Scientists have settled a decades-old mystery by naming a cause of death for Japan’s most famous dog, Hachiko, whose legendary loyalty was immortalized in a movie starring Richard Gere.
They say Hachiko died of cancer and worms, not because he swallowed a chicken skewer that ruptured his stomach – as legend had had it.
For years, Hachiko used to wait at Shibuya train station for its master, a professor at the University of Tokyo. Even after the professor died, the dog went to the station to wait for his master every afternoon for a decade until he finally died.
Tokyo residents were so moved that they built a statue of Hachiko at the station, which remains a popular rendezvous spot for Japanese today. He was also the hero of Japanese children’s books.
The dog’s story turned into a 2009 Hollywood film, Hachi: A Dog’s Story, starring Richard Gere ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ a remake of a 1987 Japanese movie.
We wish more Americans appreciated dogs the way the Japanese have.
[Image via AP Images.]
