As I said in this post (click here), Hollywood has remade many Japanese movies.
Well, it seems that the American actor, Richard Gere is starring in another Hollywood remake of a Japanese movie. As I mention in this post (click here), Richard Gere was in the U.S. remake of the Japanese movie titled “Shall We Dance?“…and now he’s in a remake of the Japanese movie 「ハチ公物語」 (Hachiko’s Story).
The Hollywood version is called “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story“.
The Japanese movie, 「ハチ公物語」 (Hachiko’s Story), is a true story.
One difference in the U.S. version is that the real ハチ公 (Hachiko) was an 秋田犬 (Akita-inu dog)…
But the dog is the Richard Gere movie, “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story“, is a 柴犬 (Shiba-inu dog).
They look similar…but not the same.
Have you seen either “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story” or the original 「ハチ公物語」 (Hachiko’s Story)? If not, are you planning to? If you have watched them, what was your impression?
Do you know the story of 「ハチ公」 (Hachiko)?
「ハチ公」 (Hachiko), or 「忠犬ハチ公」 (“Faithful dog Hachiko“), is a famous statue near 渋谷駅 (Shibuya train station) in Tokyo. It’s in honor of a dog named 「ハチ公」 (Hachiko) that waited at that train station everyday for his master…and after his master died, he still waited for him at the station everyday for about ten years (until the dog died)!
「ハチ公」 (Hachiko) is considered a symbol of loyalty and faithfulness to loved ones.
By the way, when Helen Keller visited Japan in the 1930′s, she was so inspired by the story of 「ハチ公」 (Hachiko) that she got an 秋田犬 (Akita-inu dog) for herself.
Tokyo5, this is really interesting. I remember the movie “Shall We Dance?” very well.
sfrunner…
Thanks for commenting on my site again.
Like many Japanese movies, “Shall We Dance?” has many Japanese cultural peculiarities. I wonder if people not familiar with Japanese culture can fully appreciate even remakes of Japanese movies.
I saw the American version of Shall We Dance first. It was sweet, but it wasn’t until I saw the Japanese version that I understood why it was so scandalous for the guy to take dancing lessons. Very different perspective, and the intro wouldn’t have worked as well in the US version as it did for the Japanese version.
The story of Hachiko always makes me a little sad. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but pretty sure I’m going to cry if I do.
Yes, many small, but important, details in the “Shall We Dance” movie are peculiarities to Japanese culture.
I guess Richard Gere is the go to guy for Japanese movie remakes.Maybe it’s because he had that bit part in a Kurosawa movie. Hachi-gatsu no kyôshikyoku. The remake of “Shall We Dance” was truly terrible.
Eric…
Yeah, I forgot that Richard Gere was also in the Kurosawa movie 「八月の狂詩曲」 (“August Rhapsody“).
I’m not a big fan of Richard Gere, actually (nor Jennifer Lopez or Susan Saradon). So I agree that the U.S. version of “Shall We Dance?” wasn’t good. (The only reason I even saw it was because it was on TV).
I saw it just to see how bad a job they did. Anything with Jlo in is guaranteed bad, except for U-turn and Out of Sight.
tokyo5, Eric…I agree. the movie was not very good. My previous comment was polite. I’m not really a fan of Richard Gere either.
Eric…
Yeah, I can’t think of any Richard Gere movies that I really liked. I guess his most famous film (“Pretty Woman“) was probably his best. But I’m not really a fan of that genre.
As for Jennifer Lopez, I don’t watch her movies usually…because she does films like “The Wedding Planner“. Just judging by the title of that one, I don’t think I’d enjoy watching it!
I agree that “Out Of Sight” wasn’t bad…but I didn’t like “U-Turn“.
“The Cell” was alright.
Wayne…
Did you change your username from “sfrunner”?
Have you seen the original (Japanese) 「Shall We ダンス?」 (Shall We Dance?)?
It was much better than the U.S. remake.
I’ll probably watch the U.S. remake of the “Hachiko” movie.
tokyo5, I’m actually going over to Blogspot. I’m keeping the WordPress blog for a project that I’m working on currently and will be out next year. The title of the blog is still SFrunner on blogspot but Google won’t let me use sfrunner so runnersf was available.
I saw the original movie and it was a lot better than the remake. I think most movies are these days. Take care my friend!
Wayne…
Why are you changing blog servers?
And where did you see the Japanese movie “Shall We Dance?” ? On DVD? Was it dubbed in English?
As I wrote above, this U.S. movie is titled “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story” and is a remake of the Japanese film 「ハチ公物語」 (“Hachiko’s Story“)…but the Japanese title for the U.S. version will be 「HACHI : 約束の犬」 (“Hachi: Yakusoku-no-inu“).
The Japanese movie site is here:
http://www.hachi-movie.jp/
Richard Gere is in Tokyo now to promote this upcoming movie. (It opens in theaters in Japan on August 8).
Today he went to Shibuya to see the Hachiko statue there.
A belated comment: only the puppy in the film “Hachi” is played by a Shiba Inu; the three dogs playing Hachi as an older dog are all Akitas. Loved the autumn equinox photo of the Higan-bana.
Did you see the movie “Hachiko” already?
>Loved the autumn equinox photo of the Higan-bana.
You’re referring to the photo in this post.
Thanks.
