The events began roughly eighty years ago, in the early 1920s, when a certain Eisaburo Ueno,

became the owner of an Akita inu puppy.

Hachiko took to Professor Ueno extremely well, and when the professor set off to Shibuya Station in the mornings, usually at around nine A.M.,

Hachiko always went with him.  After seeing his master off at the station, Hachiko would return home, and then in the evening at about six P.M. he would again set off to Shibuya Station and wait by the ticket gate for his master to appear.  This became Hachiko's daily routine.

However, Hachiko's happy life as the pet of Professor Ueno was cut short by a very sad event, just one year and four months later.  On May 21,1925, Professor Ueno suffered a sudden stroke during a faculty meeting and died.

On realizing that his erstwhile master no longer lived in the old home in Shibuya, Hachiko went every day to Shibuya Station in the same way as he always had, and waited for him to come home.