Japan pets get shrine blessings as birth rate falls

Pets dressed in kimonos were blessed at a Tokyo shrine on Saturday during Shichi-Go-San, a Japanese festival traditionally held to celebrate children aged seven, five and three.

At Ichigaya Kamegaoka Hachimangu, a Shinto shrine in the capital, a priest blessed a cat, a shiba inu and several Yorkshire terriers as owners brought animals into a rite usually reserved for children.

Shoko Kodama, a 46-year-old doctor, said she came to pray for the healthy growth and well-being of her five-year-old British shorthair cat, Amber. She said she had spent two months making a bright-red kimono for the cat.

Kenji Kaji, the priest who performed the purification rite, said the role of pets in families had changed as Japan's family structure had changed. He said the shrine has accepted about 400 families for each festival since the early 2000s because of demand from pet owners.

The festival comes as Japan faces an ageing population and low birth rate. Data in June showed Japan's fertility rate fell again last year to a record low, and World Bank figures put the country's median age at 49.9 years, the second-oldest in the world after Monaco.