Visitors Are Asked Not to Feed Tokyo’s Weeding Goats. They’re on the Clock.

About five minutes by train from Shinjuku, two goats are handling the weeding. Nagi, a one-year-old male, and Pokke, a two-year-old female, have been working through a grassy patch of railway land beside the Akasaka Exit of Yotsuya Station in central Tokyo since October 9.¹²

The pair are part of a trial by JR East, the railway company that owns the land. It is testing goats as an environmentally friendly way to keep the weeds down.¹³

JR East’s official X account announced the trial on October 19. “We are carrying out goat weeding on a trial basis as an environmentally friendly way to clear weeds!” the post said (translated from Japanese), in text shared by SoraNews24.¹

An idea from the station staff

According to JR East, as reported by Japan’s NNN, the idea came from a station employee. It is the first time goats have been used this way inside the loop of the Yamanote Line.² Station staff look after the goats day to day.²⁴

JR East’s Ueno business headquarters said it chose Yotsuya because the station has a reasonably large grassy area. The site also lets staff control where the goats can roam safely. The company said it weighed those points against how well the goats would clear weeds, how easy they would be to manage, and safety.⁴

SoraNews24 playfully calls Nagi and Pokke temporary employees. In practice they are rentals: the goats are rented from their owners, and SoraNews24 says JR East pays for their services.¹

The arrangement comes with one rule for the public. SoraNews24 reports that JR East asks visitors to be kind to the goats and not to feed them, so they don’t get too full to work.¹ On a weeding job, the snacks and the workload are the same thing.

A hit with kids and the internet

JR East says the response has exceeded its expectations, and local elementary school children call out to the goats.⁴⁵ Online, a post about them by a university lecturer was reported at about 1.127 million views and 22,000 likes.⁵

Passers-by told media outlets the goats are relaxing to watch. One local resident said weeding with goats has less impact on the environment.³⁶

The company’s post had a request for anyone who spots them: “If you see them nearby, please watch over them warmly” (translated from Japanese).¹

Until the grass runs out

NNN and Tokyo Sports report that the work is planned to run until December and will end sooner if the grass on the site runs out.²³

A staff member told SoraNews24 the goats are scheduled to stay until the end of the year. They would take the winter off, because growth slows then, and they might come back in spring if they are needed.¹