Rural Kiwi shows a hit in Japan
A Te Kuiti couple have been putting on a show which brings a slice of Kiwi rural life to people in Japan. Lawrence Gullery reports.
Learning a foreign language and running an international business was not part of Ross MacDonald’s career plan when he finished school in rural Waikato.
But it has almost been 30 years since he and wife Janis arrived in Japan to work as part of a rural New Zealand farm show.
Now, the couple run their own businesses from their home in Te Kuiti, supplying Kiwi shepherds, men and women, as well as working dogs, for rural entertainment shows at three major animal park tourism attractions in Japan.
Combined, more than a million people walk through the gates of the three parks each year, where visitors have a chance to experience a slice of New Zealand rural life.
Daily shows are carefully choreographed and feature Kiwi shepherds working their dogs to muster in mobs of sheep.
There is shearing, whip cracking, horse riding and a fair bit of New Zealand humour thrown in the mix.
The MacDonalds’ New Zealand Farm Shows business is about to send over a new group of shepherds for the 2020 season.
They will work overseas from March through to the beginning of December, leading two to three shows a day in Japan.
Ross said that for many New Zealanders working on the shows, it was a life-changing experience, just like it was when he and Janis arrived in Japan in 1992.
‘‘I was sheep shearing on the show circuit around New Zealand and overseas, and doing pretty well at the time.
‘‘Then I was approached by the Agrodome in Rotorua. They wanted me to help showcase a few rural shows in Japan.
‘‘We lived there for about five years, started working on a series of our own shows throughout Japan.’’
The couple moved to Japan with their 6-week-old baby daughter, Sophie. The family quickly assimilated to a new way of life.
Ross remembers the challenges he had around learning a new language and culture.
He discovered that food played an important part in the Japanese culture and was a good conversation starter.
Janis remembers the fishing village community they lived in, in the south of Japan.
She remembers how well Sophie integrated into daycare and then preschool, learning the language quickly.
Language and communication was key.
‘‘The first time I went over, noone could understand what I was trying to say in Japanese,’’ Ross said.
‘‘So I set out to learn 10 new words a day, every day. Pronunciation, it is similar to Ma¯ ori.’’
In those days, Ross listened to cassettes with pre-recorded language lessons, and kept a dictionary by his side to improve his vocabulary.
‘‘If I wanted to learn a new word, I would look it up in the dictionary, write it out 10 times and then go and try it out on some unsuspecting person to make sure it was right.’’
Nowadays, shepherds heading over to Japan under Ross’ care use their mobile phones to access similar language lessons.
‘‘We get them going on the language early. They have scripts they have to learn, in Japanese, for the shows. We can give them DVDs as learning material so it is a lot better than the old days with cassettes.
‘‘When they first go over to Japan, they have an MC who can translate their script. Then slowly over time, the shepherd can use more of the language during the shows.’’
It is not just the shepherds who have to be bi-lingual. The working dogs also have to learn commands in English and Japanese.
Ross trains all the new working dogs heading to Japan and works with them in both languages while they are being prepared in New Zealand for show life in Japan.
‘‘The dogs pick it up very quickly, they are very intelligent.’’
Ross introduces Queen, who has been trained at their Te Kuiti property. She is a young huntaway who looks keen to begin her show career in Japan this year.
Huntaway dogs are typical on New Zealand sheep farms, used for their deep bark to drive sheep around. The rural shows also use heading dogs, which use their quick movements to round up and herd sheep.
‘‘Our dogs in Japan have a great life. The accommodation they get is five-star, probably better than here in New Zealand and they probably live longer over there too.’’
Ross said the working dogs were the real stars of the show.
Most Japanese people would have only seen a sheep on television, Ross said, while a dog was considered a pet.
People were ‘‘intrigued’’ to see the Kiwi canines in action, barking, responding to the whistle of a shepherd, working sheep around a paddock and performing tricks.
‘‘After the show, it is really the dogs people want to see and pat.
‘‘So our dogs need to be good social animals which can switch from chasing sheep one minute, to sitting down and being approached by children the next.’’
The shepherds the MacDonalds recruit also have to tick a few boxes.
‘‘Our dogs in Japan have a great life. The accommodation they get is five-star, probably better than here in New Zealand and they probably live longer over there too.’’
‘‘They have to be outgoing. They have to learn a bit of the language before they go over, that is most important.
‘‘It is seasonal so the work gets very busy during the holiday period, from June to August, when we might recruit a few more people to help out with the extra number of shows we do.’’
Ross said they had been lucky to have some shepherds return for multiple seasons. One stayed with the company for 10 years.
Ages vary, from mid-40s to people in their 20s and they are from all over New Zealand. In recent years, more women have come forward to work the shows.
‘‘But it is getting a little bit harder now to find people because there are not as many working in the sheep industry.
‘‘It is just the way things have gone, with the introduction of technology and machinery.’’
