My Dog and I Were Born on the Same Day

My dog Gon and I were born on the same day.

We were always together, and he was always there for me.

But when I was in the 6th grade of elementary school, Gon died.

I grew very sad, and I cried a lot.

One day, my dad brought home another dog.

He was born on the day that Gon died.

I decided to keep him and loved him.

A lot of strange things kept happening after that.

The story of my dog and I continued…

Theirs is a touching, lifelong bond.

This is a profound, heartwarming story by picture book author Nobumi.

A long time ago, I had a cat that passed away. Sometime after that I happened to live with another cat.  It is strange, but when I looked at him, I could only see the face of my previous cat. They somehow behaved the same way. They also ate and liked the same things. “Surely you’re not a reincarnation of my previous cat,” I remember muttering once while holding it as it purred. Nobody can know whether reincarnation is real or not, but perhaps we have all felt as if we’ve encountered a certain soul before. In his picture book, Nobumi invites us into a fantasy world that teaches us the importance of treasuring all living things.