As I clambered up the snowy hill with little Riley, my husband well ahead with Button, guiding her in the ravine's landscape, I came abreast of a small dog with its human companion, a tall, angular man who returned my greeting cheerfully. And who said to me that his dog was a Japanese breed, straight out of Tokyo, a gift from his son.

I told him that in the year we lived in Tokyo and the travels we had done on the island, I had never seen a dog. He asked how it was we were living in Tokyo and I told him my husband had worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs. As he did also, he enthused, so I called to my husband that here was a former colleague. Not exactly, since he explained he was a technical support professional and my husband had been involved in international trade as a trade specialist. He hadn't known his dog was an Akita until my husband informed him. As often happens when strangers meet, when dogs are involved, a lively, reminiscing conversation ensued.

I mentioned to him the statue at Shibuya station erected as a memorial to an Akita named Hachiko, a faithful canine companion which had met its master every day at the station, and continued to stand there - at the same time that the man had always previously appeared before his death, to continue home with his dog - for years afterward, evidently convinced that eventually the man would return and he would be reunited with his human companion. The dog's devotion touched peoples' hearts, and on the dog's death the statue was erected to commemorate his faithful attendance.

Picture of Hachikō

As we talked, he mentioned other people, one of whom was someone we had known almost a quarter-century before, who had also been in Tokyo at the same time we were stationed there, another technician posted to the mission. We knew that he had been diagnosed, long after we'd moved on elsewhere, with leukemia and his prognosis looked grim. He is still alive and healthy, we were informed, having been given the option at that time of taking a new miracle drug.

His doctors told him it could kill him or help him and he decided to take part in the experiment since he was destined to die in any event. The drug turned his health around, and he went on to attain a high position within the department before retiring.

Hachiko - Shibuya Station"