“A dog’s story: Fur Coat; what the heck?” 

Toshihiko Ogura, MD, PhD 

Field: Developmental Neurobiology
Hometown: Koriyama & Fukushima
Hobbies: Photography, reading, dog walking, classical music (piano), and aquatic plants.

“A dog’s story: Fur Coat; what the heck? …when you keep a dog at home, many things happen.”

One day, my wife was sorting through the kitchen shelves and said to me, “This is for men, try using it.” She then handed me two small packets containing shampoo and conditioner that was put together quite elegantly. Whether it was a free sample or not, I’m really not sure, but the quality seems to be quite high and it appears to be a nice French product.

In any case, the front reads “Protein Plus”; hmm… sounds good, and there’s even a small origami rendering of a cute-looking dog in the corner of the pack. Flipping the packets over, I found some usage explanations in French and English, and I proudly thought to myself, “This must be a world-wide brand; what a great product!”

I saw that there were also Japanese instructions written in small font, so I took my glasses off, looked closely, and read, “wet the coat…” Huh? COAT!? FUR?!…? …? …?
Oh dear, is this a DOG SHAMPOO?!?

I can’t believe I almost washed my hair with DOG SHAMPOO! In hindsight, I thought to myself, “What happens if I use dog shampoo on my own hair? Will my hair grow long and fluffy?”

Image: This has to be one of my most favorite pictures ever. Photo taken by the child of my Assistant Professor.