Dogs are man’s best friend. That saying goes back tens of thousands of years when humanity first domesticated dogs in the early annals of pre-history during the ice age; instead of competing with the wolves that hunted the same rare prey that roamed the frozen world, they cohabitation and lived off of one another.
As such, dogs developed a faithful trust in man, and man grew fond and loving of his canine companions.
Everyone who has ever owned a dog has their own heartwarming story about how much their friendship means to them, but few reports have the impact and importance of Hachikō.
Hachikō is the most famous dog in Japan and a figure of relatively modern history. He wasn’t a samurai’s guard dog or a mythical beast with magic powers.
He was an Akita breed that lived primarily in Shibuya with his owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, in the 1920s.
One day his master left, and Hachikō was smart enough to know that he would arrive by train at the same time that he always did.
However, on that day, Ueno never returned. And Hachikō waited, every day, for over nine years.
10 /10 Up On A Farm
Hachikō was born in November of 1923 on a farm near the city of Odate in the Akita prefecture.
He was only one year old when he met his new owner and best friend for life.
He was also an Akita dog, a unique breed related to the Shiba Inu, Japan’s arguably more classically recognizable dog breed.
9 /10 Hidesaburo Ueno
Hidesaburo Ueno was the man who took Hachikō home. He was an agricultural professor at the Tokyo Imperial University and lived in Shibuya, a district of Tokyo.
He commuted out of Shibuya from the iconic Shibuya Station to work every day.
Hachikō would leave the house and arrive at the station every day at the same time for about a year, learning the exact time his best friend would return and where to find him.