Yasuhiro Sensei, the teacher sitting next to me, has just tried to dispell my bear fears. He unconvincingly attempted to convince me that Japanese bears aren't brutal and are, in fact, cute. Showing me a 'cute' anime bear on his computer he turned to another teacher for support. But the other teacher was on my side, the side of TRUTH and excitedly told us of how a bear came within 100 M of his house this year scaring the crap out of him. Luckily, he said, there was a river between me and the man-mauling ferocious beast (not his words, but same meaning). But persistent Yasuhiro was keen to show me there is nothing to be afraid of. A true friend he is, but never having gone camping or hiking, I personally think he doesn't know what he's talking about. So he checked the Japanese internet and here's what he found. In Miyagi prefecture (the small prefecture that I live in) alone, there have already been 5 bear attacks this year (we're still in March). There were an additional 209, yes, two hundred and nine、bears shot for the 'possiblity' of attack (ie. they were roaming the streets looking for food/small children/Irish people). He looked a bit surprised at these results and now has given up on trying to reassure me.
No comments:
Post a Comment