--- product_id: 1320588 title: "Hachi: A Dog's Tale" price: "146 kr" currency: NOK in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/1320588-hachi-a-dogs-tale store_origin: NO region: Norway --- # Hachi: A Dog's Tale **Price:** 146 kr **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Hachi: A Dog's Tale - **How much does it cost?** 146 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.no](https://www.desertcart.no/products/1320588-hachi-a-dogs-tale) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Based on a true story from Japan, Hachi: A Dog's Tale is a moving film about loyalty and the rare, invincible bonds that occasionally form almost instantaneously in the most unlikely places. College professor Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) finds a young Akita puppy that's been abandoned at the local train station, and he's instantly captivated by the dog. Assuming the dog's owner will return to the train station to claim him in the morning, Parker takes the puppy home overnight. But when no one comes to get the dog, Parker convinces his wife, Cate (Joan Allen), to welcome him as part of the family. He dubs the puppy Hachiko--Hachi, for short--because of the Japanese symbol for good luck that's hanging from his collar. Hachi is a somewhat peculiar dog that refuses to learn to fetch or master other people-pleasing tricks, but he is a faithful companion and friend to Parker, alerting him of potential dangers and accompanying him to the train station each morning and meeting him there after his return trip each evening. An unforeseen event will continually test Hachi's devotion. This film is neither overwrought nor sappy; it is heartfelt and immensely powerful despite its tendency to drag in a few places. Prepare to be moved to tears by this beautiful, seemingly simple film--it's about so much more than just the relationship between a man and his dog. --Tami Horiuchi From Academy Award�-nominated director Lasse Hallstr�m (2000, The Cider House Rules) comes HACHI: A DOG?S TALE, a film based on one of the most treasured and heartwarming true stories ever told. Golden Globe winner Richard Gere (2002, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Chicago) and Academy Award� nominee Joan Allen (2000, Best Actress, The Contender) star in this inspiring true story. Review: heartwarming and delivers a great message of about patience - The Richard Gere-Hollywood Hachi movie is very emotional, heartwarming and delivers a great message of about patience, loyalty and that you should never forget the ones you loved. It’s a quiet story with a lot of texture in its simplicity and it tells the essential story of Hachi returning to the train station for 10 years to wait for the professor. As good as the Gere movie is, it’s a shadow of the true Hachi tale. The real life of Hachi is significantly more improbable, dramatic and truly incredible. One example of the difference is in the opening scene of the American version of the film. It shows Hachi as a puppy being placed in a crate by a Shinto priest and shipped via truck, plane and train and eventually delivered to the fictitious Benbridge train depot. The real story of Hachi’s journey from his birthplace to the Shibuya train station was recounted by the Endo, Teru the sculptor of the famous Hachi statue. Endo remarked, “In 1934, Hachiko's first statue was placed at Shibuya Station. The photo of a relaxed Hachi (above) was taken around that time by the late Isamu Yamamoto, a former bank employee who lived in the Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. Yamamoto's family found the photo and presented it to Ando who sculpted the Hachiko statue we see today. “I have never looked at such a photo that caught the atmosphere of Hachiko’s everyday life at that time so well,” Ando said. “On Hachi's birthday, I think back to the first months of his life. I can imagine a plump squirming puppy playing with his four male siblings in a barn. Hachi was born on a farm in snow country- Odate, Akita prefecture- to a wealthy landlord farmer. At two months old, he was gifted to professor Ueno Hidesaburo from a former student. On January 14, 1924, Hachi was placed in a small tightly-knit straw crate for his journey. Straw crates were heat retaining and also used to carry rice. Three people walked 12.5 miles to Ōdate Station, carrying Hachi in the midst of a snow storm. Hachi departed Ōdate Station at 3: 20 PM and scheduled to arrive at Ueno Station in Tokyo at 8: 50 AM the next day. In that blizzard, Hachi left his birthplace never to return. The Ōdate-Ueno route ran through a series of mountain ranges, and included one of the steepest approaches to a pass for trains in Japan. The train climbed up and down mountain peaks and passed through numerous tunnels. The train oscillated wildly and the locomotives gave off thick soot. It must have been a terrifying experience for the two-month old puppy. He was separated from his mother and siblings, carried outside in a blizzard, and sat in a crate on a bumpy train for 20 hours. On the day of Hachi's arrival, the newspapers reported that Tokyo