Newly released photo of loyal dog Hachiko on display at Tokyo museum

[kristopher]

Newly released photo of loyal dog Hachiko on display at Tokyo museum



The apparently last known picture of Hachiko. (Photo courtesy of the Shirane Kinen Shibuya-ku Kyodo Hakubutsukan Bungakukan museum)
拡大写真

The apparently last known photograph of Hachiko, an Akita dog who waited for years for its deceased owner's return in front of Shibuya Station, is on display at a Tokyo museum.

The picture is of Hachiko sitting on the ground as members of a neighborhood family look on. It was donated by Tokyo resident Toyoko Endo, 80, to the Shirane Kinen Shibuya-ku Kyodo Hakubutsukan Bungakukan, a folk and literary museum in the capital's Shibuya Ward, in May last year.

The photo was taken near a Shibuya Station ticket gate by a foreign missionary who knew Endo's family when they were living in Shibuya. Toyoko, then a 1-year-old baby, is seen in her father's arms in the picture, while Hachiko is lying at their feet. A handwritten note on the picture reads Dec. 30, 1934, the date it was taken.

The Akita's health had already deteriorated by the time the photo was snapped, just 2 1/2 months before its death on March 8, 1935. At that time, the dog was reportedly no longer spotted outside very often...

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131215p2a00m0na005000c.html

[Curmudgeoness]

1. The story of Hachito has always tore me up.

The devotion of that dog is beyond most. His owner was very lucky to have had that relationship with Hachito.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Shibuya Station is now a huge, sprawling transfer point in a major entertainment and

shopping district of Tokyo, but if you're inside the station, you'll still see signs pointing to the "Hachiko Exit."

It's considered THE place to meet up with someone in the area, but there are so many people hanging around Hachiko Plaza that it's a wonder anyone ever finds anyone else.

I've overheard people on cell phones: "Yes, I'm here. Where are you? Over by the street map? I don't see you?"

[kristopher]

3. Good description

But I never had trouble finding the people I was meeting.

Is it possible that there is a more famous dog in the world than Hachiko? This was the first photo I've ever seen of him that gave a sense of size. My wife and I both were really surprise at how large he seems. I don't know if the statue isn't to scale or if it's the way it is on a pedestal, but it totally failed to convey his size to us.