Cuteness Alert: Akitas Are Used for Google Street View in Japan

Bran may be able to inhabit the consciousness of animals and humans, but you know what we normies can do in reality, Brandon Stark?! Use cute-as-heck Akitas with cameras on their backs to handle street view imagery for all of the unfriendly terrain in Japan’s Akita Prefecture.

Apparently Google now employs Akitas in the eponymous prefecture — which is indeed the place that gives the crazily happy breed its name — and as you can tell from the clip above (which comes via RocketNews), it’s literally one of the cutest things ever. (And if you think that’s hyperbole, just ask yourself how many times you wanted to hug those freakin’ dogs while watching that clip.)

According to the (presumably) Google translated text below the video, Google Japan notes that:

“Odate city wanted to give visitors a snapshot of the local area and, since Akita dogs are such an important part of the city’s history and culture, they called on the help of a hardy pair of working Akita dogs — Ako and Asuka — to give their own unique perspective of a dog’s life in Akita by strapping a small camera to a dog-friendly harness on their backs.”

Which is insanely cute. In fact… Ako… Asuka… cute dogs and technology… a small town in Japan — Hey, Disney, this is your next movie right here! A Doge’s View.

Thanks to the Akitas with the 360 Google cameras on their backs, we get glimpses of all kinds of awesome spots around Odate City, including the statue of Hachikō, the dog who waited for his master for nine years after said master had died.

Hachiko in Akita Frefecture, Japan. Image: Google

And now you’re thinking about Seymour from Futurama, aren’t you? Because that plot point was likely based on the story of Hachikō.

See, this really is a Disney movie that writes itself.

How do you feel about Google using Akitas to get some extra street view shots in Japan? Is this just more data collection or is there some real heart here? Give us your thoughts in the comments!

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Images: Google Japan 

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