NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Dispatch from Japan: Goats used to lift moods at offices, welfare centres

By Ryo Kato
Washington Post·
9 Jun, 2025 10:00 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Taizo Katayama walks his two goats along a riverside in Yokohama. Photo / The Japan News

Taizo Katayama walks his two goats along a riverside in Yokohama. Photo / The Japan News

Goats, a domestic animal, are increasingly being kept by welfare facilities and companies for various purposes.

For one, with their gentle and friendly nature, they have a spiritual healing effect. I have studied their appeal in depth.

In late February, on a lawn beside a building near JR Totsuka Station in Yokohama, a 78-year-old local resident was feeding two goats kept by coffee shop owner Taizo Katayama, 56, while they chatted.

“Goats have a healing power,” the man said to Katayama with a smile.

The goats are sisters, 8 and 7 years old. They weigh 90kg, which is heavier than I had expected.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There is a shed and lawn near the building. Anyone is welcome to visit them.

Katayama started keeping the animals as pets about eight years ago to teach local children about the importance of life.

“I noticed that everyone smiled when they saw the animals,” he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Today, people who come across the goats on their walks look happy and say, “Look! There are goats,” Katayama said.

Local children also come to feed them.

Katayama said: “The goats’ relaxed appearance makes people feel that they are easy to get along with”.

“Also, since we don’t know what they are thinking, we can imagine whatever we want. They naturally attract people that way.”

Some companies have their own goats, too.

Di-Nikko Engineering Co., an electronic components manufacturer in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, has noticed the spiritual healing effect of goats and has been keeping two since 2023 as part of its employee welfare programmes.

The goats are quite popular among employees. About six employees take care of them in turn.

“The goats started to come closer to me after I became responsible for them,” one of the workers said. “They are more adorable than I expected.”

A welfare facility in Konosu, Saitama Prefecture, has been keeping a goat since 2021.

The goat was originally kept to eat the weeds around the facility, but it has now become a mascot.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When the goat sometimes takes a walk around the building, elderly users of the facility pet and talk to it.

“Some elderly people used to keep a goat, so this makes goats approachable,” said the facility’s director.

He also says that some neighbours come to visit the goat, which helps foster ties between the welfare facility and the local community.

Reducing stress

Aichi Yagi Nojo, a farm in Mihama, Aichi Prefecture, which conducts educational activities using goats as well as selling the animals, carried out research in 2020 to find out how goats could reduce stress in humans.

The research subjects’ stress levels were measured based on changes in the amylase content, which is higher under stress, in saliva before and after they saw and interacted with goats.

It was found that their amylase levels were reduced by 70% to 80%.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“Goats are herbivorous and look gentle, so they make people want to protect them,” said the farm’s representative.

“Some people see themselves in the goats when they watch them continuing to eat, and then they renew their determination to do their best. I think goats have a spiritual healing effect.”

The farm has received more inquiries about keeping goats after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number is two to three times the pre-pandemic levels.

The farm says that inquirers ask about various purposes for keeping goats, in addition to keeping them as pets and for weeding.

Goats have sometimes been used to prevent damage caused by wild boars.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The municipal Government of Kato, Hyogo Prefecture, conducted a test at five locations in the city for the period of fiscal 2023 and 2024 to prove that wild boars, which have a sensitive sense of smell, stay away from places where there is the smell of goats.

As wild boars stopped coming to some places where goats were kept, the city has determined that keeping goats was effective to some extent.

The city plans to talk about the positive effect to farmers suffering from damage caused by wild animals.

Easy to handle, secure

Goats are already familiar to the elderly and are a new animal for children, says Naoko Koda, an associate professor of psychology at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, who has conducted research on goats kept in schools, explaining the popularity of goats.

“Goats make humans feel safe as they keep a reasonable distance and are relatively easy to handle,” Koda said.

“Keeping them can create bonds with the local community. I think it’s another attractive element.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Although I had seen goats from a distance in a zoo, I had no special feeling towards them.

While writing this article, I had my first opportunity to interact with goats. I didn’t know why, but I never got tired of watching them.

I felt that because we live busy lives, the charm of goats, with their relaxed appearance, is being reevaluated.

Requirements to meet

The number of kept goats has been on the rise in recent years.

Data from the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry shows that the number peaked at 670,000 in 1957 and then dropped to the 10,000 level in the 2000s.

The number began to rise again around 2014 and has exceeded 30,000 since 2020, even though the numbers are not strictly comparable because of a change in the method of collecting statistics in 2011.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Although goats are considered easy to keep, there are some requirements and precautions to keep the animal.

To have even one goat, owners are required to notify the local livestock hygiene service centre.

Consideration for neighbours is also essential so that they are not disturbed by the smell of the animal’s excrement or cries.

Having a goat also requires an area large enough for exercise and a clean shed.

They eat various weeds, but each goat has its own preferences. In winter, when there are no weeds, feeding them dried grass is necessary.

The goats are relatively resistant to disease, but a veterinarian should be secured and the availability of home visits should be discussed in advance.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Robotaxis pulled from some LA streets after protests

10 Jun 03:23 AM
Premium
World

Rare appendix cancers are increasing among millennials and Gen X

10 Jun 02:53 AM
World

Fertility firm admits to mistake after wrong embryo implanted

10 Jun 02:19 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Robotaxis pulled from some LA streets after protests

Robotaxis pulled from some LA streets after protests

10 Jun 03:23 AM

Five of Waymo's self-driving vehicles were torched during protests.

Premium
Rare appendix cancers are increasing among millennials and Gen X

Rare appendix cancers are increasing among millennials and Gen X

10 Jun 02:53 AM
Fertility firm admits to mistake after wrong embryo implanted

Fertility firm admits to mistake after wrong embryo implanted

10 Jun 02:19 AM
Anyone for 3D meat? Japan's Expo showcases food of the future

Anyone for 3D meat? Japan's Expo showcases food of the future

10 Jun 01:32 AM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP