Hachikô monogatari

Last night I watched a DVD called Hachi-ko....

I cried so many times in the movie and I loved the background aspects of the Japanese life of the time, as well.

I felt moved to seek further information and found this.............

found at http://smt.blogs.com/mari_diary/2005/04/a_royal_dog_in_.html

.............I will tell about Hachiko today. Hachi was born in Akita pref. in 1923. Because of his bent ears, people sometimes get wrong impression that he was a mixed dog, but he was a purebred Akita dog. His owner was a professor of Tokyo university. His house was big and located around area where Tokyu department store is now. He already had a pointer dog named John and another dog S when Hachi came to live his house. John, S and Hachi went to Shibuya station evade to see their owner off in the morning and were there every evening meet him. It seemed the happiest days for dogs. Unfortunately the owner died one year later and his wife and dogs had to leave home to make ends meet. The dogs were taken to different homes with different owners. Mr. Saito who was a member of the Japanese dog Preservation Association, saw Hachiko sometimes and he remembered him as a faithful dog. By the time he discovered poor Hachiko in Shibuya Station, he was already sad shape, dirty pitiful but still waiting for his ex owner. Mr.Saito detailed Hachiko's plight in the newspaper and suddenly Hachiko had became a famous dog in Japan. While he was still alive, his statue was erected and his story was told in primary school textbook. Ha ha Hachiko's tale itself was a pretty good, loyal dog story. But some people's reaction to Hachiko seems a little bit over-the-top actually. Anyway like I wrote in eddoko topic, my grand mom met Hachiko in her school days. Yeah, she said it was a dirty dog. :-). First Hachiko statue was melted once during ww2 to make armaments. The 2nd Hachiko in Shibuya station was recast again after ww2. Ah you can meet real Hachiko in the National Science museum with another famous dog Taro and Jiro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LakIEfEOQSE

and the above clip showing a Spanish person traveling the steps of Hachi to the statue.

I loved this movie. It says everything about unconditional love and loyalty. I saw it in a small theater in Little Tokyo. It was a pretty full house. I remember at one point the sound of many people sobbing could be heard over the dialog. With tears in my eyes and a large lump in my throat...I turned to see...truly, not a dry eye in the house. Of coarse it made me laugh that so many were touched so strongly by this film. It mad "The Titanic" look like a comedy. I challenge anyone to see this film and not shed a tear? This film should be re-released and shown in major theater's everywhere. It's a perfect film. It's for everyone. Just don't forget a whole box of Kleenex...cause you'll need it!

I seldom post reviews online but this is one movie that I feel compelled to. This is my favorite movie of all times without a doubt. I have watched Hachiko close to 10 times now and every single time my tears would start flowing uncontrollably without fail. Each time I thought to myself, yeah I have watched it before so I wont cry again but each time I still could not stop my tears. A lot has been written on the story so I wont repeat all that. Just want to add that this is a true story and the newspaper reporter at the end of the movie did actually exist, writing up an article on Hachiko in the Japanese newspapers then. They did erect a statue of Hachiko at the very station but it was melted down during World War 2 for military usage. The Japanese later erected another statue in replacement after the war and today if you visit Japan, be sure to visit Hachiko's statue in Tokyo. And Hachiko's body has been preserved after his death and remains to this day on display in the Tokyo Museum of Nature and Science. I am going to make a trip one day to visit Hachiko. :)

I watched this movie after seeing the American version (Hatchi: A Dogs Tale) with Richard Gere, as a dog owner it left a mark and I felt compelled to follow up on both films to see the true story.

I managed to find a book on Hatchi - The Truth of the Life and Legend of the Most Famous Dog in Japan by Mayumi Itoh. This book was just as compelling as the film and set out to confirm the facts from the fiction with amazing detail.

Hachiko Monogatari is the version closer to the true tale in most ways and you know the ending is going to be painful to watch but you watch it to the end anyway. This film also peeks into the culture at the time in Japan. If this film does not pull at your heart strings then nothing will.

We saw this movie once on Hong Kong Television when we lived there until the year 2000 and remember it as a true tear jerker but in a positive sense.

It stuck in our memories for all those years which must mean something; and it may therefore mean a great deal to people who are not yet to emotionally in such deep freeze that the story of Hachiko can no longer warm their hearts.

If I recall correctly the original was in Japanese but it had English subtitles.

In the last four years we have tried to buy a copy but cannot find any.

Thankful for any pointers in that direction

Konrad Vienna