Japan is a special place, and when foreigners visit the country for the first time it’s a truly magical thing for them. This is not a new phenomenon, of course, and gaijin have been moved by Japan for years, for example Albert Einstein, who spent six weeks here in 1922, giving speeches on his theories and traveling to well-known shrines like Nikko and the floating Japanese torii arch of Miyajima near Hiroshima — he even fed the deer in Nara Park, just like millions of foreigners since. I can totally imaging him having trouble putting on his yukata at a traditional Japanese inn…Browsing the Internets, I happened to see that today, June 27th, is the birthday of Helen Keller, who was another well-known foreign visitor to Japan. Her first visit here was in 1937, and that’s when she encountered the story of Hachiko, the loyal Akita dog who waited at Shibuya Station every evening for his master to return home, despite the fact that man had died nine years before. She visited Akira Prefecture and was presented with an Akita dog named “Kamikaze,” which was totally un-ironic as this was before World War II and all. Ms. Keller helped spread the story of the loyalty of Hachiko and is credited with introducing the breed to the U.S. Incidentally if you like the story of Hachiko, we hope you’ll like our Japanese Soul Dog Hachiko tribute T-shirt…
Hachiko, beloved of everyone including…Helen Keller? (She organzed funding to make this statue)
