K-9 cop devotes career to training dogs, saving lives

Takeshi Koike / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Yoshihiro Yamakawa yells "Search!" and a German shepherd runs to hunt for bodies trapped under debris during an exercise. The pooch quickly locates a police officer posing as a victim trapped in the rubble.

This is a typical day at the Metropolitan Police Department's police dog training center in Tokyo's Tama district. Dozens of dogs that participate in search and rescue operations after earthquakes and other disasters train here four hours a day.

Yamakawa, 58, a police inspector from the second section of the MPD's Security Bureau, is in charge of the training center. Yamakawa has trained dogs for 20 years. "If there are people waiting to be rescued, I want to help save them," he said.

He has had a unique career.

On Aug. 13, 1985, Yamakawa arrived on Mt. Osutaka in Gunma Prefecture. Bodies and airplane wreckage were scattered all around. It was one day after a Japan Airlines jet crashed, killing 520 people.

Finding the body of a dead girl who looked like she was sleeping, Yamakawa was reminded of his 3-year-old daughter. Filled with sorrow, he wrapped more than 100 bodies in blankets.

Yamakawa entered the MPD in 1971, dreaming of becoming a motorcycle cop. He was assigned to the riot police unit via the traffic section. When news of the crash on Mt. Osutaka came in, he was dispatched to join the rescue operations.

Four people miraculously survived the crash. Yamakawa used to suffer from nightmares, wishing he could have saved more. About that time, he heard the MPD was considering training dogs to participate in rescues, not just for security operations. He requested a transfer to the training center.

Yamakawa's request was granted two years later. However, the first dog he tried to train, Agino, refused to obey him. The dog yawned when Yamakawa gave him orders and ran to another trainer when Yamakawa released him. Agino frequently bit Yamakawa on the arm.

Working on holidays

Nevertheless, Yamakawa patiently trained the dog, even spending holidays to work with it. Eventually, he came to understand the dog physically and mentally, and was able to read its expressions and body movements.

Yamakawa was so involved in working with the dog that he sometimes used dog training terms on his daughter. When he did this, his wife would remind him, "Our daughter's not a dog."

The Great Hanshin Earthquake struck in 1995 and Yamakawa requested the dogs be sent to help search for survivors under the rubble. However, his request was rejected on the grounds that the dogs were not yet properly trained for such situations. Yamakawa felt frustrated as he watched rescue dogs from other countries at work in the Kansai region on TV.

"I want our dogs to have the chance to show their skills in a disaster," he thought. He continued improving his handling technique, using his frustration as motivation.

The first opportunity for Yamakawa and his four-legged friends came when they were dispatched to Algeria after an earthquake in 2003. He searched the rubble of a collapsed hotel for survivors as the chief handler of the Japan Disaster Relief Team, a rescue squad that is dispatched overseas.

About five hours of searching at the hotel, one of his dogs showed a reaction. Clearing away the rubble at the spot, the rescue team spotted the arm of a man. After digging out the body, the man was found to be already dead. The hotel owner consoled the team, saying, "His body is still in good condition, the family will be happy."

Since then, Yamakawa has been sent to six disasters in Japan and abroad, including the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake in 2004 and an earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2009. Although he has helped find bodies at these sites, he has not yet rescued any survivors, as experienced rescue teams from other countries always arrived beforehand.

Reaching world-class levels

About 70 members of the Japan Disaster Relief Team took the U.N. capability assessment test at a disaster-prevention facility in Hyogo Prefecture in March.

During a 38-hour-long exercise simulating a search for survivors under collapsed buildings, four MPD dogs quickly discovered several victims.

The Japan Disaster Relief Team attained the United Nations' most difficult "heavy class," which has been only granted to 12 teams, including those from the United States, Britain and Germany. This classification means the Japanese squad likely will be given priority when teams are dispatched to disasters in the future.

In the 25 years since the disaster on Mt. Osutaka, Yamakawa has trained 20 dogs and devoted his career to saving lives. With only two years until retirement, Yamakawa still vividly remembers the crash on Mt. Osutaka.

"I want to do whatever I can to save someone from dying," he said.