(Tokyo) Japan celebrates Friday the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hachiko, a dog who has become a national symbol of loyalty for having tirelessly waited for his master, and whose statue is one of Tokyo’s main tourist attractions.
A century after his birth, this dog continues to fascinate Japanese and foreign tourists who crowd around his bronze statue, erected in front of Shibuya station in Tokyo where he waited daily for nearly ten years for his deceased master.
The district of Shibuya and the commune of Odate, Hachiko’s hometown in the north of Japan, have also chosen to honor the centenary of the birth of this white akita, born on November 10, 1923 and who became the hero of ‘a Hollywood film released in 2009, starring Richard Gere.
Hachiko was adopted in 1924 by Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at a university in Tokyo.
Regularly, the animal waits for its master in front of Shibuya station, in the center of Tokyo, and together they make their way home. But the professor died suddenly at his workplace in 1925. And for almost ten years, Hachiko continued to show up at the station to wait for his master before returning home alone, where the neighbors fed him.
PHOTO RICHARD A. BROOKS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The fame of the statue also makes it a practical meeting point to find yourself among the thousands of pedestrians who constantly cross paths in the famous Shibuya crossroads district. Even for those who don’t know the story.
The story will touch Tokyoites, admiring such loyalty, to the point of erecting a statue to him in 1934.
Hachiko was found dead in the streets near Shibuya Station on March 8, 1935.
During World War II, the statue would be removed and the metal recycled, in the name of the war effort.
But in 1948, a new statue was erected and very quickly it became popular.
“I would like my dog to wait for me like this for so long,” explains Omar Sanchez, a 33-year-old Spaniard on his honeymoon in Japan, happy to take selfies with his wife in front of Hachiko.
“It’s a great story and we need it,” said Daniel Callahan, a 62-year-old American. “The world is fractured and anything that can bring people together is appreciated.”
The fame of the statue also makes it a practical meeting point to find yourself among the thousands of pedestrians who constantly cross paths in the famous Shibuya crossroads district. Even for those who don’t know the story.
“This is the first time I’ve heard this story,” explains Raisa Abe, a Japanese high school student as she meets friends there. But it’s a place we talk about all the time. Even when you don’t know Shibuya, everyone knows where (the statue, Editor’s note) is. »
A hundred years after his birth, Hachiko is still waiting outside Shibuya station.