DEVOTED DOGGIE THAT GOT ITS OWN STATUE

This is a story of devotion that lasts even longer than life. Hachiko the Japanese Akita (above) was the much-loved pet of Professor Hidesaburo Ueno, and every day he would walk with his master to the train station at Shibuya. Every day on the dot of 3pm, Hachiko would wait there for the professor to return from Tokyo Imperial University. But in 1925 the professor suffered a brain haemorrhage at work and died. Every day for the next nine years, Hachiko waited at the station at 3pm, hoping his master would return. The depth of the dog’s loyalty touched people across the country. There is a statue (left) outside the station and every year a ceremony is held in honour of the dog who never forgot his master.