The Great Japanese Bear War

Whilst all the world’s attention is distracted by the practises of the Japanese whaling and dolphin hunting industries, another slaughter is taking place in Japan that may outreach both their significance.

In 2006, 4,340 Japanese black bears (ツキノワグマ) were killed by hunters … potentially as many as half the entire population. A figure four times the usual average. Classed as “vulnerable” by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), since WWII more than 100,000 “Moon Bears” have been killed for the economic value of their body parts, e.g. gall bladders are thought to be a cure all in Asian medicine, or in hysteric reactions to sightings near human habitation.

“When I looked closely, I saw one three month bear cub sitting contendedly in the Spring sunlight, another riding on the back of its mother, and a thrid clinging to its mother’s teat. When I saw this innocent scene of the parents and cubs together, even I, who has made a living by killing bears, lost my hunting desire.

My heart was attacked by this all too wonderful scene, which Ijust stood watching, forgetting myself.”

- Fujiwara Chotaro

Japan has been home to both black and brown bears since pre-historic time. The nation’s original ancestors, the Ainu, co-existed with the latter in Hokkaido. Unfortunately, post-WWII economic trends have created conditions where human and bear communities are being driven together. Despite very low levels of real threat, modern Japanese are becoming less tolerant and more afraid of their ancient neighbors.

Just as with dolphins, the killing of Japan’s bears is being government licensed and sponsored as “pest control” … a threat not so much to human beings but to financial interests.

One such organization fighting against this is The Japan Bear and Forest Association (JBFA). A 20,000 strong nature conservation group, combined of Japanese and foreigners, who are seeking to restore and preserve an environment where all living creatures can co-exist peacefully. To the JBFA, a rich forest is a place where large animals such as bears can thrive

For bears and people alike, their home has been ruined. Just as the bear must come down from the now bald mountain peak to the plantations, so people must leave the village to work outside.

Also, as their numbers have decreased, bears have great difficultly in meeting a spouse. For example, in the southern mountains of the peninsula, there are isolated bears who will probably end up as lifelong bachelors.

Is this not a rather similar situation to that of those mountain village youth who cannot find brides?

- Ue Toshikatsu

The Japanese black bear became extinct on Kyushu in the 1950s and is now considered extinct on Shikoku. Only on Eastern Honshu are the black bears considered to be living in healthy numbers. However, even the bears on Honshu have to deal with continuous human disturbance.

The problem has been caused by the destruction of much of the bears’ original habitat by human beings and the establishment of vast mono-cultural timber plantations, starting from World War II, when Japan needed such resources. Uncontrolled harvesting of the native deciduous trees, which provided the bears their food and cover, has continued. Expanding deforestation has forced the bears into villages and farm areas where they look for food.

The situation has been made worse by the breaking down of traditional farming communities which once managed and coppiced woods near villages creating a natural break between human and bear territories. As these lands have been left and neglected, along with fruitful orchards, pastures and even homes, the barriers which kept naturally shy bears away from human settlements have disappeared.

Not being able to find food, and having their hibernation patterns disturbed, bears have started to enter the villages looking for food and entered the popular media as some kind of “folk devil”, the human response to which has become hysterical. In Hokkaido, one bear alert brought 148 hunters, supported by 260 self-defence force members, 50 regular vehicles, 5 snow vehicles and 4 helicopters to kill just 39 bears.

See Part Two (more to follow later).