Ulaanbaatar
PM of Mongolia Receives Akita Breed Dog as Present from Former PM of Japan
Politics
Ulaanbaatar,
July 4, 2023 /MONTSAME/. Prime Minister of Mongolia, L.
Oyun-Erdene, received Endo Takashi, a member of the House of Representatives in
the Diet of Japan yesterday. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
Japan to Mongolia Kobayashi Hiroyuki attended the meeting.
At the meeting, Mr. T. Endo presented an Akita breed dog named Kizuna to Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erden as a gift from the former Prime Minister of Japan Suga Yoshihide. Kizuna is a three-month-old male puppy whose name means "friendship bond".
Mr. Oyun-Erdene’s first foreign visit as the Prime Minister was to Japan during the opening of the "Tokyo-2020" Summer Olympics, and as an expression of gratitude for his arrival at the time of the historical challenge of organizing the Olympic Games under the difficult conditions of the pandemic, Mr. Suga expressed that he would present an Akita breed dog as a symbol of harmony and friendship. At that time, to prevent the risk of the pandemic, a stuffed dog of this breed was delivered to the Prime Minister through the Embassy of Mongolia in Japan.
This dog breed is native to the northern part of Akita
Prefecture, where they were historically kept for hunting purposes. The
legendary Dog Hachiko (1923-1935), who is known
as a faithful dog that kept going to Shibuya Station to meet its returning
owner for about ten years after the master’s untimely death was
immortalized as a bronze statue in front of Shibuya Railway Station in Tokyo,
belongs to the Akita breed.
Mr. T. Endo, a member of the House of Representatives said that this event coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Hachiko Dog in 2023.
