PANDEMIC | Updating Chuken Hachikō

The statue to Hachikō in Tokyo gets a mask
for the duration of the pandemic.

May 1, 2020 — Hachikō was born in 1923 on a farm near Odate in the Akita Prefecture of Japan. Hachi means the number eight, which is lucky in Asian countries. The suffix "kō" is a diminutive, like "kins" in the affectionate word "Daddykins".

His owner, Professor Hidesaburō Ueno at Tokyo University, had a heart attack when Hachikō was just three years old (1926) and did not return as scheduled in the evening at Shibuya Station.

For the rest of his life, Hachikō returned to Shibuya station every evening to wait for his master. That is why he is known as Chuken (loyal heart) Hachikō. While he was alive, he became famous, and some people gave him food, which may partly explain why his interest in showing up continued for a full nine years.

But I don't want to get in the way of a good story, which was made into a 2009 feel-good sad movie starring Richard Gere, based on a Japanese movie made in 1987.

A statue was erected to Hachikō at Shibuya Station, and people agree to meet there, since if Hachi could wait nine years... you could wait ten minutes?

H/t to RK!