No one knows exactly how this happened, but one day when he was about six months old, Hachi walked the Professor to Shibuya train station. The Professor got on a train to go teach his classes at Tokyo Imperial University. Hachi saw The Professor off, ran home, and then returned at 3: With great joy, the two friends walked home together.
This daily ritual continued for a year and a half until tragedy struck: The Professor died of a heart attack at work. Of course there was no way to explain this to Hachi, who was waiting at the train station like always. Eventually Hachi went home, but he returned the next day, the day after that, and every day for ten long years until he died of old age at the train station.
Hachiko became a symbol of loyalty and devotion, and the people of Japan were so moved by his story, they erected a statue in his honor, which still stands at Shibuya Station today. His story came back to me when I was taking care of Miss Truvy, a Bichon Frise who was owned by a friend of mine who asked me to do some dog-sitting for her.
And so he began dropping Miss Truvy off at my house and before going off to work. Miss Truvy, who was old and ill, slept all day, and could easily have been mistaken for a fluffy white throw pillow. But without fail, each evening at about quarter to six, she awoke and ran to the door. And sure enough, about ten minutes later, my friend arrived to take her home. Though many books had been written about him and published in Japan, no such story had ever been published in English. And so I wrote Hachiko Waits to honor the noble Akita.
The Japan that spawned Hachiko was an ugly, mendacious country of brainwashed and self-deluded individuals.
It's a dog's life for Richard Gere
Sadly those who did know the truth dared not utter their thoughts. Today we live in a different Japan, so why be afraid to speak the truth? We know the nice part, why would we start to talk about being fake? Better yet lets start saying that Titanic love story, even Santa Clauss are fake and we will start losing ourselves.
The truth is great, but in this great country I will make my children see Hachiko, that great story and stop thinking that it was fake 90 years ago. But the myth of the loyal dog kept Hachiko alive a lot longer than if he had been just another stray. His longevity-linked celebrity transcends whatever purpose propaganda makers were planning.
Kind of like finding a sign on a tree stating the age in centuries, Hachiko shows the hardiness of the natural world. And this is from someone who has no plans to watch the Richard Gere movie. If the Hachiko tale were the only legacy bequeathed us by Showa fascism, it might not be so bad, but there is still a great pile hidden under the carpet that continues to smell and undermine the mental health of too many people here who never seem to grow up, remaining infantilized until their their second childhood sets in while at the same time souring their relations with their Asian neighbors.
I prefer to respect the last wishes of Hachiko's owner who wanted the world to know the truth, and, as a dog-lover myself, to show respect for the canine intelligence of the REAL Hachiko. After all, it would be a dumb mutt that waited nine years for his dead master. I suppose the moral of this tale is that the story of Hachiko tells us much more about the two-legged animal than about the "dumb" quadruped.
People believe what they want to believe. If Hachiko Heaven with falling pink cherry blossoms and kitschy saccharine violin music makes some folks happy, so be it, no harm done. But the darker side is when humans don't believe what they don't want to believe, like how could those nice Nazis possibly kill so many Jews? Or, how could our government kill and torture innocent people? I've never heard that version of the Hachiko story. It was very informative and interesting.
- Etat de la Population Mondiale Rapport 2011 (French Edition).
- The New Boston Globe Cookbook: More than 200 Classic New England Recipes, From Clam Chowder to Pumpkin Pie?
- Your browser is outdated;
- I Remember: Hachiko Speaks – Lesléa Newman?
- Bound By Trust (Siren Publishing Allure).
As a professional educator, but a fallible human being, I am careful to protect myself against any charges of "brainwashing" my students. They should alway harbor some doubt and be skeptical about the claims people make.
Navigation menu
They themselves must make the necessary inquiries, do the research to discover the "facts" and the "truth", and make conclusions based on their own judgment. It is the duty of every adult to equip children with the tools to enable them to grow into strong, independent-minded adults capable of intellectual self-defense against the tsunami of BS that daily assaults our brains from the sinister powers that want to influence our thoughts and mold our behavior and values.
I don't believe it is "my" interpretation of the motives of those who invented the story of Hachiko, but rather that of the man who sold Hachiko to his friend, the teacher. Why don't you try to verify this story yourself? First of all, Rocket News 24 is not a hard news website. They mostly specialize in "wacky Japan" and otaku culture pieces that tend to border on parody.
Jacqueline Sheehan
Going to the other extreme to nitpick their articles is equally comical. How are we supposed to verify what was going through a dog's brain many decades ago? The owner of Hachiko's mother is long gone. Was that person a fellow professor at Todai? If so, it sounds like the academic was showing signs of senility by writing about a dead dog. Whose dead brain are you referring to? Did you read my posts?
