Tokyo Day 1c: Hachiko At Shibuya Station
AnimalCare 
Apr 5, 2016 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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From the University of Tokyo, we walked back and we passed by the Hongo Sachome Station, which is the recommended stop if you were to take the trains to visit Hachiko and the Professor. But we walked all the way back to Ueno, feeling a sense of triumph that we found the correct gate (!) and the walk was certainly worth every step of it – finally, finally, finally, I got to see Hachiko and the Professor!
From Ueno, we took a train to Shibuya. I must confess guiltily that I don’t really know how our local trains here work since I don’t need to travel anywhere by train over here, but the Japanese have a great system, and despite the fact that there is very little English in the signages, one can find one’s way about quite easily (with the help of pre-googling, of course). The officers at the information counters are all extremely helpful and efficient too. Despite the communication problem, they find a way to tell you exactly what to do, which station to go to, etc. Tickets are bought at the vending machine and they are bought in amounts (not destinations). If you have not bought enough to exit a certain location, there is a “Fare Adjustment Machine” at every station where you could pay the balance of the fare needed and still exit. But what we did was to ask at the information counter how much the fare would be to get to a certain place, and the officer would type it out on a calculator to show us. That way, we didn’t need to use the Fare Adjustment Machine at all throughout our entire visit.
And if all of the above fails, you could just ask any Japanese person at the station and he or she will go out of his/her way to take you to which entrance or exit you are supposed to go. They are all so polite and helpful. It must be due to their culture and their education system, I suppose.
Jia-Wen had already told us that Shibuya is a big station and we should look for the Hachiko exit. It’s written in English, he said.
Unfortunately, we went from floor to floor and could not find it, until…
It’s in Japanese but I recognise the letter “eight”, which is the same as Chinese.
“Hachi” means “eight”.
This must be it!
Yes, yes, yes!!
It’s Hachiko!!
Another round of shedding tears again, but not as much as at the one at the university. Still, to stand on the spot where Hachiko waited daily, for 10 years, for his master, is overwhelming. Despite the crowd, you’d still feel a sense of awe.
They dress him up in different shirts all the time.
In April 1934, a bronze statue in his likeness 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.
There is an unspoken rule that everyone stands around a circle so that each person gets a chance to take photos with the statue.
The famous cat was not there on this day, though.
But two friendly akitas were there!
Even the manhole covers depict Hachiko here!
It was only later that I found all the signage in English!!
So, by late afternoon on Day One itself, we had visited Hachiko in all three locations in Tokyo!
Throughout the three days, as far as writing on the signage was concerned, we got by with whatever Hiragana I could remember from my university days and my husband could make sense of the Kanji. It was quite fun, actually, trying to read and figure out if we were reading the correct thing! And as for verbal communication, the Japanese would speak slowly once I say “wakarimasen” and knowing words like “hidari”, “migi”, “ue” and “shita” helps very much when asking for directions. They are ever willing to draw you a map and walk with you to the right direction. While riding on the trains, one can learn a bit of Japanese too, by just listening to the announcements which were in Japanese followed by English.
In a way, I’m glad the Japanese spoke Japanese to us. Why would you want someone to speak English to you on a foreign land, right? We’re here for the culture, even if it’s just a 3-day visit, you’ll want to soak in as much of the culture as you can.
Next animal-related stop in the evening: The Neko Maru Cat Cafe.
Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2016/04/05/tokyo-day-1c-hachiko-at-..
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