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Statue of Hachikō
The statue in a crowd of people, 2016
Statue of HachikōLocation in Tokyo
Artist	Takeshi Ando
Year	1948 (1948)
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Subject	Hachikō
Location	Tokyo, Japan
Coordinates	35°39′32.6″N 139°42′2.1″E / 35.659056°N 139.700583°E / 35.659056; 139.700583

A statue of Hachikō is installed outside Tokyo's Shibuya Station, in Japan.

History

In April 1934, a bronze statue based in his likeness sculpted by Teru Ando was erected at Shibuya Station, and Hachikō himself was present at its unveiling. The statue was recycled for the war effort during World War II. In 1948, the Society for Recreating the Hachikō Statue commissioned Takeshi Ando, son of the original artist, to make a second statue. When the new statue appeared, a dedication ceremony occurred. The new statue, which was erected in August 1948, still stands and is a popular meeting spot. The station entrance near this statue is named "Hachikō-guchi", meaning "The Hachikō Entrance/Exit", and is one of Shibuya Station's five exits.

The Japan Times played an April Fools' joke on readers by reporting that the bronze statue was stolen a little before 2:00 AM on April 1, 2007, by "suspected metal thieves". The false story told a very detailed account of an elaborate theft by men wearing khaki workers' uniforms who secured the area with orange safety cones and obscured the theft with blue vinyl tarps. The "crime" was allegedly recorded on security cameras.

The city of Odate considered borrowing the statue during redevelopment of the Shibuya Station ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

• Crowd of people gathered around the (1st) statue of Hachikō on the one anniversary of Hachikō Death in March 8, 1936
• Helen Keller touching the (2nd) statue of Hachikō during her visit to Japan in 1948 Helen Keller touching the (2nd) statue of Hachikō during her visit to Japan in 1948
• Shibuya Hachikō Front Square (Hachikō-mae hiroba), with the statue in lower-left

Reception

In 2019, Free Malaysia Today described the statue as "a 'must' visit when in Tokyo".

References

1. Newman, Lesléa. Hachiko Waits. Macmillan, 2004. 91. Retrieved from Google Books on February 25, 2011. ISBN 0-8050-7336-1, ISBN 978-0-8050-7336-2.
2. "METAL THIEVES SUSPECTED: Shibuya's 'loyal dog Hachiko' vanishes overnight". The Japan Times. April 1, 2007. Archived from the original on December 22, 2011.
3. Murai, Shusuke (2016-01-20). "Famed dog Hachiko's home city wants loan of much-loved statue". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
4. "Hachiko statue: A 'must' visit when in Tokyo". Free Malaysia Today. 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2020-01-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

• Media related to Statue of Hachiko (Shibuya) at Wikimedia Commons
• Statue of Hachiko at Fodor's
• Hachikō Statue at Lonely Planet

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