Tokyo Adventures: Hachiko
Heyaa!
Today a little about Hachiko statue. I’m going to tell you the story behind Hachiko, so you will understand the meaning behind this statue, which is as well a famous meeting spot just next to Shibuya’s world famous “Shibuya crossing”.
The Story of Hachiko
Hachiko was a golden brown male Akita which Professor Hidesaburo Ueno took as pet in 1924. Hachiko was very fond of his master, and every day he would wait for the professor to come home from work at Shibuya’s railway station. This daily ritual of the two of them continued until one evening in May 1925, when professor Ueno never returned with his usual train from his work. Professor Ueno had died from a cerebral hemorrhage at his work place University of Tokyo, and never returned to the train station where his dear friend was waiting for him.
After Professor’s death Hachiko was given away to a new owner, but he still continued to come back to the station every day to wait for his master to come back home. In October 4th 1932 one of Tokyo’s biggest newspapers released an article about Hachiko, which was written by Ueno’s former student who had followed Hachiko from train station to Kikuzaboro Kobayashi’s home (former gardener of Ueno’s family to whom Hachiko was given) and learned the story behind Hachiko. After that Hachiko become a national sensation and was respected because of his loyalty to his master and people started bring food and nourish to him during his wait. This continued for nine years until Hachiko died in March 8th 1935.
Hachiko’s story has inspired as s spirit of family loyalty that all should strive to achieve. Hachiko’s story has been told by parents and teachers to children as an example that they should follow. Eventually the story of Hachiko has become Japan’s national symbol of loyalty. There are three Hachiko statues in Japan, and one of them stands in the spot where Hachiko waited for all those years for his master to come back home.
Hachiko’s memory lives through these statues and one proof of that is when you go to the statue, you can always see lots of people sitting around it waiting for their friends to arrive.
Hachiko statue in Shibuya