Japanese low-consumptive wildlife tourism: meaning and morality in hybrid online-offline spaces

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The research developed a conceptual framework of ‘animal-induced iyashi tourism’, which drew connections between animal-based tourism, kawaii culture, and human wellbeing. Non-human performative work was elicited from animals in order to produce feelings of iyashi in tourists. This often involved commodified encounters involving holding/touching animals, e.g. wildlife selfies, that negatively impacted their welfare. Tourists’ perceptions of animal-induced iyashi attractions were culturally influenced, with Western tourists more likely to react negatively to seeing captive animals in low-welfare conditions. Online, tourists debated the meaning of ‘responsible’ animal tourism in the Japanese context, thereby exercising collective moral reflexivity.