The Dog Who Waited 9 Years (and Why You Shouldn’t) (2 Min Read) | Vol. 154

June 06, 2025

“A healthy loyalty is not passive and complacent, but active and critical.” — Harold Laski

The Dog Who Waited 9 Years (and Why You Shouldn’t)

Every morning at 6 a.m., Hachikō would walk his owner, Professor Hidesaburō Ueno, to Shibuya Station in Tokyo. And every evening at 3 p.m., the faithful Akita would return to wait for the professor’s train. This routine continued for over a year until May 21, 1925, when Professor Ueno suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at work and never came home.

Yet for the next nine years, nine months, and fifteen days, Hachikō walked to the station and waited. Rain or shine. Without fail. 

Commuters began bringing him food. Newspapers wrote about his devotion. When Hachikō finally died in 1935, he became synonymous with loyalty. His story is still told nearly a century later. 

If you visit Shibuya Station today, you’ll find a bronze statue of Hachikō where he kept his vigil. 

While I find Hachikō’s loyalty inspiring, it’s also heartbreaking. Loyalty can be a testament to your commitment. Loyalty can also be a trap. Sometimes we cling to loyalty when liberation is needed. 

We all have our version of Shibuya Station. That place we keep returning to, hoping something will be different this time. The job that stopped challenging us years ago. The friend who takes, but never gives. The strategy that worked once but doesn’t anymore. We think we’re being virtuous when, in reality, we’re stuck.

Meanwhile, opportunities pass us by. Energy gets depleted. Dreams get deferred. The cost of misplaced loyalty isn’t just the disappointment you endure—it’s everything you miss while you’re enduring it. 

Unlike Hachikō, we have choices. We can keep waiting, or we can walk away. We can honor what was while making room for what could be.

True loyalty isn’t blind devotion. It’s a conscious choice. Sometimes, the most loyal thing you can do for your future is to stop being loyal to your past.

One question to ponder in your thinking time: What are you being loyal to that no longer deserves your devotion? 

Make an Impact!
Jay Papasan
Co-author of The ONE Thing & The Millionaire Real Estate Agent