'Animal,' Episode 5: Wolves

hey it's Michael today we have something. really special for you a blissful break. from the news it's a new series from nyt. audio called animal my colleague Sam. Anderson from the Times magazine. traveled the world to have encounters. with animals not to claim them or to. tame them but just to appreciate them. each episode is a journey to get closer. to a creature that Sam Lov loves for the.

next 6 weeks we'll be running this. limited series every Sunday here on the. daily feed but if you want to hear all. the episodes right now you can search. for it wherever you get your podcasts. today episode 5 take a. listen from The New York Times this is. animal I'm Sam. Anderson episode 5.

[Music]. wolves I don't care about it okay well. we should um the shop closes at 6 do you. think we'll be back by then yes 515 uh. maybe I can't imagine that going be like. a ton to do that no I agree I don't I. don't think we need to do that much I. mean we just want to make the pilgrimage. to the oh we did the Statue yeah okay.

okay okay you know about the Statue no. okay we're going to tell you in the car. okay and you can tell the driver the. first thing I remember about our trip to. the wolf statue is that we almost didn't. go people told us not to bother the. memorial is out in the middle of. absolute nowhere on the edge of this. tiny village in Japan it would take all. day to get there and probably be a giant. anticlimax.

but I was already in Japan because I was. working on a story for the magazine. about ha Miyazaki the animator and since. I'd come this far I just felt like I. really needed to do. this it's really. pouring bullet train from Tokyo to. Kyoto regular train from Kyoto to a. smaller city called Nara which is famous. for its deer trip we come out of the.

train station and it's pouring rain. that's another reason not to go on on. the pilgrimage cuz it's just soaking. rain constantly all day long I'm with. Crystal duame who's carrying a gigantic. microphone around everywhere and then. Samson ye our incredible. interpreter and so we step out of the. train station into the rain and there's. this black car waiting for us.

and out steps our driver who's this 30s. something man nicely dressed he's. wearing like a gray suit with a red. tie Samson talks to him and says his. name is Dice K dice on to be. polite and Samson climbed into the the. front of the taxi to sit next to dice. Cas so that he can interpret our. conversation. yes uh it's okay for you to record his.

dog um he might not be able to meet your. expectations we start heading out of the. city on this kind of wild windy back. road and immediately we're sort of in. the middle of nowhere and it's still. pouring it's foggy we're passing through. woods and bamboo and it is really. beautiful it feels like we're driving. into an old landscape painting.

so Samson let me tell you about the. Statue since you have no idea what we're. doing yes yeah I remember asking um well. maybe ask D kissan if he knows anything. about the Japanese. wolf can you ask dice Gan our driver if. he knows anything about the Japanese. wolf so Samson did and no he' never. heard about it but I don't know anything. about the wolf but we like I love.

animals and I have a Chihuahua at home I. have a Chihuahua what's the name of the. Chihuahua. chih boy. name he has a boy's name but it's a. girl and Samson laughed because goo is a. very male Japanese name it's like. apparently like some kind of warrior. name they said the Chinese character for.

it means like hard metal and uh dke. named this chahua the most masculine. tough name he could think. of because chihuahuas are so Fierce and. have such strong personalities so he did. that. deliberately and the fact that he would. connect that to wolves that was the. funny thing about him is like instantly. we said wolves and he was like oh I love. animals and I have a dog a chihuahua.

which is on one hand a hilarious answer. um but on the other hand makes perfect. sense because wolves and. dogs I came to learn on this trip are. essentially the same thing I mean we. went to talk to one of the great dog. scientists on planet Earth and he was. telling me that dogs are really just. wolves that have developed over. thousands of years very intimate.

relationship with human beings um he's. done all this incredible research. including uh discovering that dogs cry. when their owners come home after a long. period away they have moisture in their. eyes and uh and wolves don't so that's. one of the ways they're different but. otherwise they're just it's more a. Continuum than it is a bright line that. divides them so diuk got that right away.

he was like you asking me about wolves. I'm going to talk about my dog I'm just. explaining what we've been doing in the. last few days so I'd been spending the. last few days of my trip in Japan. learning about wolves and so I started. telling dice gon the Epic Saga of the. Japanese wolf the basic story is there. used to be wolves in these mountains. everywhere all over. Japan I think of a wolf as an American I. think of like a Big Timber Wolf or a.

