For Almost 10 Years, a Dog Waited at a Tokyo Station for a Man Who Never Came Home. 80 Years Later, They Were Finally Reunited

In January 1924, a tiny Akita puppy made a long winter train journey from the snowy north of Japan to Tokyo. He arrived so weak that, at first, his new family thought he had died.

His new owner was Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor of agriculture at Tokyo Imperial University. Ueno and his partner, Yaeko, nursed the puppy back to health. They called him Hachi, and the professor let him sleep under his bed.

Every workday, Ueno took the train from Shibuya Station. And at the end of the day, Hachi went to the station to meet him. Locals and station staff soon knew the pair well.

On May 21, 1925, the professor suddenly died at work. That evening, Hachi went to the station as usual. Ueno never came.

Hachi had lived with him for less than a year and a half. But he kept going back. For almost ten years, he returned to Shibuya Station nearly every day to wait.

It was not always kind to him. Many people treated him as a stray. Some kicked him, and vendors poured water on him. He kept coming anyway.

Then, in the early 1930s, newspaper stories made the faithful dog famous all over Japan. People began bringing him food, and teachers told children about him. In April 1934, a bronze statue of him was unveiled at the station, and Hachi himself was there.

Hachikō died on March 8, 1935, at the age of 11. His death was reported around the world. Part of his remains was buried beside Professor Ueno in Tokyo’s Aoyama Cemetery.

The first statue was melted down for metal during World War II. A new one, made by the original sculptor’s son, went up in 1948, and it is still one of Tokyo’s most famous meeting places.

But one thing was always missing. On March 8, 2015, exactly 80 years after Hachi died, the University of Tokyo, where Ueno had worked, unveiled a new bronze statue on its agriculture campus. It shows the professor coming home in his hat and coat, his briefcase on the ground, and Hachi leaping up to greet him.

Hundreds of people came to the ceremony in the light rain. Among them was an Akita that looked a lot like Hachi, and an elderly woman who had petted the real Hachi when she was a child. The Japan Times filmed the unveiling, and you can watch it above.

“While the Hachiko in Shibuya remains alone,” the university says, the one on campus shows him “reunited with his beloved guardian after 90 years of separation.”