Alaska Malamute

The Alaskan malamute appears in the account as both a celebrated show breed and a vulnerable animal caught in Gen Sekine’s violent exercise of commercial power. Sekine helped make the breed prestigious in Japan, but an incident in his shop exposed the cost of treating animals as instruments: during a price dispute, he cut a dog’s ear and used the mutilation to end the negotiation on his terms.

Breed and Public Standing

Sekine was described as one of Japan’s most successful dog breeders, and he had helped make the Alaskan malamute one of the country’s most prestigious show dogs. His profile extended beyond breeding circles: magazines and television programs featured him, and he spoke publicly of his exploits with wild animals. The breed’s elevated status thus formed part of Sekine’s own public reputation and commercial world.

The Sale Dispute

In Sekine’s shop, a purebred Alaskan malamute stood at the feet of Sekine and a customer as they argued over its price. Sekine wanted 1.5 million yen; the customer refused that amount and asked for a 500,000-yen reduction. The animal was not merely the subject of their bargaining: it was physically present as the object whose value the two men were contesting.

The Dog’s Ear as Leverage

Sekine smiled as he stroked the malamute, picked up grooming scissors from his desk, and cut off its left ear in one snip. He tossed the ear at the customer’s feet and treated the act as if he had granted the requested discount. The customer paid the price, took the dog, and left. The narrator presents the customer’s likely fear—that the next ear at his feet might be his own—as an inference, not a recorded confession; the incident nonetheless makes the threat implicit in Sekine’s gesture legible.

Use and Vulnerability

Sekiguchi’s account of the episode sits alongside his broader assessment that Sekine admired animals but also used them, valuing their supposedly instinctive, unconscientious nature. The malamute’s show-breed prestige could not protect it from being turned into leverage in a human dispute. Its mutilation makes the contrast stark: the same animal prized as a costly purebred was treated as expendable when Sekine wanted to force a sale.