From the New York Times, this is Animal. I'm Sam Anderson. Episode 5, Wolves.

Well, we should- The shop closes at 6:00.

Do you think we'll be back by then?

Yes, 5:15. Maybe.

I can't imagine that there'll be a ton to do that. No, I agree. I don't think we need to do that much. I mean, we just want to make the pilgrimage to the- Oh, really? The statue, yeah. Okay. You know about the statue? No. Okay, we're going to tell you in the car, 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 Hayao Miyazaki, the animator. And since I'd come this far, I just felt like I really needed to do this. That's really boring. Bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto. Regular train from Kyoto to a smaller city called Nara, which is famous for its deer. We come out of the train station and it's pouring rain. That's another reason not to go on the pilgrimage because it's just soaking rain constantly all day long.

I'm with Crystal Duhame, who's carrying a gigantic microphone around everywhere. And then Samson Yee, 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 30-something man, nicely dressed. He's wearing a gray suit, the red tie. Samson talks to him and says his name is Daiske, Daiske-san, to be polite. And Samson climbed into the front of the taxi to sit next to Daiske so that he can interpret our conversation.

. Yes.

It's okay for you to record his talk. He might not be able to meet your expectations.

We start heading out of the city on this wild, winding back road, and immediately we're 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. Yeah, I remember asking. Well, maybe ask Daisuke-san if he knows anything about the Japanese wolf.

Can you ask Daisuke-san, our driver, if he knows anything about the Japanese wolf?

So Samson did, and no, he'd never heard about it. But…

I don't know anything about the wolf, but I love animals, and I have a Chihuahua at home.

I have a Chihuahua. What's the name of the Chihuahua?

Chihuahua,.

Gotaro.

Gotaro.

Gotaro. Gotaro.

Boys name.

. He has a boys name, but he's a girl.

And Samson laughed because Gotoro is a very male Japanese name.

It's apparently like some warrior name. He said the Chinese character for it means hard metal. And Daiske named this Chihuahua the most masculine, tough name he could think of because Chihuahua are so fierce and have such strong personalities. So he did deliberately. And the fact that he would connect that to wolves, that was a funny thing about him. It's 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, 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. He was telling me that dogs are really just wolves that have developed over thousands of years a very intimate relationship with human beings. He's done all this incredible research, including discovering that dogs cry when their owners come home after a long period away. They have moisture in their eyes. And wolves don't. That's one of the ways they're different. But otherwise, it's more a continuum than it is a bright line that divides them.

So Daiske got that right away. He was like, You're 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.

I'd been spending the last few days of my trip in Japan learning about wolves. I started telling Daiske-san the epic saga of the Japanese 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 a big timber wolf or a gray wolf, a big, snarling, mean dog. Japanese wolves were different. They were smaller and 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. Basically, for many thousands of years, wolves roamed all over Japan, and people revered them. They saw them as sacred guardians. They protected crops. People worshiped at wolf shrines, and 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 killing people. And then in the 1800s, there was 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 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 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 it is historically documented, and they know where it was exactly, and they know 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 skulking around this lumber yard in a little remote village, and somebody He 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 so we were driving out to see.

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 how you might feel about this trip. We're going to look for the dog, look for the wolf.

Daiske was the chattiest, probably the chattiest cab driver I've ever had. And whatever he talked about, it always came back to Gotoro. For instance, he was telling us like, Oh, I'm a YouTuber, and I have a YouTube channel about cars. I said, Oh, what's the name of the YouTube channel? Because I 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 Gotoro.

I said, Wait a second.

Did he say Gotoro? Did he say Gotoro again? Is his YouTube channel named after the Chihuahua? Samson said, Yes, it's basically driving with Gotoro.

Driving.

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 winding roads into the mountains through There's just occasional houses, fog, still pouring rain. And then, Daiske-san starts telling us his life story, which turned out to be much more than we were prepared for. So we are still in this car. Maybe we're halfway into the trip at this point. And Dice case 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 he's talking about his life story now and how he used to live in Oaxaca. Oaxaca? Yeah. So he got married with his wife in Osaka and lived there for two years. He used to drive a garbage truck. And his wife's dad, after they got married two years, asked him to come live with them. So his parents-in-law asked him to come live with them. And her dad, the wife's dad, works in the same taxi company as this company. And hence, he and his wife and Ota-ro moved from Osaka to Kyoto, to Nara, and lived with his father for four to five years. But then his father-in-law left the taxi.

So, yeah, he's a garbage truck driver in Osaka, and he got married, and they agreed to move in with his father-in-law, his wife's father. In Japan, traditionally, it's 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 I'm Actually, his father-in-law didn't like animals at the time. But then he knew that if Daisky's family would come and live with him, the dog would come along, the Chiba would come along. And because Gotaro is a dog you have in the house, so his father-in-law knew that, and then they brought the dog over.

.. 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 Chihuahua. So like, violent.

So Daesky says a couple of times, he came home from work, and it seemed like Gotoro was hurt.

And there'd been no one home all day except Gotoro and the father-in-law.

So at the time, for the first and second time, when he saw the scars, he knew immediately that the scars on a dog was caused by a person. So unless there is some He was a thief. He broke in the house, it could only have been his father-in-law. So he approached his father-in-law and told him to stop, stop hitting a dog. And he was telling his father-in-law that you wouldn't like it if someone hit your grandson or grandchild, his son or child. So please stop, is what he said.

.

We talked about it. The third time?

The third time? The third time..

When I got home, the third time, when I got home, the Chihuahua's left eye was really red and was bulging. We took the Chihuahua to the hospital, and he lost his left eye.

.

.

