The post-war child booming Japanese generation is gone and now, to the increasing age of the Japanese population, another worrying factor is added: pet dogs replace children, in a country where natality is already plummeting.

While shopping, the 46-year-old Japanese eye surgeon Toshiko Horikoshi can be seen pushing a pram. But you won't be greeted by a baby's smile in that pram, but by two small snouts: Ginger, a teacup poodle wearing a little T-shirt and Tinkerbell, a Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix. As most department stores don't allow dogs on a leash, she often carries them around in a pram.

"They're like babies." said Horikoshi.

She divorced her husband who wanted her to live a traditional stay-at-home mum's life, thus choosing to pursue her career. A specialist in cataracts, she enjoys spending her money on traveling, her black Porsche and her dogs.

Her friends, too, have replaced babies with pooches.

"My friends -- married, one poodle, no child. Married, two Chihuahuas, no child. Married, one Chihuahua, no child," she counts.

This shows the fact that fewer births are connected with an economic recovery and the rise of women as independent earners and spenders.

"I don't want a family, I want to continue to work hard. I don't need help, I don't need a husband. I have a lot of free time, I can do everything by myself," said Horikoshi, who performs up to 15 eye operations in an afternoon.

"But sometimes I feel lonely, and now when I come back to my apartment, I can see two dogs."

Dogs already outnumber in Japan children aged 10 and under: there were 13.1 million dogs by 2006.

This means a boom in the market for dog-related products. There are more dog boutiques in Japan than in the US, this being also connected with the Japanese appetite for consumption.

They hold dog parties in dog cafes, dress their dogs in silk-and-cashmere dog sweaters and take them to hot spring resorts and spas where dogs can be offered massages and aromatherapy. "Dog parents" often spend more cash on their pets than parents with children. In the end, they don't have to pay college fees or a big house for an enlarged family.

Moreover, Japan establishes the trends on the matter: only in Tokyo would you find a toy poodle in a bumble-bee costume peeking out of a stroller or a dog-themed boy-band whose members wear furry hats with dog ears and cradle live puppies...

But behind the dog boom, there are the puppy mills, which churn out one litter after another from the same mother until their fertile lives end and they are abandoned or killed. At 250,000 yen ($2,105) a Chihuahua puppy, the business is flourishing.
Pet shops can remain open until 5 am.

"Some of the dogs in all-night pet shops are used in elaborate con schemes: a hostess will ask her wealthy, drunken lover to buy her a little dog; the next day, she will bring the dog back to the shop in exchange for cash. The shop keeps a cut." said Briar Simpson, a New Zealander who works for Animal Refuge Kansai, Japan's largest animal shelter.

There is an increase in pure breeds rescued by her organization, being abandoned by inexperienced owners who don't figure out before that even a small dog requires care.
Horikoshi's parents too had two large dogs when she was a little girl, but those dogs were not permitted to even enter the house...