My Friendly Pets

As the story unfolds in Japan during the 1920’s, a dog named Hachiko (the faithful dog) used to meet his owner every day at the train when the man would return from work. Even after the man died, the dog continued to go to the train each day and wait for his master. He continued to do so for 10 years, until Hachiko himself passed away. This devotion between this man and his dog has been immortalized in a bronze statue that stands in the center of a busy Tokyo streetnear the spot where this dog would wait for his owner.

Now this heart warming story has been made into a movie starring and produced by Richard Gere and of course a dog named Hachiko. The story has been Americanized a bit and takes place in a New England town. It is filmed in Rhode Island and the plot revolves around a college professor who finds this be-raggled dog and the film delves into how the lives of both Gere’s character and the dog changes forever.

There is an indepth interview on CNN with Richard Gere about the film. You can watch it by clicking here.

Richard Gere found this film to be moving and emotional and fully acknowledges that the true star of this movie is not himself, but of Cody, the dog who plays Hachiko.

An interesting aspect of this film and all films that use animals is that on the set, are members of the American Humane organization. They insure that the animals are kept safe and that “no animal was harmed in the filming process”. They monitor what the dog eats, local traffic around the set, and that all conditions are condusive to the safety of the dog. Working with dogs on a set to make the dogs generate the emotions that are required of the film is often difficult, but with a good trainer, all is possible. This film was written by Vicki Shigekuni Wong and her motivation for the story began about 20 years ago when visiting Japan and hearing the story of Hachiko. She named her next dog Hachkio in honor of the beloved dog from Japan.

This film promises to be a real tear jerker and should be released some time this spring and remember, only really good films can say that “no animal was harmed.” I think this will be a great film to share with family and friends, even the four-legged ones!!!

For some great info on dog movies that became classics, check out a prior entry!!!