Last week I saw a film during the end of which I could not avoid crying. “Hachiko: a Dog’s Story” was released in August 2009 and was directed by Lasse Hallström and Richard Gere as its main protagonist. This film portrays the story of a dog which faithfully waited for his master at the train station for 10 years even after his master’s death. At the end of the film there is a notice which claims that this story is a true story. So, I decided to find out more about this dog. Hachiko belonged to the Akita Inu breed. He was born in 10 November 1923 and was adopted by Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the University of Tokyo. The professor commuted to work every day, during Hachiko’s early years, he accompanied his owner every day to the Shabushy station and when he arrived back to the station at night the dog would be there, at the same place, at the same time, waiting for his master. The daily scene of the dog and the professor became so familiar to the people working in the station and other commuters that all of them greeted, fed and took care of the dog.
One day the awaited train arrived but, every time the doors of the station opened the dog saw someone else passing through them, not the professor. That day he did not came back. He had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage at the University and had died before coming back home. But this did not prevent the dog from going every day, at the same time, to the same place, for the following 10 years to wait for his beloved master. Hachiko was finally found dead at that same spot on 8 March 1935.
Hachiko has become an icon of loyalty to the local people. Every year a ceremony is conducted in his honor. This ceremony takes place at Shabushy Station where a life-size bronze statue of the loyal animal has been erected. Hachiko has also become the protagonist of many didactic books for children. Hachiko is a local hero.
