Waiting for Hachikō

By ALMA J. BUELVA

A crowd gathers in front of the statue of Hachiko, Japan's most beloved faithful pet dog, outside the Shibuya train station. (Photo by MetroPets)

Hachikō, Japan's most beloved faithful pet dog and, arguably, one of the most popular dogs in world history, has turned the table on humans.

It used to be that Hachikō, an Akita Inu dog, was the one that waited on end at the Shibuya train station for his master who, unbeknownst to him, had passed away. The loyal dog waited from May 21, 1925, the day his master died while at work, until his own death on March 8, 1935. In total, Hackikō waited for his master's return for nine years, nine months and fifteen days.

Today, Hachikō's statue right outside the Shibuya train station has hundreds of people, mostly tourists from around the world, waiting for him and forming a line for a very short time to have their photos with him. 

There's always a happy kind of chaos that surround Hachikō's statue from sunup to sundown. The day we were there, people were happily waiting for a brief special moment with Hachikō's statue even when it's wintry cold. We wonder if everyone in the crowd truly knows Hachikō's story and regard him not as a mere tourist attraction. 

That afternoon, Hachikō's statue was made more special by the surrounding cherry blossoms trees that were in full bloom. Finding him is easy. Not only does he have a mini-park on one side of the crazy Shibuya pedestrian crossing, he also got one of Shibuya station's five exits named after him ("Hachikō-guchi", meaning "The Hachikō Entrance/Exit"). 

In memory of Hachikō, small community buses were also made to ply the Shibuya ward since 2003. Designed with Hachikō's cartoon image, the buses are as close as anyone can get to having Hachikō as guide.

An old Japanese woman waits to ride the Hachiko minibus. (Photo by MetroPets)

The legendary Akita has other statues erected in his memory around Japan. While in Tokyo, fans of Hachikō can also visit his like-life image on display at the National Science Museum of Japan inside the Ueno Park. The replica uses Hachikō's real fur which was preserved after his death. One can also pay respect by visiting Hachikō's grave at the Aoyama Cemetery in Minato, Tokyo. The quintessential "good boy" was laid to rest there with his masters.

​#hachiko #gooddog #populardogs