The Akita(秋田犬,Akita-inu) is a large breed of dog originating from the mountainous northern regions of Japan. There are two separate varieties of Akita: a Japanese strain, commonly called "Akita ken" in Japan, "Akita Inu" ("inu" means "dog" in Japanese), "Japanese Akita"; and an American strain, known as the "Akita" or "American Akita". The Japanese strain comes in a narrow palette of colors, with all other colors considered atypical of the breed, while the American strain comes in all dog colors. The Akita has a short double coat, similar to that of many other northern spitz breeds such as the Siberian Husky, but long coated dogs can be found in many litters due to a recessive gene.