Departures of note

Takashi Koide was a Japanese picture book author and former elementary school teacher from Nagoya. He graduated from Aichi Gakugei University in 1961 and became a teacher at a municipal elementary school in Nagoya, later serving as chairman of the Aichi Prefecture History Educators Council.

In 1983 he published the picture book 'Zou Ressha ga Yatte Kita' (The Elephant Train Has Come), based on the true story of two elephants that survived wartime culling at Nagoya's Higashiyama Zoo and the special trains that carried children from across Japan to see them after the war. The work was adapted into a choral composition and an animated film, and became widely beloved throughout the country.

Koide devoted much of his career to peace education, telling children that he hoped they would grow into people who keep thinking about what peace means. He died on August 23, 2026, at the age of 87.