Barbara Holthus

You can enjoy the Osaka Kansai #Expo2025 even after it will close its doors on Monday: watch our presentation at the German Pavilion and learn about our institute and our research projects in the fields of Sustainability and Digital Transformation @barbtokyo.bsky.social
🎬 youtu.be/NVbOsSdP51s

Vielen Dank an die interdisziplinäre Studiengruppe @lmumuenchen.bsky.social, geleitet von Aki Narutomi, für den Besuch am DIJ. Wir haben uns gefreut, unser Institut vorstellen zu können & über den spannenden Austausch zum demographischem Wandel, Nachhaltigkeit, Höflichkeit uvm @barbtokyo.bsky.social

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NEW on our YouTube channel
📽️ @barbtokyo.bsky.social "Stumbling upon furry friends in Aso: Transitioning to studying Japan’s urban-rural divide" youtu.be/HAq8dszJSKk
📽️ S. Polak-Rottmann "From well-being to spaces of resilience in the Aso region" youtu.be/ZQaSla0KnUQ
Thanks @jstudiesvienna.bsky.social

How are sustainable consumption, health & animal welfare connected and what are recent trends in meat consumption in Japan, Germany & globally? Find out in "Meat consumption and sustainability" @barbtokyo.bsky.social on our Sustainability in Japan and Beyond blog sustainability.hypotheses.org/1037

Meat consumption and sustainability: the case of Japan Author: Barbara Holthus Putting sustainability research into action Since October 2022, the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (DIJ) has been focusing on the study of sustainability in Japan. Researchers examine issues of diversity...

What does #sustainability research look like in practice?

The #DIJToyko 's @barbtokyo.bsky.social explains the Institute's decision to go vegetarian and explores the connections between sustainable consumption, health & animal welfare in Japan & Germany.

sustainability.hypot... via @dijtokyo.org

Preview DIJ research #Japanologentag
📅 Fri, 11.30 am - 1 pm, Sociology section @celiaspoden.bsky.social
🎤 Barbara Holthus @barbtokyo.bsky.social www.dijtokyo.org/people/barba...
➡️ "Pets, Demographic Change, and Loneliness" www.dijtokyo.org/project/the-...

Environment Ministry to boost support for local governments facing bear attacks It plans to allocate roughly ¥3.7 billion for designated wildlife control measures to enable municipalities to secure and train staff able to respond to incidents involving bears.

The Environment Ministry is looking to increase its funding to local governments to enable them to respond better to bear attacks, which are becoming increasingly common throughout the nation.

This week @goetheuni.bsky.social: triennial #Japanologentag with latest research in Japanese Studies incl. by DIJ researchers @barbtokyo.bsky.social, @daneuhaus.bsky.social, @celiaspoden.bsky.social, @torweber.bsky.social
www.uni-frankfurt.de/156255174/Pr...

🔗 https://ow.ly/pJCW50WF7S7 A graphic with a blue banner at the top containing white, line-drawn images of a buffalo, dog, bird, fish, mouse and chicken and the UFAW logo. A photograph of brown cat with a blue harness on walking through the grass is shown. The text reads: “I want them to live their best lives:” A qualitative exploration of owner experiences with walking their cats

🔍 “I want them to live their best lives”: Owner experiences of walking with their cats.

This qualitative study examined the practice of walking domestic cats on a leash as a potential compromise between indoor-only & free-roaming lifestyles.

🔗 Read the open access article here: ow.ly/pJCW50WF7S7

YouTube video by DIJ Tokyo DIJ Forum 'Fermenting for the Future: tsukemono as a practice of awai'

New on our YouTube channel
🎬 #DIJForum 'Fermenting for the future' with Aya H. Kimura & Yasuhiro Kobayashi youtu.be/0E4SioOQXxo
🎬 ICAS Seminar 'Animals in Japanese Society - The case of companion vs farm animals' with @barbtokyo.bsky.social & Maho Cavalier (Uehara) www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZRa...

Why authorities in Okinawa are trying to capture feral goats The goats are causing damage to crops and there are concerns that they could negatively impact the forest ecosystems harboring rare animals and plants.

In Okinawa, feral goats are causing damage to crops, and there are concerns that they could negatively impact the forest ecosystems harboring rare animals and plants.

How sustainable is the #Expo2025? Isaac Gagné takes a closer look at its #SDG promotion & implementation and the Expo's lasting impact in "Searching for Sustainability at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai", the latest contribution to our Sustainability in Japan & Beyond blog sustainability.hypotheses.org/946

Cats, dogs, meerkats, goats: Interpets trade fair draws furry hordes From June 19 to 21, a veritable animal kingdom (and their owners) descended on the Intex Osaka convention center to try new foods and meet new friends.

Cats and dogs, meerkats and goats — the most mundane thing about Osaka’s Interpets trade fair may have been the human pet owners themselves.

Two months on, Osaka Expo organizer struggles to improve experience as crowds grow Even before the expo reaches its peak attendance, some visitors are already growing weary of the long lines.

Two months after the Osaka Expo opened amid tepid enthusiasm, organizers have a new problem: how to improve the guest experience despite swelling attendance figures.

DIJ deputy director @barbtokyo.bsky.social was one of five invited panelists in this important discussion about gender equality in Japan in the Residence Talk series at the German Embassy in Tokyo. Check out the video below 🎬

From Food to Friends? DIJ sociologist @barbtokyo.bsky.social will present insights into her research project on Animal-Human Relationships in Contemporary Japan next Monday in the #WeAreOne online seminar series on the changing role of animals in the Anthropocene www.uni-goettingen.de/en/687654.html

Three arrested in Japan over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs The guests 'had asked the hotel to watch their suitcases, and the suitcases made a rustling noise,' a police official said.

Three Chinese men were arrested in Japan after their rustling suitcases alerted hotel staff to the thousands of hermit crabs inside, police said.

World's richest 10% caused two thirds of global warming, study finds How the rich consume and invest has substantially increased the risk of deadly heat waves and drought.

The world's wealthiest 10% of individuals are responsible for two thirds of global warming since 1990, a new study finds.

Man admitted to 2025 Osaka Expo with 85-year-old ticket Previous expos in Japan have had similar policies of giving 'invitation tickets' to people holding passes for the 1940 event, expo organizers said.

A man was admitted to the 2025 Osaka Expo in Japan with a ticket to a 1940 event that was called off as war escalated, organizers said.

Japan enacts bill allowing urban bears to be shot The law designates animals with a high risk of harming people as 'dangerous wildlife animals' that can be shot.

Parliament has enacted a bill that allows municipalities to give the go-ahead to shoot wild bears found in urban areas.

New on YouTube: all presentations of the joint DIJ / @hhu.de /In-East @unidue.bsky.social annual #VSJF conference with economic, societal & political perspectives on Sustainability in Japan are now online @barbtokyo.bsky.social @apklein.bsky.social @hajent.bsky.social www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Am 17.3. hat @dijtokyo.org Direktor Franz Waldenberger mit Bestsellerautor Yuval Noah Harari, Kaori Hayashi und Arisa Ema über "The Role of Education & Science in the Digital Age" diskutiert.
Zur Aufzeichnung 🎬 youtu.be/a8nyhR5XhZA

AI, sustainability, game design: we have just published the spring issue of our #DIJNewsletter www.dijtokyo.org/publication/... which covers these and many other topics, incl. updates on our research, publications @cj-jrnl.bsky.social, events & outreach @barbtokyo.bsky.social @daneuhaus.bsky.social

Check out CJ's new issue, incl research on labor market dualization; Murakami’s Popular Hits of the Showa Era; media discourses of nuclear power; Japanese identity & railway technology; Nikkei narratives of multiculturalism; populism in Japanese politics www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcoj20/3...

Armut greift in Japan um sich, betroffen sind besonders Ältere, Kinder & alleinerziehende Mütter. Franz Waldenberger & @barbtokyo.bsky.social erklären in diesem Weltzeit-Feature von DLF Kultur, warum das Thema in der Öffentlichkeit fast keine Rolle spielt www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/armut-in-jap...

Japanese researchers set Guinness record for cat genome Researchers decoded the genome of American Shorthair cats and published the results.

The results of the decoding of a domestic cat's genome by a group of Japanese researchers have been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's most accurate reference genome for cats, according to a pet insurer.

The company said it expects further growth in 2025, with revenue of €1.89bn to €1.94bn and an adjusted operating profit margin at least at the level it reached in 2024, which was 28 per cent. Its results come as the academic sector in many parts of the world is struggling financially and expressing concern about the growing costs of scholarly publishing.

At least Springer Nature is doing well while higher education is collapsing all over the place.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-worl...

Former Fukushima plant worker continues caring for pets left behind The 62-year-old was driven by a sense of responsibility for the pets being abandoned as “it came about because of the meltdown at our plant.”

One former Fukushima plant worker has taken it upon himself to look after the numerous pets left behind in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster.

Article in Mainichi Shimbun. JP headline: 万博工事で女性用トイレの設置要望　「切実なお願い」協会知らず

A woman working construction on site at Expo 2025's Pavilion complained to the Osaka gov that there are "no women's toilets" there & she has to go 11 hours between bathroom breaks. Contacted by press, the Expo Committee insisted there are - but couldn't say where or how many.

Tweet from @jaf_jp. Japanese text: 明日2月22日は、#猫の日🐈 2024年10月の1ヵ月間で「猫がクルマに入り込んだ😱」という救援要請は28件ありました🦺 猫の命を守るためにも、乗車の前はボンネットなどエンジンルーム付近をやさしく叩くことを実践しましょう⚠️ ▼詳しくはこちら

Graphic warning of a cartoon cat with advice to make sure your cat hood is clearly shut and there are no cat sounds coming from it

Cat sitting in a car engine

For Cat Day (Neko no Hi), which was on 2/22, the Japan Automobile Federation tweeted a warning to drivers to make sure their engine hoods are shut & they don't hear any cat sounds from their cars. It says it received 28 requests in Oct 2024 for help rescuing cats who'd crawled into engines.