Koide Hiroaki worked at the Reactor Research Institute of Kyoto University (the current Institute of Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Research) from 1974 to 2015. Because of the promise of "a peaceful use of nuclear energy" for energy-poor Japan, he had chosen to study nuclear science at Tōhoku University. The Tokyo Electric Power Company's decision to build a nuclear power plant in a fishing village rather than a nearby major city made him aware of the dangers posed by such plants. Subsequently, he pursued nuclear science to prevent their construction. Koide Hiroaki is the best known opponent of nuclear energy in Japan and the author of several books in Japanese. One has been translated into English: Rethinking Nuclear Energy: Autopsy of an Illusion (2015).