--- description: Though Amazon’s recent ventures include music streaming and an online payment system, the latest is a new batch of goat hires in Japan. title: Here's the Huge Amazon News Nobody Is Talking About image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd881aaf0fc7dfdd2/698697e3cd804d7b80ccb800/amazon-japan-hires-goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's the Huge Amazon News Nobody Is Talking About  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 17, 2014 2:56 PM CUT  Two goats eat weeds at a Tokyo condominium complex, where owners opted for a quieter, more natural lawn mowing. Two goats eat weeds at a Tokyo condominium complex, where owners opted for a quieter, more natural lawn mowing.Toshifumi Kitamura —AFP/Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 17, 2014 2:56 PM CUT While Amazon’s recent ventures include [music streaming](http://time.com/2863581/amazon-prime-music/ "undefined") and an [online payment system](http://time.com/2848315/amazon-online-payment-paypal/ "undefined"), the latest is a new batch of goat hires in Japan. Amazon Japan’s goats—now nearly 40 of them—were first hired last summer to manicure the company’s lawns, according to [Kotaku](http://kotaku.com/amazon-japan-has-doubled-its-goats-1591868993 "undefined"), one of Gawker Media’s blogs. Every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the new-and-improved crew will graze the Amazon green, chomping away at weeds, grasses and other plants. Amazon isn’t the first company to employ goats. In 2009, Google [announced](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/mowing-with-goats.html "undefined") that a herder would bring 200 goats to spend a week eating and fertilizing their grass. In 2013, even [Capitol Hill](http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/08/01/goats-to-mow-the-lawn-at-congressional-cemetery "undefined") used goats to mow its lawns. And though goat helpers aren’t a new invention, the ones at Amazon receive a special perk—each of them has their own employee badge. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2889608/amazon-japan-goats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2889608/amazon-japan-goats/"},"headline":"Here's the Huge Amazon News Nobody Is Talking About","datePublished":"2014-06-17T14:56:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:27:36.463Z","description":"Amazon Japan is reportedly doubling its goat workforce","url":"https://time.com/2889608/amazon-japan-goats/","keywords":["Companies","Amazon","animals","Japan","Business topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd881aaf0fc7dfdd2/698697e3cd804d7b80ccb800/amazon-japan-hires-goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd881aaf0fc7dfdd2/698697e3cd804d7b80ccb800/amazon-japan-hires-goats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Amazon Japan doubles goat workforce","caption":"Amazon Japan doubles goat workforce","creditText":"Toshifumi Kitamura —AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2889608/amazon-japan-goats/","name":"Here's the Huge Amazon News Nobody Is Talking About"}}]}] ```