was hit by a strong earthquake, by a windstorm, and a sandstorm was blowing over the capital city. People thought Hachi was dead when he arrived.” Queisse, I’ve thought a lot about the story over the past year. One day it dawned on me that Hachi is much more than a sentimental story. It’s actually a metaphor for the human predicament. Hachi spent most of his life mourning the death of his beloved master, Professor Uneo , a renowned agricultural engineer. (In the Richared Gere movie it was Parker Wilson a music professor). If Hachi did not comprehend Ueno’s death, Hachi lived most of his life missing him. Hachi lived with with Uneo for only a year and four months. These were Hachi’s happy times. After Uneo’s death, people saw Hachi walking with his head down as if he were sad and depressed. He did not wag his tale. This unfortunate life of Hachi paradoxically created the legend of the loyal dog Hachiko and Hachi became a permanent fixture of Japanese popular culture and the amazing story spread throughout the world. Review: All the more special because it is based on true story - This film is wonderfully shot, includes subtle symbolism in the scenes (hint: look at the train station decorations and time on the clock near the very end of the movie) and is probably the most pure, simple and emotional movie I have ever seen. I don't understand why this great film was not promoted more and/or did not get a good solid American release. I would not even have known about it unless I saw it on the New Releases for Blockbuster. It was filmed in early 2008, released in Japan in August 2009 ..... then simply placed on the "Direct to DVD" market here in the USA. I never heard anything about this movie even being made until stumbling across it by chance luck. A great and well done movie like this deserved better promotion and press treatment. It is a shame because many people may miss out on this film. I can only guess that budget over runs and limited financing left no money in the budget for advertising after the filming was done ? Anybody know ? Or are American audience now only fascinated with fancy CGI visual effects "eye candy" and no story ? In either case ... This movie deserved and still deserves more attention ! So on to the movie itself ... A tough guy like me does not usually get choked up over movies, but here is one I can recommend to you that will probably touch you. It is based on a true story from Japan ... although this version with Richard Gere has been shifted to USA. Basically this is the story if you don't already know it. WARNING SPOILER BELOW ........ ......... ............ .......... A college professor had a dog that was loyal to him. Each day it would follow him to the train station where he left for work. The dog would run around and do whatever all day long. But at 5:00 in the evening the dog was always back at the train station to meet his owner. This went on for years, One day the dog was waiting at the train station, but the professor never showed up. The professor had died of a heart attack at the school campus that day. For the next 9 years, the dog kept waiting and looking for it's owner at the train station everyday. Other people would try to take the dog home, but every time the dog would run away and return to the train station trying to wait for the professor. He became a local legend and the other people at the train station each day would bring the dog food and water to take care of him since the dog refused to leave his post. Eventually 9 years later the dog died, still sitting at the train station watching the people get off every train, looking for his owner. Today in Japan where this really happened they have a bronze statue of the dog sitting in the train station as a tribute to that kind of loyalty. ......... .......... ......... ......... END OF SPOILER I suppose the reason I found this particular story touching enough to even put a lump in my throat was two reasons .. 1) I have always thought there is something innocent and pure about an animals loyalty and affections that is rare in humans. 2) When I was young and walking to elementary school, my friend had a dog named Pal. He would follow us when we walked the 2 miles to school. He would wait for us all day long. I can remember sitting in classes and looking out the window and seeing that dog under a tree looking at the school building and waiting for us to get out. When we got out of class in the afternoon he would be all excited and come running to meet us and follow us home again. This went on for around 2 years as I recall. But one day when we got out of school, the dog was all excited to see us and came running across the parking lot. We started yelling "NO PAL. STOP" But it did not help. Pal ran in front of a school bus in the parking lot. Now being older and wiser, I look back at this story from childhood and think .......... Yes, it is a cute story about boys and their dogs growing up together. But the real world is not the 1800 or early 1900s of farmhouses, dirt roads and horse & buggies anymore. The world is an urban , mechanized jungle that is dangerous for loosely roaming animals. If people really care about their animals they should not let them run around loose all day long to get hit by cars or other dangers. This is one of those rare movies you see in life that will leave an impression. Well done to everybody who worked on this project ! ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Contributor | Bates Wilder, Bill Johnson, Blake Friedman, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Daniel Kirby, Davenia McFadden, Denece Ryland, Donna Sorbello, Erick Avari, Frank Aronson, Gloria Crist, Ian Sherman, Jason Alexander, Joan Allen, Kevin DeCoste, Lasse Hallstrom, Lasse Hallstr�m, Rich Tretheway, Richard Gere, Robbie Sublett, Robert Degnan, Sarah Roemer, Timothy Crowe, Tom Tynell, Tora Hallstr�m, Troy Doherty, Vicki Shigekuni Wong Contributor Bates Wilder, Bill Johnson, Blake Friedman, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Daniel Kirby, Davenia McFadden, Denece Ryland, Donna Sorbello, Erick Avari, Frank Aronson, Gloria Crist, Ian Sherman, Jason Alexander, Joan Allen, Kevin DeCoste, Lasse Hallstrom, Lasse Hallstr�m, Rich Tretheway, Richard Gere, Robbie Sublett, Robert Degnan, Sarah Roemer, Timothy Crowe, Tom Tynell, Tora Hallstr�m, Troy Doherty, Vicki Shigekuni Wong See more | | Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 20,209 Reviews | | Format | DVD | | Genre | Drama, Family | | Language | English | | Runtime | 1 hour and 33 minutes | ## Product Details - **Format:** DVD - **Genre:** Drama, Family - **Initial release date:** 2010-01-01 - **Language:** English ## Images ![Hachi: A Dog's Tale - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Cgd7oAw2L.jpg) ![Hachi: A Dog's Tale - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71i6wYE3pkL.jpg) ![Hachi: A Dog's Tale - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81h7m7oiYIL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ heartwarming and delivers a great message of about patience *by P***S on October 4, 2016* The Richard Gere-Hollywood Hachi movie is very emotional, heartwarming and delivers a great message of about patience, loyalty and that you should never forget the ones you loved. It’s a quiet story with a lot of texture in its simplicity and it tells the essential story of Hachi returning to the train station for 10 years to wait for the professor. As good as the Gere movie is, it’s a shadow of the true Hachi tale. The real life of Hachi is significantly more improbable, dramatic and truly incredible. One example of the difference is in the opening scene of the American version of the film. It shows Hachi as a puppy being placed in a crate by a Shinto priest and shipped via truck, plane and train and eventually delivered to the fictitious Benbridge train depot. The real story of Hachi’s journey from his birthplace to the Shibuya train station was recounted by the Endo, Teru the sculptor of the famous Hachi statue. Endo remarked, “In 1934, Hachiko's first statue was placed at Shibuya Station. The photo of a relaxed Hachi (above) was taken around that time by the late Isamu Yamamoto, a former bank employee who lived in the Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. Yamamoto's family found the photo and presented it to Ando who sculpted the Hachiko statue we see today. “I have never looked at such a photo that caught the atmosphere of Hachiko’s everyday life at that time so well,” Ando said. “On Hachi's birthday, I think back to the first months of his life. I can imagine a plump squirming puppy playing with his four male siblings in a barn. Hachi was born on a farm in snow country- Odate, Akita prefecture- to a wealthy landlord farmer. At two months old, he was gifted to professor Ueno Hidesaburo from a former student. On January 14, 1924, Hachi was placed in a small tightly-knit straw crate for his journey. Straw crates were heat retaining and also used to carry rice. Three people walked 12.5 miles to Ōdate Station, carrying Hachi in the midst of a snow storm. Hachi departed Ōdate Station at 3: 20 PM and scheduled to arrive at Ueno Station in Tokyo at 8: 50 AM the next day. In that blizzard, Hachi left his birthplace never to return. The Ōdate-Ueno route ran through a series of mountain ranges, and included one of the steepest approaches to a pass for trains in Japan. The train climbed up and down mountain peaks and passed through numerous tunnels. The train oscillated wildly and the locomotives gave off thick soot. It must have been a terrifying experience for the two-month old puppy. He was separated from his mother and siblings, carried outside in a blizzard, and sat in a crate on a bumpy train for 20 hours. On the day of Hachi's arrival, the newspapers reported that Tokyo was hit by a strong earthquake, by a windstorm, and a sandstorm was blowing over the capital city. People thought Hachi was dead when he arrived.” Queisse, I’ve thought a lot about the story over the past year. One day it dawned on me that Hachi is much more than a sentimental story. It’s actually a metaphor for the human predicament. Hachi spent most of his life mourning the death of his beloved master, Professor Uneo , a renowned agricultural engineer. (In the Richared Gere movie it was Parker Wilson a music professor). If Hachi did not comprehend Ueno’s death, Hachi lived most of his life missing him. Hachi lived with with Uneo for only a year and four months. These were Hachi’s happy times. After Uneo’s death, people saw Hachi walking with his head down as if he were sad and depressed. He did not wag his tale. This unfortunate life of Hachi paradoxically created the legend of the loyal dog Hachiko and Hachi became a permanent fixture of Japanese popular culture and the amazing story spread throughout the world. