I found this video that talks about the dog in the SoftBank commercials, and, I could be wrong, but I think they might be saying that he’s a kai ken! As far as I know, kai have sickle tails and coats of black brindle (usually). I’ve never seen one with a pure cream coat, so maybe I’m just misunderstanding what’s being said (which is extremely likely, since I actually don’t understand what’s being said).
Can anyone clear this up?
[Edit: Thanks to Blue, the kai ken question has been resolved. The owner refers to his dog as "Kai-kun," which is his name, not his breed. The breed of dog isn't mentioned in the video, but both Blue and Losgann have suggested that he may be Hokkaido. Also, Blue let us know that the role of father, which is mainly played by Kai-kun, is occasionally played his sister, Nene-chan, who steps in for the scenes like climbing stairs because Kai-kun is afraid of heights (cute!). Check out the comments associated with this post for pictures of Hokkaido and more detailed information.]
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Losgann // Jun 29, 2008 at 8:17 am
it looks more like Hokkaido to me… Kai Ken must be black or very dark… They’re not supposed to exist in white
2 Bonnie & Sushi // Jun 29, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I’ve posted this on our Meetup group. I”ll let you know if I get any guesses!
Bonnie & Sushi
3 blue // Jun 29, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Actually, I have heard this dog is Hokkaido before.
But I was not sure because this particular one seemed to be a bit too small for Hokkaido and softer facial features than average Hokkaio.
Hokkaido inu (or Hokkaido ken) is one of the Japanese six orignal breeds and from the northan island called Hokkaido. They are also called Ainu inu(or Ainu ken).
Ainu are the native people of Hokkaido, and racially they are different. Because of their fair skin and densed facial hair, for a long time they were believed to be more related to Caucasians than Asians.
However, I heard recent DNA test had denied that.
As Hokkaido inu are categorised as a midium size dog, they usually bigger than Shiba. And they also have more wilder & tougher look and build.
In this video, the owner of the dogs called his male dog “Kai-kun”, but he did not refer to the breed of his dog, it was the name of his dog. In Japan, you are supposed to add ” kun (for mainly boys)”, “chan (for mainly girls and very young boys)”, “san (for adults and older girls)”, “sama (very polite way of san)” to the names whenever you call someone, just like Mr. and Miss. For example, Yoshi-kun and Tsuki-chan. However, some male bosses of the offices and some male school teachers do not do that to their employees or students and generally speaking, parents do not do that either when they call their children unless they are very polite or extra sweet. Also between very close friends, they do not do that. So I guess this owner is very polite.
Anyway, in this video, they never mentioned the breed of these dogs, but I realize they seemed to have sturdier build than average Shiba, which is one of the physical characteristics of Hokkaido.
Mosdef they are not Kai, not just color but Kai’s build is very differrent.
Well, still I am not sure, but this is the link to the pic of white Hokkaido, Hokkaido comes with many different colors, judge for yourself.
http://www.nihonken.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=616&page=1#Item_0
also scroll down this thread, you will find the pic of a white Hokkaido, a red Hokkaido pup and a red Shiba with their Polish owner.
http://www.nihonken.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=444&page=1
As this red Hokkaido is still a pup, his/her size is almost same as the red Shiba, but you can tell the build, head shape and facial features are subtly different. I think Hokkaido has more feral look.
BTW this video is about the two dogs play the roll of father, which is maily played by Kai-kun, but ocasionally his sister, Nene-chan steps in for the scenes like climbing stairs because Kai-kun is afraid of hight.
4 Star // Jul 13, 2008 at 2:55 am
I don’t know about Hokkaido Inu, but another guess is that it could be a Kishu Inu. …But I’m no expert, so don’t take my word on it. Just a possibility.
5 Laura // Sep 13, 2008 at 10:31 am
I was just recently in Japan and I saw this white dog mascot in all the Soft Bank stores I saw! (A white inflateable dog)
I also saw a DVD for a show about a dog called Kai kun - it looked like a soap opera with Kai kun as the lead! I think that he is he same dog as the Soft Bank dog
Didn’t know that until I saw the video you’ve posted here