verdict. As far as I know, chimpanzees are not bright enough to have legal duries. They are not as intelligent as dogs, I believe. They are also not part of human society and civilisation, not the way only dogs are, besides humans. If any animal besides humans deserve certain legal rights, it is the dog. Dogs have been part of human culture much longer than any other animal. Of course, a court case on setting dogs free would be unnecessary, because we are already free when we live with our humans. This is because we are part of human culture, the way chimpanzees can never be. Rights, as the right not to suffer from animal abuse, are given to dogs already. Do we need more? I do not think so. This way, I believe the Nonhuman Rights Project is missguided. Perhaps I would need to know more, but this is my opinion now.

Recession

Sweden has a good national economy, even though there is a political crisis since the cabinet failed in passing its budget through Parliament last week.

Japan, on the other hand, is in a deep recession. The economy shrank more than estimated in the third quarter of this year. The country has now had a badly functioning economy for a long time. This is bad news for the whole world, given that the Japanese economy is the third largest of the world. I am certain the Japanese will cope, after all, they have the world's largest Shiba population to help them. Nevertheless, I am concerned. It is not good that the recession is so deep, and deeper than estimated. I hope it will soon recover.

Little Sister

Hello, Orange here!

In the middle of the night, very early Sunday morning, I became a big sister. My mother Tenn gave birth to a little puppy girl. I have not yet met my youngest sister. She stays in the bathroom with my mother to have a safe haven for about four or five weeks. After that time, I believe I will meet my little sister. I am very curious about her. There is a lot of things I will be able to teach her, once we get to know each other.

The birth of pups must be fantastic. It is the dawn of a new life. I hope the pup will soon learn the beauty of life. I will help her learn this.

Crisps

Saturday nights are meant for celebrations of the weekend and having fun. This Saurday night, we had a lot of crisps and watched TV, when Örebro beat Modo in ice hockey. Crisps are really good. I wish we could get crisps every night.

Ice Hockey Game

Paula and Daniel went to see an ice hockey game live today. Daniel's favourite team Djurgården played Paula's favourite team Örebro on Örebro's home turf. I would have loved to come, but they said ice hockey arenas are nothing for dogs, at least not when ice hockey is played there. I have been to ice hockey arenas at dog shows, but an ice hockey game is something much different from a dog show. I guess I have to settle with watching ice hockey from home on TV. It is not bad.

By the way, the game ended 1-1 in full time, Örebro won 2-1 after penalties.

Still There

The Cabinet lost the vote on the annual budget, but did not resign. The PM has said he will call for an extra election in March. His party members blame the opposition, but I believe it is the fault of the ruling parties, if they cannot win important votes in Parliament. We will have to see if the extra election solves any problems. I doubt it.

Electricity

Late at night, we were suddenly without electricity. It only lasted for a few minutes. Nevertheless, it was annoying. It also makes you think of how dependent our society is on electricity. Daniel has said that the taming of electricity is one of the greatest feats of mankind, of an equal importance as the taming of fire. I believe so too.

Crisis

The Swedish Cabinet will probably resign tomorrow. It has been made clear today, they will not get the majority they need to get their budget through Parliament. This is bad manouvering by the Prime Minister. We will see what happens next. It is interesting, but not that good for our country.

Lights in the Night

Paula and Daniel always put up electric lights in the windows at this time of the year. It is a sign that it is soon Christmas. These lights are not bright, but as they are never turned off until after Christmas, we have a little light in the house throughout the night. It is almost like the light of the Sun shining over the north horizon in the middle of summer. This we have twilight in the middle of the night in midsummer and in midwinter, but not in between. It is rather nice.