I can't make head nor tail of yours. Start with the Japan Times archives circa The owner of the bitch explains the story from his point of view. Don't want to believe him? Then go to other historical sources. I'm sure there is evidence of how the Hachiko yarn was cooked up.. If you are a doubting Thomas, it's noone else's responsibility but yours to find the truth.
Even if I pay to order the Japan Times archives, how can I verify that the person who wrote the article has the definitive answer to why Hachiko returned to the station every day for nine years? I've read that the dog was well treated by travelers at the station, at first against the wishes of the station staff.
So the dog's survival was the result of collective citizen goodwill against the less humane bureaucracy of Shibuya station managers, who eventually realized the magnitude of Hachiko's popularity and were photographed bowing down before Hachiko's corpse in A victory for the independent-minded adults who supported the dog against the powerful railroad execs, right? Also, the original Hachiko statue was scrapped for the war effort. Was Hachiko really such an important nationalistic symbol if that was allowed to happen? The statue seen today is a postwar creation, and arguably represents some good values that survived the war.
The wider history of native vs. I would order that before spending any money on the Japan Times archives. Recollecting the details of the long, one-page article that I read over thirty years ago is not easy, so I'm afraid I don't know how many years Hachiko hung around Shibuya Station. But I do remember the most important point in the story told by the man who sold Hachiko to his friend, the teacher: The owner added that the reason Hachiko went down to the station was to be fed bones and scraps of meat by a butcher who had taken a shine to the mutt. Hey, why not memorialize that butcher whose kindness saved Hachiko from starvation?
Wouldn't that be a nice edifying tale for children who need to learn how to treat animals with respect?! Why was Hachiko melted down? The Japanese war machine was so desperate for iron they scrapped even things of some historical value, much more precious than a piddling statue of a dog.
If you wonder why I insist on exposing the "truth" about little Hachiko of course. We see examples of this kind of "adult" behavior every day of our lives, played out before us on TV and in other media, which explains why without such adults "great leaders" would not have the effrontery to expose themselves in public.
OK, I just don't buy the idea that the butcher was the only one who cared about Hachiko as that article implies. Considering that thousands of people would have seen Hachiko every day, there's no way to build a monument that adequately represents all their reasons for taking an interest in the dog. Thus, the simple life sized dog sculpture had to suffice, and somehow became the enduring symbol of Shibuya. Seeing it as only wartime propaganda is too limiting. I've no idea who fed or cared for Hachiko.
Those details are lost to history. I simply choose to believe the story of the man who sold Hachiko. Maybe he was not telling the truth, but then what would his motive have been? The propaganda angle is highly likely. The owner said so, and again I choose to believe him in the absence of evidence to the contrary. In fact, I have also heard from other sources about the story being fake, but I'm afraid I cannot remember where.
I should make one thing clear. I'm not an expert on the provenance of the Hachiko story. In the first place,common sense I'm a big dog-lover and I respect the intelligence of these animals tells me that the Hachiko story smells funny, and in the second place, I have learned from history to mistrust the motives of people in positions of power, like the military and "big gubmint"; even the teachers who purveyed the Hachiko story to Japanese school children are not above suspicion. I'd love for someone to join this thread who has some convincing information about the Hachiko yarn. My best guess is that the widow Ueno continued to be the main caretaker for Hachiko.
Jacqueline Sheehan - Blog
She is pictured in the dog's funeral photo prostrating herself next to the railway officials, so it doesn't seem like she ever abandoned her pet. Hachiko's owner Hidesaburo Ueno died in the last year of Taisho Neither the professor nor the dog can be blamed for rightists trying to channel Hachiko's popularity, which makes it possible to appreciate these statues independent of the terrible excesses of the war years. As for what the Ministry of Education was publishing during WWII, I would guess that anything mythologizing Hachiko is pretty tame stuff compared to the other textbook chapters.
Now if you want to witness a really questionable story, check out the Billiken statue at Tsutenkaku in south Osaka. I have nice memories of seeing the movie. I was 5yo and cryed since that I loved my dog.
He was an Akita-ainu, a very loyal dog witha mind of his own. These histories about loyalty are just great. Reunite with your beloved master. Simple question, how could the dogs mothers owner possibly know the dogs motives? Weren't they from Akita? The story goes that the butcher, like many other caring individuals, chose to feed Hachiko because he was still coming everyday although starving. I have had many dog breeds. Many dobermans akitas german sheepards. What I liked more of the Akitas were their way of doing things. The dog was just like a 4yo kid. You are guilty of being too literal.
In Edinburg, Scotland there is a bronze statue of a bronze Skye terrier called Greyfriars Bobby, who spent the last 14 years of his life sleeping on his master's grave, and was fed by the now famous pub. The story is not entirely accurate, but that matters little to people who love dogs as much as themselves. I have seen Bobby's statue, and had a draft and ploughman's lunch in the pub, and enjoyed it.
It warmed my heart.