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Who was the world’s most loyal dog?


It’s Hachiko, of course.

The year was 1924. The location, Tokyo. Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at the University of Tokyo, took in Hachiko as a pet. The two quickly became fast friends. Every single day after work, Hachiko would meet the professor at the train station. This continued until one day, professor Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and died.

Hachiko didn’t realize the professor would never return. So he continued to return to the train station precisely when the train was due, and wait for the professor. For 9 years.

Hachiko was eventually given away after the professors death, but he routinely escaped, and returned again and again to the old house. After some time, Hachiko apparently realized that the professor no longer lived at the house. So he returned to the Shibuya train station where he waited for the professor many times before. And every day, Hachiko waited for the return of the professor.

The year preceding Hachiko’s death, one of the professors old students saw Hachiko in the station and followed him home where he learned the story of Hachiko. After which, he decided to take a census of Akitas in Japan. He found there were only 30 purebreds remaining.

He continued to visit Hachiko at the station and wrote several articles relaying the story of Hachiko. In 1932, one of his articles got national attention and threw Hachiko and the Akita breed into the spotlight.
His faithfulness to the professor impressed the Japanese. Teachers and parents used him as an example for children to follow. Throughout the country, a new awareness of the Akita breed grew.

Hachiko’s legendary faithfulness and loyalty may very well be responsible for saving the Akita breed in Japan.

Hachiko passed away and finally got to see his master again on March 8th, 1935. His remains were stuffed and are kept at the National Science Museum of Japan in Ueno, Tokyo.

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