The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase, translated by Alison Watts (Scribner)

There have been a number of confirmed cases of animals saving their owners or becoming so loyal that they wait for them even if their owners have died. The most famous being the story of Hachiko, an Akita dog that waited for its owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, at Shibuya station for over nine years after Ueno’s death. 

Although Seishu Hase is known in Japan for mostly writing Yakuza crime novels, in his book The Boy and the Dog, he has written a story about a dog named Tamon that makes a five-year journey across Japan to find his beloved owner. 

The book was originally published in the Japanese language as 少年と犬 (Shonen to Inu) in 2020 by Bungeishunju Limited. It won the Naoki Award in 2020. This edition, translated by Alsion Watts, was published in English in 2023 by Scribner. 

It’s six months after the massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that hit the Tohoku area of Japan on March 11, 2011. At a convenience store in Sendai, a man named Kazumasu, sees  a ragged looking dog standing on the corner of the parking lot. The dog is still there after he makes his purchase. The dog was sitting there just staring at him. 

The dog looks like a German shepherd mix and since there seemed to be no owner, Kazumasa decides to take him home. He notices the dog’s collar with only the dog’s name on it - Tamon, named after Tamoten, a guardian deity. Kazumasa lives with his sister and their mother who suffers from dementia. She sometimes forgets the name of their children. When Kazumasa visits his mother with Tamon, she immediately calls the dog Kaito. 

Although their mother seemed to be happy and in good spirits whenever “Kaito” was with her, Kazumasa knew he needed to make more money so he could help out his sister and be able to put their mother in a home. He accepts a job as driver for a couple of foreign criminals and brings Tamon with him on the job. The job goes without a hitch and the foreign thieves believes that Tamon is their good luck charm. 

Kazumasa’s lucky streak came to an abrupt end. Kazumasa and the three foreign thieves were being chased by a group of Yakuza and Kazumasa crashes the getaway van into a wall. Tamon and only one of the thieves survives. A man named Miguel.  

This is only the start of Tamon’s journey. Tamon will travel with the thief to Niigata who plans on stowing on a boat to leave Japan. He can’t take Tamon with him and Tamon is then brought home by a man who was training in the Japanese Alps when Tamon chased a bear away from him. The runner found Tamon continues his journey and is taken in by a prostitute named Miwa who finds him in the mountains of Shiga Prefecture. 

The day Miwa found Tamon was the day she killed her boyfriend. She decides to turn herself in and lets the dog go. Tamon is then taken in by a man who lives alone on the mountain but continues his journey south. 

In Kagoshima Prefecture, a small boy named Hikaru lives there with his parents. The family moved after the devastating quake. The experience was such a shock to him as he lost his friend Tamon. Since then, the boy has been unable to speak. 

Will Tamon and Hikaru ever be reunited? Can an animal and human be soulmates? Seishu Hase makes you think so. The story will make you believe in miracles. ~Ernie Hoyt