My sis just emailed and told me she will lend me this movie when she is done with it. It has a dog in it - not sure what kind. It has a man in it - pssst… ladies.... Richard Gere. 
The movie is about a college professor type and his relationship with an abandoned dog. I looked up the movie and it got 8/10 stars. I could go on and on telling you that any movie with RG in it gets at least an 8/10 in my books, but that would take up way too much bandwidth.
Hachiko was a famous Akita immortalized for being supremely loyal to his owner, even after he died. I won't give away too much for fear of spoiling the story (though it's common lore amongst Japanese schoolchildren). There's a statue at the Shibuya station in Tokyo commemorating this faithful dog.
I haven't seen the American version, but I did see the Japanese version a while back. I'm kind of a sucker for animal movies, and the Japanese tend to churn out some rather amusing ones (Milo & Otis, anyone?). Kind of lukewarm about this one, though.
