Richard Gere is going to be in a movie about Hachikō. I happened to be mindlessly surfing around imdb.com and found the entry. From looking at the cast list, it seems like it won’t be filmed in Shibuya. The wikipedia entry on Hachikō says the American adaptation will take place in Rhode Island. And I wonder what kind of dog they will choose? Beagle maybe? How are they going to explain the name of the dog? Not sure if this is an original story based on the “true story” or an adaptation of “Hachikō Monogatari”, the Japanese movie that came out in 1984.
The story of the dog that was loyal to its owner beyond the owner’s death has to be one of those stories which humans all over the world spontaneously concoct because of the way our brains work and our relationship with dogs. It’s for the same reason that we have similar proverbs with different metaphors in various countries. Some dramatic concepts just tend to occur to everyone.
I’m sure the original Japanese story was not the first or last of such stories and that there may be some famous western story we’re less familiar with which is essentially the Hachiko story. I know that I heard of this story without any Japanese context whatsoever when I was a child. At any rate, I’m figuring they’ll use a Japanese name for the movie because that will sound more hip and cool than a western name, but the American dog will have a Western name.
Since the movie is called “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story” I’m assuming that the dog will be called Hachiko. Probably, they’ll make the film self conscious, like they’ll have some Japanese guy in the film who will name the dog “Hachiko” after the real Hachiko and then he’ll tell the story of Hachiko in the film which will turn out to mirror the real Hachiko story. Am I making any sense at all? It’s late and I’m really tired…
I understand what you are saying. And in fact I see only 1 Japanese in the cast, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. He probably will be Richard Gere’s old Japanese gardener.
I hate to disappoint you, but there is much evidence to support these accounts as being true. Perhaps when you were a child you heard echos of the Greyfriars Bobby story, or some other similar story. OK. Both relatively modern stories have been researched thoroughly using sound and subjective sources–there were many, many witnesses in each case. It sounds like you want to dismiss these accounts for some reason before you know what the facts are. You speculate that these ’stories’ are some sort of archetypal wishing, or some kind of mass psychosis (?), before you would be willing to accept the possibility that such fidelity actually exists in dogs. I suggest you do the research if you are in doubt, before putting forth theories that truly dishonor the facts–and the animals that live in our midst, whose reality we casually dismiss every day, much to the loss of the world. I respectfully suggest you do the research yourself, or contact a historian to do the research for you, if you want to clear this up. This is true stuff. And there have also been many dogs who, having not seen a beloved master for many years, reconcile with their master as if there had never been a separation. This characteristic was noted in the Skye Terrier, which was the breed of the Greyfriar’s Bobby. Good luck to you.
Shibuya’s Hachiko being from cold Akita pref., will the Rhode Island dog be from Canada? :)
No it will be from Maine.
And just where did you get this information?
There will be three Akitas portraying Hachiko, one was bred by me and the other two belong to a dear friend of mine. All three were bred here in the US and contain recent Japanese pedigrees.
Kathy, it was supposed to be a joke, because the distance from Rhode Island to Maine is approximately the same as Tokyo to Akita, roughly. Obviously no one understood my bad joke.
Anyways, I never thought this post would attract so many comments especially from someone related to the film. Welcome! Looking forward to seeing your Akita in the film. There was a segment about the film on Japanese TV this morning. I’m sure as it gets close to release there will be much more publicity about it. Perhaps you’ll be able to accompany your Akita to Japan for the premiere!
so sorry, I guess it went right over the head.
Actually they have a representitive from Japan here “watching” to make sure the “American” version doesn’t stray too far from the legend-or so I’ve been led to believe.
Filming is just wrapping up and our dog is coming home on the 14th.
Can’t wait to see the movie!
:o)
Kathy
after The Mexican starring Brad Pitt and The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise, here comes Hachiko starring Richard Gere…
(cf. Paul Mooney in the Chappelle Show - see skit)
I don’t get it?
The Mexican and The Last Samurai were not Japanese stories being adapted to a Hollywood film..
However, Eight Below, Shall We Dance, The Ring etc. were based on Japanese movies.
Brad Pitt = gringo, not Mexican. Tom Cruise = gringo, not Japanese nor even samurai. Gringo Richard Geer in a movie about Japanese Hachiko = neither star nor dog (perhaps) are Japanese. At least, that’s what I think is francois’ point.
GreyFriars Bobby, a Scottish dog faithful to his dead master, is the same story as Hachiko’s dog. There’s even a movie of it which was out in the 60’s…
I’m guessing the Scots were first?
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There’s a rumor going around the half-Japanese community that Richard Gere is 1/4 Japanese. Fact or fiction???
I’m just guessing that the rumor is just that - a rumor. Perhaps it was started because of Richard Gere’s portrayal of a Japanese-American in the Akira Kurosawa-directed movie of 1991 titled “Rhapsody of August” or 八月の狂詩曲。
If he really was of Japanese heritage wouldn’t the publicity department of this movie’s marketers have had a field day?
So my guess is - fiction.
Besides, if Richard Gere had had a Japanese grandparent wouldn’t he have gone into singing enka instead of acting? Like B-boy Jero? (Just joking).
oh sweet, welcome back.
I do not think Richard Gere has any Japanese blood either.
Anyway, now you can watch this CNN piece about this movie.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2008/03/24/quest.canine.co.star.bk.d.cnn
Actually they are using Japanese Akita for this film, not American Akita and Shiba pups as an Akita puppy.
In case you do not know, Japanese Akitas and American Akitas are now two different breeds.
You can find video of it on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpqYxTjSa9Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqaDCBIWdi8&feature=related
These are just two examples, but there are more vids of the shooting of the movie