On March 9, 2015, a new statue was dedicated to the memory of Hachiko, Japan's most famous dog. For those not familiar with the story: Hachiko was a dog adopted in 1924 by a man named Ueno. Mr. Ueno was a professor at the University of Tokyo, and commuted to work each day on a train. At 4 PM every day, Hachiko would go to the train station and wait for his master to exit the train and greet him, and the two of them would walk home together. This continued until May 1925, when Prof. Ueno suffered a stroke and died while giving a lecture at the university. After his death Hachiko was given away, but the dog kept escaping and returning to the old house that he used to live in with the professor. After a while Hachiko must have realized that the professor no longer lived at the old house, and returned to the train station to look for his master. And for the next 9 years and 9 months until his death, Hachiko turned up every day at the same time at the train station where he used to greet his master. Eventually one of Prof. Ueno's former students saw the dog waiting patiently at the train station, and after talking with other commuters found out about Hachiko's life. He wrote a series of articles on this remarkable story of love and loyalty. In 1932 a major Tokyo newspaper published one of his articles, and Hachiko became famous nationwide. In 1934, a bronze statue was erected at the Shibuya train station where Hachiko used to wait for his master. Hachiko himself was present at the unveiling. Hachiko was found dead on March 8, 1935, in a street not far from the Shibuya train station. During WWII the Imperial government melted down the statue for the war effort. But in 1948, another statue of Hachiko was made and placed at the same site, where it still stands today: Over the years some have commented at the sadness it evokes, for Hachiko is sitting by himself, still waiting for his master who does not come. And so a much happier statue was created at the University of Tokyo where Prof. Ueno used to work, and unveiled in March, 2015. Hachiko is finally reunited with his friend after 90 years: I don't cry easily but after seeing this I bawled my eyes out