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All the more special because it is based on true story *by M***R on March 8, 2010* This film is wonderfully shot, includes subtle symbolism in the scenes (hint: look at the train station decorations and time on the clock near the very end of the movie) and is probably the most pure, simple and emotional movie I have ever seen. I don't understand why this great film was not promoted more and/or did not get a good solid American release. I would not even have known about it unless I saw it on the New Releases for Blockbuster. It was filmed in early 2008, released in Japan in August 2009 ..... then simply placed on the "Direct to DVD" market here in the USA. I never heard anything about this movie even being made until stumbling across it by chance luck. A great and well done movie like this deserved better promotion and press treatment. It is a shame because many people may miss out on this film. I can only guess that budget over runs and limited financing left no money in the budget for advertising after the filming was done ? Anybody know ? Or are American audience now only fascinated with fancy CGI visual effects "eye candy" and no story ? In either case ... This movie deserved and still deserves more attention ! So on to the movie itself ... A tough guy like me does not usually get choked up over movies, but here is one I can recommend to you that will probably touch you. It is based on a true story from Japan ... although this version with Richard Gere has been shifted to USA. Basically this is the story if you don't already know it. WARNING SPOILER BELOW ........ ......... ............ .......... A college professor had a dog that was loyal to him. Each day it would follow him to the train station where he left for work. The dog would run around and do whatever all day long. But at 5:00 in the evening the dog was always back at the train station to meet his owner. This went on for years, One day the dog was waiting at the train station, but the professor never showed up. The professor had died of a heart attack at the school campus that day. For the next 9 years, the dog kept waiting and looking for it's owner at the train station everyday. Other people would try to take the dog home, but every time the dog would run away and return to the train station trying to wait for the professor. He became a local legend and the other people at the train station each day would bring the dog food and water to take care of him since the dog refused to leave his post. Eventually 9 years later the dog died, still sitting at the train station watching the people get off every train, looking for his owner. Today in Japan where this really happened they have a bronze statue of the dog sitting in the train station as a tribute to that kind of loyalty. ......... .......... ......... ......... END OF SPOILER I suppose the reason I found this particular story touching enough to even put a lump in my throat was two reasons .. 1) I have always thought there is something innocent and pure about an animals loyalty and affections that is rare in humans. 2) When I was young and walking to elementary school, my friend had a dog named Pal. He would follow us when we walked the 2 miles to school. He would wait for us all day long. I can remember sitting in classes and looking out the window and seeing that dog under a tree looking at the school building and waiting for us to get out. When we got out of class in the afternoon he would be all excited and come running to meet us and follow us home again. This went on for around 2 years as I recall. But one day when we got out of school, the dog was all excited to see us and came running across the parking lot. We started yelling "NO PAL. STOP" But it did not help. Pal ran in front of a school bus in the parking lot. Now being older and wiser, I look back at this story from childhood and think .......... Yes, it is a cute story about boys and their dogs growing up together. But the real world is not the 1800 or early 1900s of farmhouses, dirt roads and horse & buggies anymore. The world is an urban , mechanized jungle that is dangerous for loosely roaming animals. If people really care about their animals they should not let them run around loose all day long to get hit by cars or other dangers. This is one of those rare movies you see in life that will leave an impression. Well done to everybody who worked on this project ! