About Me

Born in 1979. Currently working as a cultural historian at the Faculty of Letters, Kansai University, Osaka.

I originally studied German folklore, writing my doctoral thesis on the legend of Dr Faustus, the notorious 'wizard'. My interest then shifted to the human–animal relationship, as animals often play a significant role in fairy tales, legends, and myths worldwide.
  
Since the 2010s, I have been researching the origins and development of zoos, aquariums, and other facilities that exhibit animals, in order to understand the history of human–animal relationships. 

My latest research relates to dinosaur parks, theme parks displaying figures or robots of prehistoric animals.