What can a rescue dog teach us about self-worth, resilience and finding our place in the world?
Quite a lot, as it turns out.
In a country where pet-shop puppies remain the norm and rescue dogs are too often overlooked, Tokyo-based veterinarian Carna Terada is challenging the way we think about animals in need. Her latest project, Dogaffirmation, transforms the real stories of rescued dogs into a beautifully illustrated deck of affirmation cards, combining mindfulness, gentle yoga and animal welfare in one heartfelt initiative.
Launched on Kickstarter on October 20, the project offers something unusual: an opportunity to support Japan’s rescue dogs while taking a little inspiration from the animals themselves.
More Than a Rescue Story
Anyone who has encountered an animal rescue campaign will be familiar with the heartbreaking photographs and appeals for help. These stories matter, but Terada wants to introduce another side of rescue dogs, one that doesn’t begin and end with suffering.
Through her Tokyo-based organization, Buddies, Terada has spent years helping abandoned, neglected and unwanted dogs find loving homes. She’s witnessed animals who were once fearful of human contact slowly discover the pleasure of companionship, play and affection.
What struck her wasn’t simply what these animals had survived, but what they could teach the rest of us.
Dogaffirmation brings together 31 hand-illustrated cards featuring 33 real rescue dogs, each accompanied by an affirmation inspired by the animal’s experiences and a corresponding yoga pose.
Every dog featured has a real name, history and personality. Some were rescued from breeding facilities. Others grew up in shelters or faced abandonment. Their stories aren’t always happy from the beginning, but they offer a perspective on what it means to feel safe, valued and loved.
Take Milo, who grew up in a shelter without adequate opportunities to socialize. Large, frightened and unfamiliar with life outside a cage, he struggled to find a family even after being brought to Tokyo. More than a year later, he finally met people who saw beyond his fear.
His affirmation captures the lesson of his journey: “My worth is recognized where I belong.”
Then there’s Kina, a senior dog rescued from a breeding facility. After a lifetime without ordinary pleasures such as toys and walks, she finally experienced family life. Her time with her new family was short, but it was filled with experiences she had previously been denied.
Her card reminds us that the marks left by our past do not erase who we are.
These aren’t generic motivational slogans printed beside cute illustrations. They’re reflections drawn from individual lives, encouraging readers to consider their own experiences through a different lens.
A Little Mindfulness, With a Lot of Heart
Each card pairs its affirmation with a yoga pose, inviting people to connect the message with a moment of physical reflection.
The concept builds naturally on Buddies’ popular bilingual dog yoga sessions, known as doga, which bring rescue dogs and Tokyo residents together through movement and companionship.
But unlike an in-person event, Dogaffirmation doesn’t require you to be in a particular place at a particular time.
You might draw a card in the morning before work, leave a favorite affirmation on your desk, incorporate a pose into your yoga routine or use the accompanying journaling prompts to reflect on a difficult day.
The deck also includes a booklet telling the dogs’ stories, access to additional information online and a card stand handmade in Osaka from reclaimed Japanese wood.
Terada illustrated the dogs herself rather than using AI-generated artwork, carefully capturing their individual features and personalities. The result is a project that feels personal, from the dogs whose stories inspired it to the people who helped bring it into being.
Supporting Rescue Dogs in Japan, Wherever You’re From
For Tokyo’s international community, Dogaffirmation offers another way to participate in local animal welfare.
As we’ve previously explored in Metropolis, adopting or fostering a dog in Japan can be complicated, particularly for international residents. Pet-friendly housing can be difficult to secure, language barriers can make the process daunting, and some rescue organizations are reluctant to place animals with people who may eventually leave the country.
Buddies takes a different approach, actively welcoming international residents, unmarried couples, single people, same-sex couples and military families into its adoption and fostering community.
Yet even for those who cannot open their homes to an animal, there are opportunities to make a difference.
Whether you’re an international professional living in a small Tokyo apartment, a military family stationed in Japan, a student, or simply someone whose circumstances don’t allow for a pet, supporting Dogaffirmation is a way to contribute without committing to adoption.
And for those who might eventually be interested in fostering, volunteering or adopting, the project also provides an introduction to the wider work Buddies is doing throughout Japan.
A Different Future for Japan’s Rescue Dogs
Behind the illustrations lies a much larger ambition.
Japan’s pet industry remains heavily focused on commercially bred animals, while adult rescue dogs, mixed breeds and larger dogs frequently struggle to find homes. For organizations like Buddies, changing this reality means more than finding individual adopters. It means changing attitudes.
Terada hopes that introducing rescue dogs through their individuality, charm and resilience will encourage people to think differently about the animals they may otherwise overlook.
Rather than asking people to support rescue dogs solely out of sympathy, Dogaffirmation invites them to recognize what these animals have to offer.
The project’s Kickstarter campaign also represents a step toward Buddies’ longer-term vision: a sustainable model of rescue work in which animals and humans benefit from their relationships, and eventually a shelter where dogs and people can connect, learn and heal together.
It’s a refreshing way of approaching animal welfare. The dogs aren’t simply recipients of kindness. They’re participants in an exchange of it.
How to Support the Dogaffirmation Kickstarter
The Dogaffirmation Kickstarter launched on October 20, 2026, and there’s still time to become part of the project.
By backing the campaign, you can help bring the card deck to life while supporting the rescue dogs at the heart of Buddies’ work.
The English-language deck is particularly accessible to international residents in Japan, and its thoughtful design also makes it a meaningful gift for animal lovers, yoga enthusiasts or anyone who could use a little encouragement.
You don’t have to own a dog, speak Japanese or have room in your apartment for a foster animal to get involved.
Here’s how you can make a difference:
- Back the Kickstarter: Visit the campaign page, explore the available rewards and choose a pledge that works for you.
- Share it with your community: Send the campaign to friends, colleagues, fellow animal lovers, yoga groups and international or military communities throughout Japan.
- Help spread the word about rescue dogs: Follow Buddies, learn about its work and consider other opportunities to volunteer, foster or adopt.
Every additional person who discovers this project is another opportunity to change how rescue dogs are seen.
And perhaps that’s the most meaningful affirmation of all: that every dog, regardless of its past, deserves to be seen, valued and given a chance to belong.
Support Dogaffirmation on Kickstarter
Learn more about the dogs, their stories and the project at buddies.life/dogaffirmation.