Ishioka TARO (2023)

In 1964, a dog was rescued from Higashi Elementary School in Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture. The dog, named "Taro," greeted students at the school gate in the morning and took turns going to first grade classrooms at lunchtime without being taught by anyone. Taro's clever behavior made him a popular dog at school, and one day he began a routine of walking the two kilometers to Ishioka Station and back. He crosses a pedestrian bridge, walks along a national road, crosses a railroad crossing, and enters the waiting room of Ishioka Station and sits down. He stares at the ticket gate, and after a while leaves the station and returns to the elementary school. He did this twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Taro became a familiar face in the Ishioka Station area, and many people in the waiting room and in the shopping district in front of the station took good care of him. Taro's station commuting continued for 17 years, but no one knew who he was waiting for at the station.