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An unforgettable tale of animal love and loyalty *by J***S on March 13, 2017* Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009) is a true dog story. No, no — not a bad movie, it’s a great movie, a truly great movie. Truly, and true to the real-life story of a Japanese Hachi-Ko who lived in an earlier century. Truly a dog story, because it is all about a dog, not just about the people who lived with the dog, as most “dog stories” are. If you love dogs, the images of Hachi are irresistible. And a truly great movie, for many reasons. The imagery is simply gorgeous. The acting superb, all around. The musical score hauntingly unforgettable. The screenplay well paced, avoiding over-sentimentality in a story that has to bring tears to the eyes of any red-blooded person. It is a movie that works on many levels. For its purely sentimental plot about a dog who never gave up loving his master, it conveys the story effectively such that any child can enjoy. (And the plot is framed by the telling of the young boy who has grown up hearing the story, and now is telling it to his classmates at school.) This is where its charm as a true dog story is unparalleled. On another level, it is a re-make of the Japanese film (1987) entitled Hachiko Monogatari, which is based more literally upon the life of the original Hachi-Ko. The Japanese film interprets his life story as a morality tale, in sombre tones of reproach for all the failures of human actors who fail Hachi in some way. The American re-make inverts the dark tone, translating it into a kinder, gentler tale. Love abounds in the life of this dog. Half of the film depicts the joyous companionship of the music professor and his dog. The professor and his wife enjoy a happy, loving marriage, and secondary characters are also portrayed in warm tones. An interesting technique is to visualize Hachi’s perspective towards humans in nearly colorless images, whereas the human perspective contrasts in full color. We see Hachi lying in his back yard while the professor’s wife tends to her garden. Hachi watches her. He rolls over onto his side, seeing her image with gravity on one side. Then rolls onto his back, seeing her completely upside down. Is this just to drive home the issue of contrasting viewpoints as it relates to the morality of this tale? Or is it also to reveal how an uncritical mind accepts reality, as Hachi sees it, and not just as a human mind expects to see it? There is a critical scene at the center of the movie, where a Japanese guru-figure reads briefly at the graveside, speaking of a philosophy of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance. I cannot help but see the morality of this film in the context of this scene, which is probably too fleeting (my only criticism of the film). Hachi accepts unconditionally what his master can give to him, limited as it has to be; he sees life just as it is. But Hachi loves totally and gives himself without limitation. The professor too accepts Hachi’s unwillingness to play fetch, no matter how much he wishes for his dog to make him happy in this token way — until the final day, when Hachi seems to have forewarning of his master’s death, and he begs him to stay home and cavorts with him, fetching ball for the first and only time. When the professor falls in an apparent heart attack, he drops that ball he has been holding. At this deeper level, in my understanding of the story, there is again the failing of secondary human characters to fully engage Hachi, in the unconditional terms portrayed in the relationship of Hachi and his master. After her father’s death, the professor’s daughter sincerely offers Hachi a home, but she cannot fulfill her commitment completely. Her family has to come first. At least she has the understanding to give Hachi her permission to leave, to live on the streets, free to live out his own imperative. And so do others, allowing Hachi to do what he has to do. The shift of seasons through the years, the flow of life, passes gently. Only the hotdog stand owner comes close to standing by his promise to look after the dog as Hachi pursues his lonely life, waiting. So Hachi waits, for 10 years, and only in his final moments of transcendental imagination experiences his reunion with the man whom he has always loved and will always love. It is easy for me to transpose Hachi’s morality tale to my own life. I have never lived with a dog, but with many cats. The meaning is the same. Animals are capable of an unconditional love which humans find difficult to emulate. We can only go so far in devoting our lives to them, as they devote themselves to us. It is with that knowledge, and that ultimate regret, that I will leave the rest unspoken. ## Frequently Bought Together - Hachi: A Dog's Tale - Hotel For Dogs - Beethoven / Beethoven's 2nd / Beethoven's 3rd Triple Feature [DVD] --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.no/products/1320588-hachi-a-dogs-tale](https://www.desertcart.no/products/1320588-hachi-a-dogs-tale) --- *Product available on Desertcart Norway* *Store origin: NO* *Last updated: 2026-09-17*