Hachiko’s G-g-g-g-gone?!?

A team of audacious thieves, apparently disguised as a cleaning crew, made off with one of Tokyo’s most famous landmarks in the early hours of Saturday. The statue of “loyal dog Hachiko,” a popular rendezvous spot on the north side of JR Shibuya Station since 1934, was reported missing shortly after dawn, when a newspaper delivery truck driver spotted the bare pedestal and notified policemen at the nearby “koban.”

Full article here : http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070401×1.html

Other juicy parts of the article (for those who don’t like clicking):

A network technician described what clearly appears to be a well planned caper. “Five men in khaki work duds, wearing hats, safety glasses and gauze masks, moved in about 1:43 a.m., after the trains had stopped running,” said the man, who declined to give his name.

“They set up traffic cones and ‘Men Working’ signs, and then raised several blue vinyl work sheets around the statue. It took them about 10 minutes to get it off the pedestal.

“They put it on a hand truck and threw a drop cloth over it. On the video you can see them wheeling it toward the street before they disappear from view.”

 

Hachiko’s a major meeting place for the young and hip in Tokyo and now the dog is gone  - where are the people going to meet? I suppose you could meet at the place Hachiko used to be.  The full story of why Hachiko is such an important icon to Tokyo can be found in the original Newspaperlink above.

Sunday, April 1st, 2007 Japan, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Japanese News, Noteworthy Trackback URL for this entry