Ross said there was a good salary for those working on the shows in Japan.
Airfares, accommodation and insurance costs were looked after.
Few got homesick for New Zealand, there was too much to experience. Some had even found love in Japan and married local girls.
Ross encouraged the shepherds to travel the country when they could, especially at the end of their term after the shows close for the year.
‘‘People think Japan is a big concrete jungle but it has got some great mountainous scenery and I know some of the people we have had, loved hiking around them.
‘‘Others have enjoyed visiting the cities too.’’
Ross visits Japan about six or seven times during the season, usually spending two or three days at each site. Sometimes he might spend a week with a new shepherd to make sure they had settled in.
‘‘You develop a close relationship with the shepherds because you are working with them, teaching them and sometimes socialising with them.’’
Making sure the shows were meeting expectations was another priority.
‘‘We get a lot of repeat customers so we have to make sure the shows are refreshed with new ideas.’’
Ross said sometimes even the sheep got used to the routine of a regular show, so it was important to make changes to ensure the animals were providing the best possible entertainment for the customers.
Additions to the shows over the years had included teaching working dogs to round up ducks, training sheep to perform tricks and specialist horse shows.
‘‘We even had pigs in the shows one year when the movie Babe came out.’’
Initially, the MacDonalds worked at various shows around Japan but then scaled it back to three.
Their New Zealand Farm Shows business is now contracted to run shows at Ikaho Green Bokujo and Nasu Animal Kingdom, both farm-theme amusement parks on the outskirts of Tokyo.
The third is Kobe Animal Kingdom, in Kobe which is the sixth largest city in Japan, on the southern side of the main island of Honshu.
The MacDonalds helped set up the farm show component of the Nasu Animal Kingdom in the late 1990s and it remains a big part of their business today, after 20 years.
Ross said the shows’ programmes varied at each location.
Ikaho Green Bokujo and Nasu Animal Kingdom were in semi-rural settings which had more room, whereas Kobe Animal Kingdom was smaller but unique because it was in the middle of Kobe city.
A typical show started with an introduction by the shepherd or the MC.
‘‘We talk about the dogs we are using, their breed and training,’’ Ross said.
‘‘But we don’t go into a full-on educational show about how much wool is produced in New Zealand and so on, because this is really about entertainment.’’
A mob of sheep sit up on a hill and after the introductions, the shepherd commands the dog to muster the animals right up to the feet of the customers, in a matter of minutes.
‘‘Watching a dog muster in sheep is probably something we take for granted here but in Japan it is quite a spectacle.’’
The dogs move the sheep around, into yards and over jumps. Sheep also get their time in the spotlight, bowing and waving.
‘‘We get sheep from when they are lambs and train them to do a few tricks and they are quite a hit.’’
There is whip cracking and some crowd interaction with a lot of humour included in each show.
‘‘We also shear the sheep on busy weekends and holidays, because we just don’t have the number of sheep to shear at every show.’’
After the show, there are lots of questions about New Zealand, about the dogs and sheep.
‘‘They want to know how long it takes to train the dogs, and how long it takes for a sheep’s wool to grow back.’’
In June 2019, Janis visited Japan for the first time in 16 years but it wasn’t to help Ross with the shows.
She is the chairperson of Waitomo District’s Sister City Committee. Its sister city is Tatsuno, in Japan.
‘‘I was asked to join the committee because of my link with Japan. It is one of the longest city sister relationships in New Zealand and in June we took eight year 8 students from the district over on an exchange,’’ Janis said.
‘‘This year is the 25th anniversary and we are in the throes of planning something special to mark the occasion.’’
Janis manages the administration of the business from home in Te Kuiti. She is also responsible for managing the family farm while Ross works in Japan.
There is 50 hectares to look after, where the MacDonalds farm mainly sheep with a few cattle.
There was plenty of help from family, friends and neighbouring farmers which ensured Janis was never alone on the farm.
Expanding their entertainment shows in Japan is on the cards in the near future.
‘‘We have been working on a location for a horse show the last couple of seasons,’’ Ross said. ‘‘Fresh ideas, always looking at something new.’’
Over the years, Ross and Janis have helped put New Zealand on the international tourism map but the couple remain humble about the success of their international business.
‘‘I grew up in the hills around Piopio, about 20 minutes from Te Kuiti,’’ Ross said.
‘‘Japan is definitely the last place I thought I would end up having a business or a job.
‘‘Even speaking another language, was not something I was focused on when I left school.’’
They said it had been an entertaining journey, always learning about people, language, culture and business.
‘‘For the shepherds that we have working in Japan, it really opens up their eyes to the world,’’ Ross said.
‘‘I have had parents of staff ring me and thank me for giving their children the experience and how much it has brought them out of their shell.
‘‘It has made them more worldly and social as a person. That is quite humbling to hear when really all we are doing is providing them with a job.’’