Mayumi Itoh

Hachi-k? in Siberia Mayumi Itoh

This is the true story of Japanese prisoners of war, who were detained in Siberia at the end of World War II, and an abandoned dog they found near the concentration camp in Khabarovsk. They named the dog Kuro, and decided to keep her in the concentration camp secretly, where she became their "Hachi-ko" (1923-1935), the most famous, faithful dog in Japan. When they were finally being repatriated in 1956, after a decade of internment, Kuro followed them all the way to Nakhodka port, and jumped into the sea of ice, chasing after their ship. Against regulations, the ship captain stopped and took Kuro aboard. Thus, Kuro was also "repatriated" with the Japanese POWs to Maizuru port, in Kyoto prefecture, in Japan.