I told my wife and my children that they are free to stay if they want. So my wife can stay with his parents, if he's sad, if she wants. But I'm leaving. I'm leaving with Koh-Dano.

.

In the end, there are five of us, me, my wife, and my two children, and Chihuahua, left that house. Now we're living away from the dad...

...

We never see her dad ever again after that incident.

When we fact-check the story, we talked to Daiske's wife and the vet who treated Gotoro for her injuries, and they both corroborated what Daiske told us. We tried to reach the father-in-law directly, but we weren't able to talk to him. Daiske told us his father-in-law denied hurting Gotoro. 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 retina. Also that Gotoro was not always named Gotoro. Originally, she was named Love. That's actually the name the vet knew her by. Daiske says when his father-in-law got angry, he would shout the word love over and over. And Daiske decided he didn't want to relive that trauma anymore, and that's when he thought of this name Gotoro. He wanted to give the dog this tough warrior name.

Sorry, the story has gotten all serious, is what he said.

That's very intense. So Gotaro has no left eye.

.

He's saying, you know how when humans... Like you, actually. You know how when humans, when you lose sight, use your sight of one eye, It can really 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 referred to dog, he says, which means human's life. So 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 it was a person.

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

I tried to think it like that so that I can keep saying,. And it's really... The dog itself is really healthy, and Gōtaro is just fine, doing just fine.

And he's saying how Chihuahua like wolves, how to.

So I just saw a sign that said the name of where where we're going? Yes. What is it called again?

Higashi Yoshino.

Yeah. And it had a wolf on it. It had a little wolf silhouette. Did you see that?

I think we are closer, maybe four or five minutes away.

Okay.

Well, this life of story of yours has become so much more intense than I imagined. I thought we were just going to sell a taxi and go and see a statue.

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. 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 Gotoro, or as Walnut, my dog, or as any of us in this car. This was a specific creature. As the last wolf, it had lost everyone. It had lost its family, its friends, it's a whole community pack. And that's just... That's just really deep to think about. So, yeah, suddenly we're there. It's just like the GPS was like, we're here, and It was really a nothing.

It's really quiet, maybe because it's Sunday as well.

There was a little roadside sign, and then you just had to pull off the road onto the shoulder. Traffic cars driving by, we're just right there driving by right next to you. It was really a nothing of a sight. That said, we get out. It's pouring rain. Daiske gives us some brella's, 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 a beautiful classic Japanese painting.

Be careful. I don't think cars stop.

I don't think anyone ever comes here. It was completely quiet, except for when occasionally a car would go racing past. There's a big stone tablet with a lot of Japanese on it that Samson read to us. What does it say?

It says, Wolf died and its spirits exist. Lives on. So wolf dies, but its spirits live on.

Well, I I feel shy to approach the wolf. We've come all this way, and I feel hesitant to. But I guess let's go see him. 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 It looks like a pet dog. It looks like a pet dog. It looks like a million dogs that I've played with. Just a small, medium dog. It's just 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 at my Japanese term. I'd learned this word earlier on the trip, this incredible Japanese word, which is power spotto, which is just an adoption from English power spot. So just a place that's really full of power. And this, to me, standing by this statue was powerful. Just this humble, modest little A little thing, an afterthought of a memorial. One Japanese term from the book we were reading, it says, The Japanese once revered the wolf as obuchi no magami, or large-mouthed pure God.

You could see the large mouth. I mean, the jaws are wide open. It's howling. I I really would love to hear what that howl sounds like. So, yeah, we stood. And Samson, who... One of the great things about Samson is he's just completely unflappable, unimpressed by anything. How do you feel having been on this journey with us, knowing all that you know now about the wolf story, coming all this ridiculous way to make this pilgrimage, to stand at this statue that no one ever it comes to, I think, pretty much. 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 the extinct, over 100 years ago, I wasn't sure what I was going to expect. And then we're here now. 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. 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 the street. It's even difficult to park your car because there's no road to this thing. Whilst we pray on other things that we call God that has replaced this thing. That's pretty deep, no?

Yeah, so you're having some feelings and thoughts. The unimpressible Samson.

It's sad, Are you seeing about it?

It is really profound. This was the last thing of its kind. And the rain is coming down. It's just like, soaking. It's like dripping off the fangs of the statue. And then Daiske pulls out his phone and says, Oh, I want to show you a picture of Gotoro. Sure. Let's see Gotoro.

Yeah, yeah..

And As we're standing next to the statue of the last Japanese wolf, he shows us on his phone screen this picture of this little white chihuahua. She's so cute. We were just like, our hearts melted. She's laying on her side in a nest of blankets and having her belly rubbed and her eyes are closed.

It just looks like the sweetest little thing, and she's so happy and in heaven.

One last question for Daiske-san. The wolf is howling. I really wonder what its howl sounds like. 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 we got back in the car and Daeske said, I found it. I found the video. And he played us this video. Of Gotro, the Chihuahua, howling her little brains out at an ambulance. And it's like the most… tender. She's howling so hard, and it's such a soft little, such a soft little, tender Chihuahua howl. It's so primal. Imagine it coming out past the fangs of this Japanese wolf, echoing across the wilderness. Gotoro. Oh my God.

You too, buddy.

This episode was produced by Crystal Duhame and Larissa Anderson, with help from Kaitlyn Roberts. It was reported by me, Sam Anderson, and edited by Larissa Anderson and Wendy Dore. It was engineered by Marion Lozano. The executive producer is Paula Schumann. Original music by Marion Lozano. Fact-checking by Samson Yee and Josh Hunt. Special thanks to Jake Silverstein, Sasha Weiss, and Sam Dolnik. Very special thanks to Song-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. I'm Sam Anderson. Thank you for listening.