A statue of the

Akita dog The is a historic breed of dog, dog breed of large size originating from the mountains of northern Japan. The two separate varieties of Akita are a pure Japanese strain, commonly called Akita-ken (''ken'' is the on'yomi for ''inu'' meaning dog in J ...

Hachikō was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death. Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ōdate, ...

, remembered for his unwavering loyalty to his deceased owner, is installed outside

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Shibuya Station is a railway station in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, operated jointly by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Keio Corporation, Tokyu Corporation, and Tokyo Metro. With 2.4 million passengers on an average weekday in 2004, it is the fourth-busiest c ...

, in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

History

In April 1934, a bronze statue based in his likeness sculpted by was erected at

, and Hachikō himself was present at its unveiling. The statue was recycled for the war effort during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1948, the Society for Recreating the Hachikō Statue commissioned Takeshi Andō, son of the original artist, to make a second statue. When the new statue appeared, a dedication ceremony occurred. The new statue, which was erected in August 1948, still stands and is a popular meeting spot. The station entrance near this statue is named "Hachikō-guchi", meaning "The Hachikō Entrance/Exit", and is one of Shibuya Station's five exits. ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' played an April Fools' joke on readers by reporting that the bronze statue was stolen a little before 2:00 AM on April 1, 2007, by "suspected metal thieves". The false story told a very detailed account of an elaborate theft by men wearing khaki workers' uniforms who secured the area with orange safety cones and obscured the theft with blue vinyl tarps. The "crime" was allegedly recorded on security cameras. The city of Odate considered borrowing the statue during redevelopment of the Shibuya Station ahead of the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Reception

''Time Out Tokyo'' says the statue "might be Japan's most famous example of

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

". In 2019, ''

Free Malaysia Today Free Malaysia Today (FMT) is an independent, bilingual news online portal with content, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), with a focus on Malaysian current affairs, published since 2009.

'' described the statue as "a 'must' visit when in Tokyo".

Gallery

File:Hachiko-1.jpg, Shibuya Hachikō Front Square (''Hachikō-mae hiroba''), with the statue in lower-left. File:One anniversary of Hachiko 19360308 Scan10038.JPG, Crowd of people gathered around the (1st) statue of Hachikō in honor of the one year anniversary of his death on March 8, 1936. File:Helen Keller visit to Japan in 1948 02.jpg, Helen Keller touching the (2nd) statue of Hachikō during her visit to Japan in 1948.

References

External links

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Statue of Hachiko
at

Fodor's Fodor's is a publisher of English language travel and tourism information. Fodor's Travel and Fodors.com are divisions of Internet Brands. History Founder Eugene Fodor was a keen traveler, but felt that the guidebooks of his time were boring ...

Hachikō Statue
at

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

{{Public art in Tokyo 1934 establishments in Japan 1934 sculptures 1948 establishments in Japan 1948 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Japan Monuments and memorials in Japan Outdoor sculptures in Tokyo Sculptures of dogs Buildings and structures in Shibuya Statues in Japan

History

Reception

See also

Gallery

References

External links