The Story of Hachiko

You can see the statue of the famous dog Hachiko in front of the Shibuya train station in Tokyo. A lot of people have been to the station to see his statue. It’s such a famous dog that they made movies about him. In one of the movies Richard Gere, who is a famous Hollywood actor, starred. It has a very sad story.

A professor named Eizaburo Ueno who used to work at Tokyo University wanted a Japanese Akita dog for a long time. One of his students persuaded him to adopt Hachiko. After adopting him, the professor and Hachiko became best friends, they were fond of each other. Every day Hachiko went to the train station with the professor to see him off and at the end of the day greeted him at the same spot. This routine continued until May 1925 when the professor didn’t return from the university. The professor was suffering from a disease and died unexpectedly at work.

After his owner’s death, they gave Hachiko away to the former gardener of the Ueno family, but this didn’t stop him running away and going to the house where he and the professor used to live. The bond between them was so strong that he never gave up going to the train station. During the next ten years, just like in old days, he kept on going to the station at the exact time waiting for his owner. He held the attraction of other commuters and they started giving him treats and food.

One day one of the students of the professor saw Hachiko at the station and followed him to the house of the gardener. He learned the story of Hachiko and wrote some articles about his life. Then a newspaper reporter learned the story of Hachiko and published its story in 1932. Hachiko became a famous dog all over Japan. It died in 1935 at the point where he used to greet his owner.