gray wolf like a a big snarling mean dog. um Japanese wolves were different they. were smaller and sort of a reddish khaki. color and cute weirdly cute for a. wolf before I went on this trip I read. this book called The Lost Wolves of. Japan by a historian named Brett Walker. and basically Al for many thousands of.

years wolves roamed all over Japan and. people revered them they saw them as. sacred Guardians uh they protected crops. people worshiped at Wolf's shrines and. they they left offerings of rice and. beans outside of wolf. dens but then in the 1700s there was. this big rabies outbreak that made. wolves actually quite dangerous wolves. were kill.

people and then in the 1800s there is a. huge cultural shift in Japan where the. country started to quote unquote. modernize people started doing western. style agriculture huge cattle herds and. so wolves began to seem like pests they. were killing livestock they were you. know encroaching on these cities that. were growing deeper into the. Wilderness and so Japan decided it was. done with its wolves.

and the government sends out these. hunting parties to systematically. exterminate the Japanese wolf and they. did they used guns they used poison they. used. traps as far as we. know the. last Japanese wolf was. killed in. 1905 and there it's historically. documented and they know where it was. exactly and they know which which wolf. it was it was a male wolf and it was.

brought dead and sold to a western man. in. 1905 they say the last known Japanese. wolf it was seen kind of skullking. around this lumber yard in a little. remote Village and somebody shot it and. sold it to a western man who was passing. through town collecting Zoological. specimens and so this statue that we're. going to is the memorial to that last.

Wolf the black metal statue based on the. body of that wolf near where that wolf. died and. um Al so we were driving out to. sea I I I'm really happy that I'm able. to be part of trip because I really love. dogs myself and I'm able to maybe share. um how you might feel about this trip we. going to look for the dog look for the.

the war dce G was the chattiest probably. the chattiest cab driver I've ever. had and whatever he talked about it it. always came back to. goo for instance he was telling us like. Oh I'm a YouTuber and uh I have a. YouTube channel about. cars and I said oh what's the name of. the YouTube channel cuz immediately. wanted to look it up and he said. something something I don't speak. Japanese so I couldn't understand her.

but I distinctly heard the word. goo I said wait a second goo did he say. goo again is his YouTube channel named. after the Chihuahua and Samson said yes. it's basically uh driving with goo. driving. Channel wow so she he really likes the. dog yeah.

in so where are we we really are out in. the middle of nowhere on this tiny. road so we are in this car for a very. long time driving on these windy roads. into the. mountains through forests there's just. occasional houses fog still pouring rain. and then dice Gan starts telling us his. his life story.

which turned out to be much more than we. were prepared. [Music]. for so we are still in this car maybe. we're halfway into the trip at this. point and dice K started. ruminating and then told us the entire.

story of his life basically I remember. Samson being like okay he's telling me. his life story now so um so he's talking. about his life story now and um how he. used to live in Osa. UHA see he used so he he got married. with his wife in Osaka and lived there. for two years he used to drive a garbage. truck and um his wife's Dad after they. got married two years ask him to come.

live with them so his parents-in-law. asked him to um come live with him and. um his her dad the wife's dad works at. the same taxi company as this company. and uh hence he and his wife and go. moved from Osaka to kotto to t and um um.

lived with his father for four to five. years but then his father-in-law left. the taxi company so yeah he's a garbage. truck driver in Osaka and he got married. and and they agreed to move in with his. father-in-law his wife's. father and Japan traditionally is a very. hierarchical Society so your wife's. father would be someone you pay a lot of. respect to so they moved in with him so.

actually his father-in-law didn't like. animals at the time but then he knew. that if s's family would come and live. with him the the dog would come along. the CH will come along and because go is. a dog you have in the house so his. father in-law knew that and then they. they brought the dog. over okay so they they.

because the dad left his job and no. longer drive his father-in-law is at. home all the. time so he started the father-in-law. started being really rough to the Chaba. so like violent.

so DKI says a couple times he came home. from work and it seemed like goo was. hurt and there had been no one home all. day except goo and the. father-in-law I heard so at the time um. for the first and second time um when he. saw the the scars he knew immediately. that the scars on a dog was caused by a. person so unless there is some thief who.

broke into the house um it could only. have been his father in-law so he. approached his father-in-law and told. him that uh to to stop stop hitting the. dog and he was telling his father-in-law. that you wouldn't like you wouldn't like. it if someone hit your grandson or. grandchild um he his son or child so so. um please stop before he say.

