37 pages • 1-hour read
Hachiko Waits
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Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
Professor Eizaburo Ueno has a new Akita puppy named Hachi. Every morning, Hachi knows exactly when the Professor wakes up, even if Professor Ueno doesn’t move or make a sound.
On this particular day, Hachi and the Professor greet each other before starting their daily routine. The Professor reads Hachi the date—it is April 1, 1924—and tells the puppy that it is going to be a good day. The Professor says the exact same thing to Hachi every day, as he is “a man of habit” (10). The housekeeper prepares Hachi’s breakfast of rice and miso soup, but Hachi is reluctant to eat it. The Professor knows that Hachi wants yakitori, a chicken skewer, instead. The Professor has taught Hachi how to pull the chicken off the skewers. Eventually, the Professor convinces Hachi to eat his breakfast.
After breakfast, they begin their daily training session. Hachi practices commands like “sit” and “down” and obeys perfectly. The only command he refuses to obey is “speak,” which disappoints the Professor. Hachi has never barked, and the Professor wants to hear Hachi’s voice.
Professor Ueno leaves the house to go to work, and Hachi follows. The Professor has a train to catch, and he tells Hachi to go back inside, but the puppy refuses. The Professor agrees to let Hachi accompany him to the train station. He tells the dog that he will return at three o’clock.
Chapter 2 Summary
Hachi and the professor head to Shibuya Train Station in Tokyo. When they arrive, Station Master Yoshikawa greets them. The Professor explains that Hachi followed him to the train station, and Mr. Yoshikawa offers to watch the puppy while the Professor is at work. The Professor is grateful for the offer, and Mr. Yoshikawa responds that he is honored to do a favor for someone as distinguished as the Professor. The Professor in turn explains that Hachi gets his name from the Japanese word for “eight”—because it is the Professor’s lucky number, but also because the Japanese character for eight is shaped like a fan, symbolizing that “the future is wide open” (18). The Professor also notes that Hachi is very intelligent and well-behaved and that he knows every basic command except “speak.” He figures, though, that Hachi will speak “when he has something important to say” (19).
The Professor waits for his train with Hachi. The platform is bustling with people, and a young boy with his mother spots the dog and holds out his hand to Hachi. His mother is afraid Hachi could bite, but the Professor reassures her that his dog is not aggressive. The young boy asks a few questions about Hachi, and the Professor speaks to him and his mother for a few minutes. The boy is five years old, and his name is Yasuo Takahashi. Yasuo is about to attend his first day of school, and the Professor tells him that he is going to school himself.: He works as a professor of agriculture at Tokyo Imperial University.
The Professor praises Hachi, petting and kissing him before reminding the dog that he will return at three o’clock; he then boards the train. Hachi watches the train pull away. Mr. Yoshikawa tells Hachi to come with him, but Hachi walks away toward the station’s exit. Panicking, Mr. Yoshikawa calls after him, but he is at work and can’t leave the station. Hachi runs off.
Chapter 3 Summary
It’s now the end of the day, and Professor Ueno hurries to leave his classroom and get back to Hachi. At Shibuya Station, Mr. Yoshikawa dreads having to tell the Professor that his dog is missing. He spent the day asking passengers if they had seen Hachi, and during his break he searched the area for the dog. When the Professor’s train is scheduled to arrive, Mr. Yoshikawa steps onto the platform and is shocked to see Hachi sitting there. The Professor gets out of the train and greets Hachi, who is overjoyed to see his master. Yasuo and his mother disembark from the same train. Yasuo calls out to Hachi, and Hachi wags his tail but doesn’t leave the Professor’s side.
Mr. Yoshikawa explains to the Professor that Hachi ran away in the morning but returned right before the three o’clock train arrived. The Professor is proud of Hachi and concludes that his dog must be even more intelligent than he thought.
Chapter 4 Summary
From that day forward, Hachi always accompanies the Professor to the train station, goes home, and then returns exactly five minutes before the train arrives in the afternoon. A year passes, and this routine doesn’t change. Hachi is always overjoyed to see his owner when he steps off the train. One day in May, the Professor stops on his walk to the train station to tell Hachi that it is a holiday in Japan. He points out flags in the shape of carp that are hung on Tango no Sekku, a celebration of Japan’s boys. Carp swim against strong currents, representing the courage of Japanese boys.
