Peace Wanko Japan (Peace Winds Japan)

Peace Wanko Japan ("Peace Doggy") is run by Peace Winds Japan, a humanitarian NGO founded by Kensuke Onishi in 1996 that responds to disasters and conflict in Japan and around the world. The project grew out of a meeting in November 2010 with a mixed-breed puppy, Yumenosuke, at the Hiroshima Prefecture Animal Welfare Centre. Yumenosuke went on to train as a disaster rescue dog and found a missing person after the 2014 Hiroshima landslides. Peace Wanko began rescuing dogs in 2012 with the aim of ending the killing of dogs in Japan's public animal centres.

Peace Wanko takes in dogs from the animal welfare centre that would otherwise be put down, including sick and injured dogs and those with behavioural problems. Many were born wild and are not used to people. Each dog first goes to a quarantine facility for a veterinary check and treatment, then to a shelter where staff walk and socialise it and work on training before it is put up for adoption. Its headquarters shelter in Jinsekikogen, Hiroshima, can care for up to 2,000 dogs at a time. Peace Wanko says that, apart from dogs the welfare centre judges cannot be saved, no dogs have been killed in Hiroshima Prefecture for more than 3,800 days in a row, and that 5,843 dogs were adopted or returned to their owners from 2012 to the end of October 2026. Some of its dogs train as disaster search-and-rescue dogs or therapy dogs, and in 2025 Peace Winds started Peace Nyanko, a similar programme for cats.

Adopting and visiting: dogs are rehomed through Peace Wanko's adoption centres in Hiroshima, Fukuyama, Okayama, Tokyo (Setagaya, Nishitokyo and Akiruno), Shonan, Hamamatsu, Ikoma and Fukuoka, and at regular adoption events. The Jinsekikogen adoption centre, next to the main shelter, is open 11am to 5pm daily except Wednesdays (open on public holidays) and no booking is needed; shelter tours can also be arranged there. Check the website for each centre's details and upcoming events.

How to help: donate once or monthly (from ¥1,000 a month) through Peace Wanko's official support page, give through Japan's furusato nozei (hometown tax) scheme, leave a legacy, send supplies or volunteer. Peace Winds Japan is a certified NPO (nintei NPO hōjin), so donations qualify for tax relief in Japan. Donors in the US can give through Peace Winds America, its US partner.