Ms MacDonell: Animal stories - Famous dog Hachiko

My star student, Joanna, loves animal stories, especially stories about dogs. Today we are going to look at the true story of Hachiko, a Japanese Akita dog.

This is a photo of Hachiko:

In 1924, Hachiko was given to Professor Ueno, who taught at the University of Tokyo.

Every day, Hachiko would go to the train station to meet the professor as he returned home from work. Then they would walk home together.

This is an old photo of the train station:

But one day, Hachiko went to the station but his master did not return.

The professor collapsed and died during a lecture at the university. He never returned to the station.

For the next 9 years, 9 months and 15 days, Hachiko went to the train station every day at the exact time that the train arrived. But his master never appeared.

At first, people were unhappy to see a dog waiting outside the station. They would shout at Hachiko and hit him. But after a newspaper printed a story of why the dog was waiting, people felt sorry for the dog. They started to feed him and take care of him. He was becoming famous as a symbol of loyalty and friendship between people and dogs. Eventually, when Hachiko himself died, almost 10 years after his master, the city of Toyko erected a statue of the dog at the train station.

This is a photo of the statue when it was unveiled on the first anniversary of Hachiko's death.

This is a picture of the statue today. The statue is now a famous meeting place. People in Toyko will tell their friends - "I'll meet you by Hachiko." - when they want to meet at the train station.

The story of Hachiko is very famous. There have been books written about Hachiko. Two films have been made about him as well, one Japanese film and one American film.

Watch the following video from the Japanese version. We will stop to discuss from time to time to discuss what you see happening in the film.