In Japan It's A Bear Rice Bowl For Dinner!
For some reason bears have been terrorizing Japan this year.
Experts are baffled as to why bears are rampaging across the sub-burbs killing at least 12 people and injuring 196, but some entrepreneurs in Aomori have at least come up with a solution, bear curry, bear sausages and more!
Actually, it's not a surprise. Japanese hunters have been catching and eating bears for ever. In Akita prefecture my wife's uncle & his friends trapped bears and ate them because of the afore mentioned problems. What's new though is packaging up the meat as curry, or sausages or niku-don.
While seemingly repulsive, I admit I'd be willing to try a bear dish, but I'm fairly sure I wouldn't be a fan. Something tells me it would taste very gamey.
My wife chimed in that maybe it just needs to be prepared right. Like having a man dressed in a nice chef's outfit cooking the meat on a skewer with a blow torch.
In all seriousness though, the sudden rise in bear attacks and destruction caused by bears is a real problem. This chart shows bear trappings in just one area of Japan.
I go to the mountains a lot and while I haven't encountered any bears, I have seen their shit on the ground and claw marks on trees. I carry pepper spray and several hammers, including a sledge hammer, so I won't be going down without a fight, but the same can't be said for most hikers that just carry a staff with bells on it. Luckily for Japan the bears are going into hibernation. Hopefully the gourmet bear food makers have enough in their freezers to make it through the winter!
I'm headed deep into the mountains with friends in a few weeks to hunt for minerals so if you never hear from me again it's probably because some bear made it's own curry out of me or some depraved hunter did.....
Until then, thanks for reading!
Your 1st Pic actually looks like a tiny bear to me. Or a t-Rex. Crazy tho, bears are fierce, main reason I want to avoid their territory. Good luck on the hunt. #BearCurry
Well, it was a bear at one time. Maybe it's spirit is coming through the grilled flesh?
The saying goes, if it's black fight back. If it's brown lie down. If it's white say goodnight. Seems like there is a chance of survival iif I should ever encounter one.
I know bears are the main news, but seems like boars are also increasing, at least in my wife's hometown in Tochigi. We normally never see them or signs of them, but this year their damage has been everywhere and many people also report seeing them roaming around.
All my students are convinced that the problem is all the hunters in Japan are old men and the gun laws are too strict, discouraging young people from learning how to hunt.
Ya, boars are bad news too. The adults are very deadly. Interesting theory about the hunters. Here are two stories.
My buddy, Joji Sugimori is a mineral dealer like me, but also a hunter. He hunts boars via the sling method. He just caught a huge one the other week, see tweet below. When I visited him last year he and his wife made boar curry for us. Tasted fine, but I had some bathroom issues a day or two after....
https://x.com/tenkawacrystal1/status/1990710842560819671?s=20
The other story is I was up in Chichibu, Saitama, deep in the mountains hunting minerals when I came across a group of 60's-70's something hunters. All very old dudes. They took down a huge deer though. I was standing about 30feet away when they unleashed the kill shot. Not sure of the rifle caliber, but it was big and loud.
Maybe your students are right, but my wife's uncle used those steel cages to trap the bears in Akita. I guess a gun would be needed to put the bear down?
I've eaten a lot of things, but never bear meat!
Sending you some Ecency curation votes!
There's still time! Aomori is very close to my wife's hometown. So next time we visit I'll be on a mission for some bear cuisine. I'll let ya know about the flavor.
Interesting stuff! Didn't know bears can be a nuisance this much and as a countermeasure of sorts, humans can eat bear meat. I'd be open to trying one out just out of curiosity :)