Noriko Niijima is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthrozoology at the Department of Animal Health Technology, Yamazaki University of Animal Health Technology, Tokyo, Japan, and is also an executive board member of HARs - The Society for the Study of Human Animal Relations. She received her M.A.s from Sophia University and the University of Tokyo, and ended a doctoral course in sociology at the University of Tokyo. Her research interests center on changing human-animal relations and, death and life views. She is the author and co-author of several dozen articles (both current and forthcoming) on Human Animal Relationships, that were published in journals and books, including:- Death and Life Views on Human and Animals: Coexistence with Dogs, Cats, and Animal Ethics (Akiyama Shoten, Pub., 2011), Hachi Dog Stories Associated with University of Tokyo (University of Tokyo Press, 2015), Thinking of Animal Life (Sakuhokusha, Pub., 2015) and Companion Animals in Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).