The Boy and the Dog, translated from Japanese, is a straightforward, sentimental story about the loyalty of a dog, the connection that dogs have with humans, and the support dogs provide to people. The dog is the character who unites the novel's six different stories. The dog, who wears a tag with the name Tamon, has strayed from home after a tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear meltdown. The Japanese characters who find Tamon recognize that his name derives from a guardian deity. Tamon, the dog, is a guardian angel in various ways for the people who find him in each story segment.

In the first tale, Kazumasa, a man who drives thieves away from their heists, finds Tamon outside a store. Tamon brings great joy to his failing mother and warns about the man's risky endeavors. However, when he does not heed the warnings, one of the thieves ends up with Tamon in the following story. As any reader can surmise from the chapter titles, the dog presents himself next to a young couple, then a prostitute, an old man, and finally, a young boy for a satisfying end of the novel.

Most characters who find and adopt Tamon bring him to a vet. The vets recognize that the dog's microchip originated in Iwate, an area of Japan that had been greatly affected by the tragedies. The location indicates that Tamon has traveled far from his owner; therefore, he was not a stray, but the owner doesn't respond to notices of Tamon's whereabouts. Thus, the reader assumes that the dog's owner has perished in one of the tragedies that have taken place. The dog, however, brings pleasure and comfort to each of his found owners in different ways. The common thread is having the dog for support, friendship, and connection when the circumstances of their lives seem desperate.

This is a very uplifting and feel good read. Except for the ending, don’t say I didn’t want you. That is why I gave it 4 stars.
This is the journey of a dog called Tamon, who is searching for his owner, a boy called Hikaru.
His search takes him 5 years and he travels all through Japan, running into all sorts of people who are clearly in dire need of a dog.
Lovely book. Just wish it had ended differently. ( )

The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase (馳 星周) was my selection for my local bookstore's reading club, which was a book by a Japanese author. The book is the story of Tamon, a dog who is trying to make his way back to his family after the events of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that hit Fukushima, Japan. Through a series of encounters with people who take him in, Tamon goes on a multi-year journey to find his family. As each person who takes him in realizes that they need to make changes in order to improve not only their own lives but Tamon's as well, the dog becomes a symbol of hope for each person he encounters.

Told in the typical sparse, direct writing style of most Japanese authors that I have experienced, Tamon's adventure home is not without its perils, and Hase is very straight to the point in detailing that not every positive thing that happens in this world is without its own series of struggles.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Tamon does eventually find his family, but as most books that deal with dogs, Tamon dies at the end. However, he does die a hero. The level of suspension of disbelief needed to make the jump to how Tamon found his family might be too much of a stretch for some readers, but for me, this was still an enjoyable book. ( )

El nuevo gran éxito de la literatura japonesa. Una novela sobre un emocionante viaje y un encuentro prodigioso.

Después de que un devastador terremoto y un tsunami le hicieran perder el empleo, Kazumasa Nakagaki se dedica ahora a actividades ilícitas para poder pagar los cuidados que su madre necesita. Un día, delante de una konbini, un supermercado japonés abierto las 24 horas, se encuentra con un perro callejero famélico. Tamon, que al parecer así se llama, es listo y enseguida lo cautiva. Pronto empieza a considerar al animal como su ángel guardián. Pero el perro siempre mira hacia el sur. ¿Qué es lo que busca? ¿Adónde quiere ir? Tamon sigue un largo viaje que lo lleva a hogares muy diferentes, convirtiéndose en un regalo para todos aquellos que lo acogen en sus vidas.

Galardonada con el prestigioso Premio Naoki, El chico y el perro es una lectura emotiva, intrigante y luminosa que consagra a este autor como una de las voces más interesantes del panorama literario actual.