Perhaps it’s climate change. Perhaps it was the particularly hot summer and the lack of acorns. Perhaps it’s because of habitat loss… who knows. All I know is Japanese bear attacks have hit a sharp rise, and that’s no good.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb-PpMBxvtg']

Between April and September, 80 people were hurt and four people got killed by bears. On top of that, they’ve had to shoot a lot more bears, because they’re coming into towns, cities, and so on. I’m guessing most of the bears are up in the northern island of Hokkaido (they’re known for bears), but this is still a bit scary for someone like me who has an irrational fear of bears and will be traveling all over Japan next month for TofuguTV.

Watch the video if you want to learn less than you just learned. Basically, I’m just worried about bears. Besides the technique provided in the video, how do you defend yourself against bears? Any tips? Remember, Japanese bears are smaller, several times more efficient, and possibly wearing mech suits. Totally changes everything.

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