***This contains explicit spoilers near the end of the text!!*** I love this movie. We visited the real Hachiko statue at Shibuya Station in Tokyo twice, and after trying to find it for 10 years, and finally saw the Japanese Region 2 DVD.

Hachiko was born in 11/1923, and was sent to Tokyo in 1/1924 to live with Dr Eizaburo Euno, who walked Hachiko every day to the Shibuya Station, where he took a train to teach at Tokyo University. Dr Ueno died on campus on 5/21/1925. His widow sold the home and moved away, giving Hachiko to Dr Euno's relatives in Asakusa, but Hachiko repeatedly ran away to go back to his prior home, and to wait at Shibuya Station for his never-to-return master. Eventually, he was taken in by Dr Ueno's gardener, who lived near the Station and prior home. When he was older, Hachiko lived mostly at the Station in a store room prepared for him by the Station Manager Chuichi Yoshikawa, who loved him like his own pet. A newspaper article made Hachiko a celebrity on 10/4/1932, and many people came from all over to see him. A number of vets cared for him. A statue was erected in his honor 4/21/1934 attended by a huge crowd. Hachiko finally died of heart worm and kidney failure a few blocks away from the Station at 6:30am on 3/8/1935. A full Buddhist ceremony including 49 days of mourning ensued. Dr Ueno's widow, the Station Manager, the gardener, and many others all across Japan, grieved.

The movie contains many heartwarming scenes of Hachiko: being born, getting into mischief in the garden, walking to the train station with his master and even taking a bath with him, attending his master's funeral service and chasing the hearse, etc.

**Do Not Read the Following if you don't want to know how the movie ends**

In the movie, however, there is no statue built in his honor. After he runs away from Dr Euno's relatives, he stays with the gardener who also dies, leaving Hachiko homeless. When Dr Euno's widow comes back after seeing the newspaper article, Hachiko runs away from her as well. The station manager in the movie, like most all other people at the Station, generally ignore him, and he's portrayed often as a pitiful stray. A couple selling Yakitori from a nearby cart befriend him repeatedly, and the husband even gets in a fight to defend Hachiko's honor. But in the end, as the final credits roll, Hachiko lies dead, alone, in the snow, at the spot where he waited for 10 years, with people walking past him with no show of concern. It is absolutely heartbreaking. There is a sequence right before the final tragic scene that shows Hachiko reuniting with his beloved master. It could just be Hachiko's final dream, but I like to think it shows them reuniting in the afterlife.

'Pawprints in Japan' by Nicholas Rhoden is a great book that includes many facts and photos of the real Hachiko, including him with the Station Manager, the actual newpaper article, and Ueno's widow putting funeral ribbons on the original statue (which was melted down during WWII, then remade by the original sculpture's son). You can find it at www.akitaclub.org. The movie was re-released as a limited time offer from 1/1/07 to 4/30/07. Search for "Hachiko Monogatari" at www.cdjapan.co.jp. for the Japenese-only Region 2 DVD. Another movie about famous Japanese dogs to get is "Nankyoku Monogatari" which tells the story of Taro and Jiro who survived a year alone in Antarctica after being abandoned by their human team of scientists. It was Japan's #1 box office champ from 1983 until 1997 when Princess Mononke and Titanic surpassed it.