He swam that stretch of sea so many times that the sea eventually gave in: today, there is a statue of him looking toward where she lived. 🐾 Shiro lived on Aka-jima, a small island in the Kerama Archipelago, in Okinawa. Marilyn lived on Zamami, the neighboring island. Between them lay three kilometers of open sea.
It wasn’t always this way. In the summer of 1986, Shiro’s family moved from Zamami to Aka. From one day to the next, the dog was separated from the female dog he had grown up with.
What happened next is what turned Shiro into a legend. He started swimming. He crossed the currents separating the two islands, avoiding the path of the boats, just to spend some time with Marilyn. Then he swam back home.
His owners discovered it one morning when they noticed he woke up wet and tired. He didn’t do it just once. He did it again and again for months.
The story made it into Japan’s newspapers, and in 1988 the film “Marilyn ni Aitai” premiered, inspired by the two animals. Shiro played himself. Marilyn couldn’t: she had died in 1987, before filming, and another female dog took her place in front of the cameras.
Shiro lived until 2000 and died at the age of 17. Today, there is a statue of him beside the port of Aka-jima. On Zamami, on the other side of the sea he crossed, another statue commemorates Marilyn.
They remain separated by the water. But no one has to swim anymore to get from one to the other.