“Taka-chan” the elephant performs tricks for the audience on the rooftop of Nihombashi Takashimaya Shopping Center in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. (Photo courtesy of Takashimaya Archives Tokyo)
TOKYO — A department store here is calling for people to submit photos of an elephant named “Taka-chan,” who was kept on the rooftop of its eight-story main building for four years starting in 1950, during Japan’s post-World War II recovery.
At a time when there were only a few elephants in Japan due to the wartime culling of zoo animals, Taka-chan was extremely popular. Some of the photos collected will be featured in Takashimaya Archives Tokyo’s special exhibition about Taka-chan planned for 2026. A Takashimaya Co. representative said, “We hope people will also send in their memories, like ‘I was scared when I rode on her back,’ along with the photos.”
Taka-chan was a female elephant born in Thailand that arrived in Japan in May 1950. At the time, she was a young elephant weighing 560 kilograms and standing 1.3 meters tall. She was lifted in a wooden crate using a crane onto the rooftop of Nihombashi Takashimaya Shopping Center in the capital’s Chuo Ward.
After soliciting names for the elephant from the public, it was decided she would be called Taka-chan. She had a gentle temperament and even let visitors directly interact with her, such as allowing children to ride on her back. She also entertained guests by blowing a trumpet and using her trunk to play a drum with a stick.
The rooftop was equipped with an elephant house and a facility for her caretakers to ensure she was properly looked after. Over four years, Taka-chan grew to over three times her initial size, reaching 1.8 metric tons in weight and 1.8 meters in height. In May 1954, she was transferred to Ueno Zoo. She practiced going down stairs on the rooftop before the move, and successfully walked down the department store’s interior staircase to reach ground level.
The upcoming exhibition, tentatively titled “Riding an Elephant: Taka-chan, who Lived on the Rooftop of a Department Store,” is scheduled to be held from March to August next year. Atsumi Ebina, curator at Takashimaya Archives Tokyo, said, “We want this exhibition to explore why elephants have been so enthusiastically embraced in Japan over the years.” She added, “We hope to recognize Taka-chan’s role in promoting peace and serving as a symbol of postwar recovery within the history of elephants in Japan.”
Submissions will be accepted until Nov. 4. There are requirements including that the photos must show Taka-chan with people on the department store rooftop, and that the applicant must own the copyright. For inquiries on the “Do you know my Taka-chan?” project, please contact the “Taka-chan Section” at Takashimaya Archives Tokyo on 03-3211-4111 (in Japanese).
(Japanese original by Kazuyuki Endo, Tokyo City News Department)