I want him. twice we talked about. it the third. time when I got home so the third time. when I got home the Chi's left eye was.

like really red and and and was like. bulging uh we took the CH to the. hospital and he lost his left. eye even go is a dog go is also family. and I just couldn't forgive. him and I told him that we just can't.

live together. anymore and we decided to leave we. decided to leave his house. I told my wife and my children that they.

are free to stay if they want so my wife. can stay with his parents start if you. if she wants but I'm leaving I'm leaving. with. kod in the end the five of us um me my. wife and my two children and bwa left.

that house now we're living um away from. the. dad we've never we we we never see um. her dad ever again after that. incident when we fact check the story we. talked to D's wife wife and the vet who.

treated goo for her injuries and they. both corroborated what D told us and we. tried to reach the father-in-law. directly but we weren't able to talk to. him dce K told us his father-in-law. denied hurting. goo we also found out a couple of other. things first gotoro actually lost the. vision in her right eye not her left it. was a detached r.

and also that Goro was not always named. Goro originally she was named. love that's actually the name the vet. knew her by and D says when his. father-in-law got angry he would shout. the word love over and. [Music]. over. and dice Kade decided he didn't want to. relive that trauma anymore and that's. when he thought of this name.

goo he wanted to give the dog this tough. Warrior. name sorry it's just sorry the story's. gotten all serious is what I said no. that's that's very intense so this so. goo has no left eye.

so so he's saying how you know how when. humans uh. like you know how when humans when when. you lose sight use your sight of one eye.

it can really uh affect your everyday. life but then it's not so much for a dog. because for a dog of course the dog can. see but he also rely on his smell a lot. more so perhaps it doesn't affect the. dog's life it's interesting when he said. life when he refer to dog he says Jin. which means hum life so he he really. think that the dog is just like human.

and the fact that he has lost his left. eye might not have as much of an effect. to the dog as it would if was a pass.

I mean despite the fact that the the. incident made me really angry and really. sad and it was like a huge thing to me. perhaps and and and I tried to think it. this way I tried to put it this way. perhaps for the dog is almost like a. blocked nose you know and and maybe it's. not that big a deal for it and I tried. to think it like that so that I can I. can keep my keep keep sa I.

guess and it's really you know the dog. itself um it's is really healthy and and. and B is just fine doing just. fine if we have a chance later I can. show you video of. go yes. and he saying how chiwa like.

wolves how. [Music]. too. so I just saw a sign that said the name. of where we're going yes what is it. called. [Music]. again yeah and it had a wolf on it it. had like a little wolf silhouette did. you see that. [Music].

I think we are closer maybe 4 5 minutes. away. okay wow this this life of story of his. has become so much more intense than I.

imagin I I thought we're just going to s. a taxi and go and see a. statue. go yeah I mean as we approach the wolf. statue here I. think that's actually the perfect. conversation for us to have approaching. this. statue. um because.

part of why I think I felt drawn to see. this. statue was that it does. represent one individual animal it's not. just a symbolic. wolf it is an animal that was as. much an individual as. goo or as Walnut my dog or as any of us. in this car it this was a specific.

creature and as the last. wolf it had lost everyone it had lost. its family it's friends it's a whole. community in pack and that's. just that's really deep to think about I. think so yeah suddenly we're there just. like the GPS was like this is it we're.

here and and it was really a nothing. like it was it's it's it's it's really. quiet maybe because it's Sunday as well. there was like a little roadside sign. and then you just had to kind of pull. off the road onto the shoulder traffic. you know cars driving by were just right. there driving by right next to you and. so it was really a nothing of a. sight that said. we get out it's pouring rain dice K.

gives us. umbrellas and it's so. beautiful we truly are out in the. country I mean there's a road that runs. by but right on the other side of the. road is this beautiful River rushing. with all this rain and then just these. cascading. mountains with fog all over them that. really look like.

beautiful classic japanese painting be. careful I don't think car stops I don't. think anyone ever comes. here it was completely quiet except for. when occasionally a car would go racing. past um there's a big sort of stone. tablet with a lot of Japanese on it that. Samson read to us what does it say uh so. um it says wolf died and its Spirits.

