In Japan, a distributor of wild bear meat causes controversy

In this country which has the largest number of ATMs per capita in the world, you can find just about anything and everything. Including, recently, wild bear meat.

This is a distributor that has been getting a lot of attention in recent weeks. We are in the north of the main island of Japan, in the mountainous province of Akita, famous for its thermal waters, its refined sakes and… its black bears, the hunting of which is an ancestral and perfectly legal (but controversial) tradition.

At the station, passengers who take the Shinkansen, the Japanese high-speed train, can leave with a little souvenir: vacuum-packed bear meat for 15 euros for 250 grams, accessible 24 hours a day.

Newspapers, such as Mainichi Shinbunwho discusses the success of this distributor, installed in November, specifies that “the bears are captured in the mountains by members of a hunting club and the meat is prepared in a slaughterhouse.“

A tourist attraction

For the moment, the machine distributes around fifteen packets per week. But word of mouth works: the operator has received delivery requests from Tokyo, more than 400 km away. Bear meat is a delicacy, rich in fiber, vitamins and collagen. In terms of taste, it is often compared to venison. The tourist office also advises you to try the stew at a local restaurant. In short, it has become a tourist and culinary attraction, but limited, because there are quotas that must not be exceeded. However, around 1,000 bears were killed in the Akita region last year.

Obviously, not everyone likes this. Animal rights defenders point out that “theBears are wild animals not supposed to end up in cooked meals“. They defend their role in preserving the ecosystem and demand an end to hunting. Especially since globally, the Asian black bear is classified as an endangered species.

Bear attacks on the rise

Except that in Japan, cohabitation with men is going less and less well. As the country becomes depopulated, a large amount of agricultural land, which served as a buffer zone between bear and human habitat, is gradually being abandoned by residents. The bears are not necessarily more numerous, but they walk around more easily. Which brings them considerably closer to cities.

The number of incidents continues to increase: two deaths and 158 injured in 2020. Five attacks in six months last year in Miyagi prefecture. The authorities would prefer to find a way to coexist with “urban bears” but have no other choice than to increase the quotas of animals that can be killed, it is a question of security.

According to Ministry of the Environment guidelines, the annual number of bears that can be hunted must be limited to 12% of their estimated population. But Miyagi Prefecture raised this ceiling to 15% in April. In 2021, it counted 3,629 bears, more than double the number in 2014. Fresh meat distributors are only just getting started.