The Loyalty of Dog named Hachi

Spellbound by a Hallmark special movie entitled, “Hachi; A Dog’s Tale” starring Richard Gere, I couldn’t get a grip on my emotions. Tears poured down my face more like a bathtub faucet than the trickle from a sink. The endearing story left an indelible mark on my heart about faithfulness. “Hachi; A Dog’s Tale” is Hallmark’s American adaptation of a true story that took place in Japan in the mid-1920’s about a loyal dog named Hachiko. Hachi, his Hollywood name, was an abandoned dog who was befriended by a college professor.  Hachi and the professor had a unique connection and each day enjoyed a joyful exchange of love and loyalty between them.  Hachi would wait at the train station every afternoon for his master’s return from school until one day his master got on the train and never returned. Hachi was thus, given to a new family.  Although his new family adored him, Hachi notoriously left them again and again by escaping and finding his way back to the professor’s old house where Hachi once lived with his master and his master’s wife. Over time, Hachi apparently realized that his master no longer lived at the house and thus, he went searching for him at the train station, faithfully returning to the exact spot outside the station every single day precisely when the train was due at the station, refusing to believe that his beloved master was not going to return.  This amazing dog doesn’t just wait for a few hours, days, weeks or even a few months for his master to show up on a train, all of which would be understandable and maybe even remarkable. Hachi dutifully sat and watched train after train after commuter train come into Shibuya Station for nine years after his master’s death, until His own death took him away. As each year turns into the next, Hachi becomes a regular part of the lives of those at the train station as well as those nearby in the town square. He was described as being like a permanent fixture at the train station each afternoon catching the attention of other commuters. Thus, they brought Hachi treats and food and he became the train station pet as he parked himself in the same spot ever day for nine years in hopes his beloved master would return.  He never did.



Hachi’s unyielding loyalty teaches lesson upon lesson upon life lesson. Today, a bronze statue of Hachiko sits in the exact spot where he waited all those years outside Shibuya station in Japan.  His statute serves as a permanent reminder to all of the residents in this Japanese community that Hachi, amazing canine that he proved to be, was the epitome of loyal devotion and love.  Hachi and his devotion captured my heart as I began to ponder how on earth we humans have grown to display less devotion and stictuivenss in relationships than a dog?  What should cause us shame and embarrassment is something that we wear as a badge of honor instead.  We proudly, or at least unashamedly wear personal disloyalty like an earned medal of accomplishment.  We trade in spouses for new models not on the basis of infidelity or life-altering addictions that threaten a family but on the basis of no longer liking the one we once promised “til death do us part” or some other superficial rationalization to be self-absorbed.  Parents give up on the children they prayed and longed for because that child becomes too much of a challenge to parent or discipline or because they seem to be in the way of the parents personal desires and goals ... or maybe that would that be selfish desires and goals. My heart felt that familiar dull pain as I pondered what ever happened to die hard loyalty like Hachi demonstrated?  We discard spouses and friends and families as if they were an old worn out pair of tennis shows that begs to be replaced.  

May Hachi, the dog tale, restore in us the honor of being faithful, known as one who will not give up believing in the one we love, against all odds.  May his tale cause us to hug the ones we love a little more often, extend grace to those we care about a little more generously and believe the best in the one we are tempted to give up on yet one more time.  And while you're at it, keep your eye out for the Hallmark version of Hachiko’s story of loyalty at Shibuya station.  When you find it, curl up in front of the television and take in this remarkable tale, make sure there is plenty of Kleenex nearby.