Hachiko Statue
Japanese Living

In the August 4, 1932 edition of the Asahi newspaper, the story of a faithful dog named Hachiko was told. Hachiko was born in Odate in 1923 and moved to Tokyo two months later. Hachiko's owner was Dr. Ueno, a professor at Tokyo University. Dr. Ueno passed away when Hachiko was only one and a half years old. For the next ten years, Hachiko continued to go to Shibuya station every evening to wait for his master even though his master had long since died. Hachiko himself died in 1935. In honor of this beautifully true story, a statue of Hachiko was erected at Shibuya station.

Relevance to Maison Ikkoku

In episode 49, "Mitaka Trains! Lover Boy. Can't be Afraid of Dogs" Mitaka is scared to pet the statue, due to his immense fear of dogs.