exist lives. on so wolf dies but its Spirits live. [Applause]. on I'm all I feel I feel like shy to. approach the. wolf we've come all this way and I feel. like hesitant to but I guess let's go. see him. there was something there's something.

really powerful about the scale of it. being the actual scale of the body of. the animal itself it's so much smaller. than I. thought I've seen a photo of it before. but standing in front of. it it looks like a it looks like a pet. dog looks like a pet dog it looks like a. like a million dogs that I've played. with just kind of. like a small medium.

dog it's just like cute but it's also. Fierce it's this black. metal it's got its mouth wide open you. can see its. teeth I think it's. howling which reminds me they call it. hold. on looking up my Japanese. term I'd learned this word earlier on. the trip this incredible Japanese word. which is power Spoto which is just a.

adoption from English power spot so just. a place that's really full of. power and this to me standing by the. statue was powerful just this humble. modest little little thing kind of an. afterthought of a. memorial one uh Japanese term from the. book we were reading um it's says the. Japanese once revered the wolf as Uchi.

no. magami or larg mouthed pure. God and you can see the large mouth I. mean the Jaws are wide. [Applause]. open it's howling I really would love to. hear what that howl sounds like so yeah. we stood and. um Samson who one of the great things. about Samson is he is just completely.

unfl flappable unimpressed by anything. so how do you feel having been on this. journey with. us uh knowing all that you know now. about the wolf's Story coming all this. ridiculous way to make this pilgrimage. to stand at this statue that no one ever. comes to I think pretty much how how do. you feel standing in front of it was it. worth it do you feel. anything when I first heard about the. story that we were going to go after an.

animal that was supposed to be extinct. like over 100 years. ago I wasn't sure what I was going to. expect and then we're here now and and. and and and I I I I do feel listening to. you talk about how this guy here we have. in front of me particular lost. everything and he's the last one like. what would the last statue of a person. be like what would the last statue of a.

dog or a cat be like how would human. think of that especially in Japan. when he is literally a god big. God and now he's just a stone in a in. the middle of street and it's even. difficult to park your car because. there's no road to this thing you know. whilst we. pray on other things that we call God.

that has to replac with. thing that's pretty deep now yeah so. you're having some feelings and thoughts. the unimpressive. Samson it's kind of sad when you think. about. it it is really profound this was the. last thing of its. kind and the rain is coming down is just. like soaking it's like dripping off the.

fangs of the. statue and then dice G pulls out his. phone and says oh I want to show you a. picture of goo sure let's see. [Applause]. goo and as we're standing next. to the Statue of the last Japanese wolf. he shows us on his on his phone screen. this picture of this little white. a Chihuahua she's so cute we were just.

like our hearts. melted she's laying in on her side in. like a nest of blankets and having her. belly rubbed and her eyes are closed so. cute and uh it just looks like the. sweetest little thing and like she's so. happy and in heaven one last question. for. dice so the wolf is. howling I really wonder what it's howl. sounds like and I wonder if maybe while.

he's waiting could he find that video he. told us about. so he went back to wait for us in the. car and we stood for a while longer in. the. rain and then eventually everyone was. starving and we had to go get something. to. eat and um we got back in the car and. Ice said I found it I found the. video and he played us this video.

[Applause]. of Goo the Chihuahua howling her little. brains out at an. ambulance and it's like the most. like tender she's howling so hard and. it's such a soft. little such a soft little. tender Chihuahua.

[Music]. howl it's so Primal imagine it coming. out past the fangs of this of this. Japanese. wolf echoing across the. Wilderness goo. [Music].

oh my God. [Music]. this episode was produced by Crystal. Dame and Lissa Anderson with help from.

Caitlyn Roberts it was reported by me. Sam Anderson and edited by Lissa. Anderson and Wendy door it was. engineered by Marian Lozano the. executive producer is Paula Schuman. original music by Marian Lozano. factchecking by Samson ye and Josh hunt. Special thanks to Jake Silverstein Sasha. Weiss and Sam dlck very special thanks.

to S Wu Kim Alex Martin Hiroshi yagi. hiroyuki Yoshimura Hajime Suzuki and. takafumi kikusui thank you so much for. teaching us all about the Japanese wolf. and its relationship to dogs and humans. and crying and all of. that you can listen to all of our. episodes wherever you get podcasts or. visit our website at nytimes.com animal. [Music].

I'm Sam Anderson thank you for listening. [Music].