By the time the Professor and Hachi arrive at the station, the Professor’s face is dripping with sweat even though it’s not very hot. Concerned, Mr. Yoshikawa asks if the Professor is feeling alright. The Professor replies that he’s fine. Yasuo greets Hachi on the platform, and the Professor tells the boy that Hachi is now fully grown. When the train comes, the Professor gives the dog the same farewell as always. As the train departs, however, Hachi runs after it and barks. This is the first time the Professor has heard Hachi bark. Worried, he leans out the window to look at the dog.
That afternoon, Hachi waits at the platform, but the Professor doesn’t get off the train. Yasuo greets the dog and asks his mother where the Professor is. Mrs. Takahashi tells Hachi that the Professor probably missed his train. Hachi waits, but the next train comes, and the Professor isn’t on that one either. A few trains come and go, and various passengers stop to pet the dog, but Hachi barely acknowledges them while he scans the crowd for his master. Hachi waits for hours. Mr. Yoshikawa brings Hachi food, but he refuses to eat. Eventually, Mr. Yoshikawa physically pushes Hachi out the exit, as he must close the station for the night.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
The opening chapters lay the foundation for one of the story’s most central themes, The Reciprocation of Loyalty. Hachi and the Professor have a strong bond that is based on routine as well as mutual affection and respect. The fact that Hachi is so in tune with the Professor that he can sense when his master is awake shows the intensity of their connection. The two are thus implied to share an innate understanding of one another, but it’s also clear that the Professor is diligent in sticking to a daily routine with Hachi that structures their relationship. Professor Ueno thus demonstrates his duty and devotion to Hachi, which the dog learns to reciprocate in his behavior toward his master. The combination of structure and affection that defines their relationship foreshadows Hachi’s walks to the train station—which he makes precisely on time, every day—to wait for the Professor to return from work.
Given Hachi’s overall obedience, his refusal to bark despite the Professor’s wishes is all the more noticeable. It functions partly as characterization, demonstrating that Hachi can be stubborn, but it also sets up another example of foreshadowing: Professor Ueno’s remark that Hachi will bark when there is something important to bark about. When Hachi barks at the departing train, it therefore suggests that a pivotal event is happening. Combined with details such as the Professor’s sweatiness, the episode foreshadows the Professor’s death. That this is the first of only two times in his life that Hachi barks is also significant: The second time is right before Hachi himself dies, which reinforces the connection between the dog and his master—an emotional connection that seems almost psychic, or otherwise uncanny and inexplicable. Likewise, the fact that the Professor turns out to be correct about Hachi—he only speaks when something very significant is occurring—further speaks to how attuned to each other’s feelings the two are.
When Hachi follows the Professor to Shibuya Station for the first time, the pair meets Yasuo. This encounter introduces readers to another major character—Yasuo, who ends up forging an impactful relationship with Hachi that lasts for the rest of the dog’s life—and its timing is significant. Yasuo is about to begin his first day of school, evoking the idea of new beginnings. In noting that it’s his first day of school as well (at least for the academic year), the Professor establishes a connection with the boy that suggests continuity across generations, thus hinting at the theme of The Creation of Cultural Legacy.
These chapters also introduce one of the story’s key symbols when the Professor stops Hachi on their walk to point out the flags shaped like carp. Carp, which swim against strong currents, represent courage and perseverance. Though the Professor and Hachi are not yet aware of it, this symbol is particularly relevant to Hachi, as he will come to epitomize these traits in his staunch commitment to waiting for the Professor at the station over the coming years.
The context in which the flags are displayed—Tango no Sekku, or Boys’ Day—underscores the symbolism. The origins of the holiday date back to ancient times, although its meaning has changed over the years. In the 12th century, during the Kamakura period, the day became a celebration of the boys of Japan, as this was the era when samurai warriors emerged. Notably, the last time Yasuo ever sees the Professor is Boys’ Day. The holiday, and the symbol of the carp, contributes significantly to Yasuo’s development, as the Professor’s death means that Yasuo must learn to embody the values that the carp represents.
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