Threat of Wild Bears

Japan is under unusual threat this year. Twelve people were killed, marking the worst record in Japan. Japan Self-defense Force (JSDF) was dispatched for the first time to secure life and property of Japanese citizens. The conference of national government on this issue was upgraded from the level of officials of ministries to ministers. This threat is not about military power of North Korea or China, but wild bears frequently appearing in urban area. 

Wild bears are broadly living in highlands of Northern Japan. the Island of Hokkaido is known as the place with brown bears and Japanese black bears are prevalent in northern part of Honshu Island (Tohoku area). Two people were killed in Hokkaido by assault of brown bears in Hokkaido this summer. The deaths and injuries moved to Tohoku as fall began.

 

Far more victims were seen in Tohoku than in Hokkaido so far. One characteristic of wild bears this year is that they would not be frightened by seeing humans. The bears not only attack human not only hikers in the hills, but pedestrians in cities with dense population. Some ate fruits around farmer’s house and another sneaked into a house in urban area and lived few days while the residents evacuated.

 

Controlling lives of bears is not easy, since possessing and using guns are strictly regulated by the government in Japan. Hunting wild life needs license and very few people have it. Moreover, Japan, especially in Hokkaido, has a history or protecting wild bears after it removed too many bears to secure peoples’ life.

 

It is strictly prohibited for hunters to shoot a gun in urban area. However, the local governments deregulated it in September, allowing hunters to use guns for shooting bears in urban area. While some local governments used that system of “emergency hunting” this fall, it has not caught up with appearances of wild bears in peoples’ residential places.

 

Suffering from a number of damages by wild bears, the governor of Akita prefecture, one of six prefectures in Tohoku, requested Minister of Defense to dispatch JSDF to deal with increasing wild bears. Although JSDF are designed to defend Japan from attacks of foreign country or to manage natural disaster, the mobilization against wild bears was categorized as an exercise for the personnel.

 

In the first meeting of ministers, it was reported that hunters are too few to confront increasing appearance of wild bears. The national government considers revising laws to enable police to use rifle or increasing “governmental hunters,” who can use guns with status of officers of local government.

 

Wild bears became one of the unexpected urgent issues for Sanae Takaichi administration established this fall. Before constructing a diplomacy to deter threat of North Korea or China, the prime minister has to protect Japanese citizens from attack of wild bears which amount to 12 thousand in Hokkaido and 42 thousand in Tohoku.

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