ES LA MEJOR PELICULA E ISTORIA QUE ME HA ECHO LLORAR EL PERRO SON MEJORES QUE LQS PERSONAS HACHIIIII NO TE OLVIDAREMOS
If you comment on my blog in either English or Japanese, I can understand you…any other language, and I have no idea.
I used an online translator to get the gist of your comment (I’m assuming that your comment is in Spanish).
According to the online translator, you wrote:
“IT IS THE BEST FILM AND HISTORY THAN HAS MADE ME CRY THE DOG ARE BETTER THAN LQS PEOPLE HACHIIIII WE WILL NOT FORGET TO YOU“.
Which movie did you watch? The original Japanese film or the Hollywood remake?
My daughter read the book, I’ve watched the Japanese version of this film, we both loved & cried over Gere’s Hatchi. The last few scenes when Hatchi grows older were unbearable to watch. I also enjoyed how the seasons changed in the background as Hatchi continues to wait by the train station the following 9 years, nice cinematography.
So you watched both the original Japanese film and the U.S. remake?
Which did you like better?
ese perro es muy donito yes muy donita la historia
Sorry. Unless you comment in either English or Japanese, I won’t be able to understand it.
I have seen the movie, the 1987 film and the new one, they’re both good actually, though the original is better…it is sad that he has to wait that long, from what i read and i believe he lived as a stray dog, correct me if i’m wrong…so what makes me teary eyed is the thought that for many years nobody adopts him…that is what the movie suggests anyway. but then again maybe i just don’t know the whole story.
He wasn’t a stray. A friend of the original owner took Hachiko after the owner died…but the dog kept running away to try to find his owner who died.
es bonita la history kisiera tener un perrito igual como hachiko .
As I told “Cristopher” and “Anonymous” above, I can’t understand what I assume is Spanish.
I have only seen clips from both movies – I will get both on DVD soon – loyalty means a lot to me and we can learn a great deal from these movies. I see that there is a special day every year to honor the dog – April 8th? If so, I plan to go to Tokyo and take pictures and honor this great ‘friend’
Yes, on April 8 every year in Shibuya, Tokyo there is a ceremony in front of the Hachiko statue.
This year’s ceremony was last week.
The dog died seventy-five years ago on March 8 but the ceremony is on April 8th because that’s the date that the statue was erected seventy-six years ago (eleven month before Hachiko died).
Have you ever been to Tokyo before?
What city do you live in?
Hello, greetings from Monterrey, Mexico.
We would be glad to count with your visit in our Facebook Page, ANATOMÍA FÍLMICA. Ew write reviews about movies, in special we share with all of you one about Hachiko Monogatari, touching japanese film… We loved it. Be our guests on:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ANATOMIA-FILMICA/315194737960?v=wall
I don’t have a Facebook account so I can’t comment on your page, can I?
I looked at your Facebook page just now. It looks interesting with all of the movie reviews…too bad I can’t understand Spanish.
excelente!!llorè mucho,ya que me hizo recordar al perro de mis abuelos que cuando murieron,el perro iba al cementerio tedos los dias,se echaba ahi en la lapida de ellos,y luego volvia a la casa.muy buena pelicula apta para todos los amantes a los caninios
I don’t know why this particular post seems to get many comments written in Spanish.
I appreciate your comment…but, unfortunately, I can’t understand it.
This movie aired on TV in Japan today. So I just finished watching it.
It was very good…I’d say just as good as the original Japanese movie.
I really love this story. This is amazing. Everybody must see this. My husband and I watched the movie together and we end up crying. My daughter loves the movie too though she’s just 4 yrs. old. Richard Gere is a very good actor.
Have you seen the original Japanese movie?
Thank you for clearing the confusion of the breed for me. I knew it looked like a Shiba (smaller and cuter face) than the Akita (bigger and german shepherd looking face)
Many people (including me) can’t tell the difference between those two Japanese dog breeds.
Just watched Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (US version) again… cried for half the movie… my father also passed away when I was younger and also had a dog… a Chow Chow. Recently, we had to let go of our Chow and put him to sleep. I was with him till the last moment and I will never forget the gift he gave to both my parents and I.
We love you, Oreo!
Yeah, dogs are great.
Have you read the post I wrote about two other great dogs?
It’s at this link:
http://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/hero-dogs/
I love this story too. Dogs are so loyal, it can seem unbelievable esp if you think of how some people can be so unfaithful. we could all learn from Hatchi. I recently lost my best friend, Otie my bishon that my husband gave me yrs ago for a valentine’s gift. He had the most unique personality that I have ever encountered in a dog and he stole my heart completely. We also had a beautiful golden retriever, Sunny, many years ago when my children were young. we all loved him deeply too. Everyday when my son and daughter went off to school, Sunny would walk up to the bus stop and wait w/ them until the bus left. then later in the afternoon, he somehow knew when it was time for them to return and would go and wait for the bus to return. This was many yrs ago, you were in kindergarten or the first grade. It broke our hearts when we moved had to give him up-but we did find a really good home for him so that made it more bearable for me. I love dogs for many reasons but loyalty is one of their best traits. tks for this post, I enjoyed it!
Yes, our Golden Retriever, Sunny, was such a great dog!
We love Hatchiko!!!!!
I looked at your website. Your company is named after your two dogs … one of which is a Golden Retriever.
I had a Golden Retriever when I was a young kid. They are wonderful, loyal, friendly pets!