Originally posted to Patreon: January 20th, 2018
For those of you who are unfamiliar, the story of Hachi is a popular and sad story about a Japanese dog. Hachi would follow his owner to the train station every day when he was going to work. This went on for years. Eventually, the old man never came back on the train and died. Still, loyal as ever, Hachi faithfully went back to the train station every day for several more years hoping to be reunited with his owner until he too died.
This is a true story. There is a statue in Shibuya Station commemorating Hachi and his loyalty. The story is referenced in all sorts of media, and there was a movie made some years ago.
A while back there was an American movie made retelling the story, it was called Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. My mom eventually picked up a copy of the movie and one night we all decided to watch it together: me, my mom, and my sister.
I didn’t know this when we started watching, but my sister Shauna wasn’t familiar with the story at all. And she definitely didn’t know it was based on a true story. She’s a big animal lover too, especially dogs. Maybe I should have given her more of a warning. But it was a movie about a dog, we kind of knew where it was going. We’d all seen Old Yeller and other movies like it.
Just for a point of reference. Shauna doesn’t cry. Not at movies, or anything. Bar someone she truly cares about getting horribly murdered in front of her, she’s not the type of person to shed a single tear. When we watched Titanic a few months prior to this she barely flinched while I was getting sad-eyed and my friend was full on balling while the ship was going down at the old people were holding each other and the parents were sending their kids to bed. Sho rolled her eyes. She doesn’t cry.
Queue the end of the movie. Hachi is going back to the train station day after day after day. Shauna is silent, her eyes stuck to the screen. Then Hachi lays down on his way to the train tracks and I hear her gasp, just a little. Hachi dies and Shauna has more tears than she has ever shed in her life just come pouring out of her. She pulls the blanket over her head to hide herself. Just attempts to collect herself, but her eyes are still red and crying slightly when she pulls her head out from under the blanket just in time to see the screen, right when it shows the statue in Japan and tells her that this is all based on a true story. WAHH!!! She cries out again, louder than I’ve ever heard her and hides under the blanket again.
For weeks after just the mention of Hachi would send Shauna into a crying fit. It’s been years since we’ve seen the movie, but she won’t watch it again and the thought of it still upsets her.
Which is one of the reasons I’m so happy to be in Japan. Shibuya station is not far from where I am. I have my Sat Nav all set up to bring me straight to Hachi’s statue.
I’m going to send every picture I take of that statue to Shauna and see if I can make her cry while I’m in another country.
You know, because I’m a good older sister.
MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
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Charlotte L Tracey 