Hang Out vol.01 “Mountain”

Bears are scary!

Mountains are fun, but they are also full of dangers. One of them is bears. If you are attacked by a bear, you run the risk of serious injury. However, there is also the tradition of carving wooden bears, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Bears are originally natural creatures.
Instead of exterminating bears, think about coexistence and respect the bears while enjoying the mountains even more.

Chapter 05

2024.09.06

Photo：Nahoko Suzuki (still)

Text：Takashi Sakurai

Edit：Suzuki Yusuke

HANG OUT VOL1

Chapter 05 | Be Ware of Bear

Bear dogs are a choice for coexistence.

Protecting both bears and people. There is a place in Japan, and indeed the world, that is taking a pioneering approach. Karuizawa Town, Nagano Prefecture. Commissioned by the town of Karuizawa, the NPO "Picchio" is carrying out a project to promote coexistence between bears and people. At the heart of this project is the existence of bear dogs.

Bear dogs are specially trained dogs that can detect the presence and smell of bears. They can scare off bears by barking loudly and pinpoint the path of bears with their keen sense of smell. With the help of these bear dogs, Karuizawa Town has long sought ways for bears and humans to coexist without relying solely on extermination.

Is it possible to coexist with bears? We spoke to Junpei Tanaka, a bear dog handler, about this. First of all, are bears really dangerous, as has been said a lot in the recent news?

Not only on long trails, but when walking in nature in general, it is very rare to come close to or encounter a bear. Avoiding encounters is the shortcut to coexistence.

"This is a basic premise, but bears are not a species that attack humans to prey on them. So it's important to let the bears know about your approach in advance."

A typical example of this is to wear something that makes a sound. A well-known example is a bear bell, but you can also make your presence known by using your voice or clapping your palms. It is also effective to act in groups rather than alone.

"Bears are timid and cautious creatures. In our activities, we sometimes need to approach bears, but even if we approach them carefully and gently, most of the time the bears sense us first and run away."

At Picchio, we use the Karelian Bear Dog, a breed of dog native to the border area between Russia and Finland. The loudness and power of its barking makes it suitable for fighting bears. Dogs have such a deep bond with humans that they are like ambassadors of goodwill.

If you encounter a bear, remain calm.

However, bears are creatures with strong personalities, so we cannot think of them all together. In particular, the places where hikers walk are often national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. In other words, from the bear's point of view, these are areas where there is no need to worry about being chased by hunters. In such cases, bears gradually stop seeing humans as a threat and are becoming accustomed to them, although this is very rare.

"However, I believe that even if the bear is accustomed to humans, the risks can be avoided as long as you know how to deal with it correctly. There are certain patterns in which accidents occur, and the most dangerous are when humans panic or make the bear panic. Basically, if you can go back the way you came, do so quietly. Don't get too close if possible. In the case of a mother bear and her cub, especially don't approach the cub. If there is a single bear at some distance, I think it's best to give it a little stimuli, such as making a little noise or clapping your hands."

There are many other things that people walking on the trail should be careful about, such as managing food carefully at the tent site and not letting leftover juice go down the drain. It is necessary to take measures to prevent bears from learning that humans are people who have tasty things. On many long trails in the United States, it is required to put all smelly things, including food, in a sturdy case called a bear canister and store it away from the tent when sleeping.

The transmitters attached to the bears are commercially available and customized into collars. Each weighs about 300 grams and can be used for about three years.

Both hard and soft aspects, activities unique to Karuizawa Town.

Maintaining an appropriate distance is the key to coexistence between bears and humans. To achieve this, Tanaka heads to the forests of Karuizawa with his bear dog.

"I think we need to tackle this issue from multiple angles. It won't be solved by extermination alone. It's a problem that everyone, not just people who go into the mountains but also people living in the villages, need to tackle."

To achieve this, Picchio attaches radio transmitters to the bears they capture in traps to track their movements, and by reading their patterns, they can use bear dogs to scare off bears that are likely to cause problems before they do.

"Bears are intelligent animals, so if you can teach them that being close to humans is scary, they will stop coming near you."

On the other hand, they are also working to create mechanisms to prevent bears from coming into human living areas, such as replacing garbage bins at garbage collection sites with sturdy ones that bears cannot open, clearing brush, and setting up bear information signs. In addition to such hard aspects, soft aspects are also important.

"Rather than being unnecessarily afraid of bears, it's important to have a solid understanding of bears and not panic if you do encounter one. That's why we're putting a lot of effort into educational activities at elementary schools and developing the next generation of human resources. It's important to take comprehensive measures."

Thanks to the efforts of Tanaka and others, there have been no fatal bear-related incidents in Karuizawa town for 13 years, even though the area is home to many bears. Listening to the story, I feel that the recent reports about bears have been a bit over-exaggerated. The bear population is said to be increasing compared to a while ago, but it has been declared extinct in Kyushu and is under threat of extinction in Shikoku.

When an accident occurs, it is a bit too convenient for humans to say that it is okay to just exterminate the bears, and if we are not careful, it could lead to extinction. Bears, whose habitats are threatened by humans, are in a sense victims.

PROFILE

Junpei Tanaka, NPO Picchio

After working as a brown bear control officer at Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaido, he completed a master's course in large wildlife at Hokkaido University Graduate School. After joining Picchio in 2001, he devoted himself to bear control based in Karuizawa Town and became Japan's first bear dog handler.
npo.picchio.jp

Welcome to the world of wooden carved bears.

When you hear "wooden carved bears," many people probably think of the Hokkaido souvenirs with salmon inside. However, as this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of wooden carved bears, this is only the beginning, and a deeper world lies beyond. Welcome to the world of wooden carved bears, which you may think you know, but don't.

By Kenji Sato ¥71,500
By Kenji Sato ¥39,600
By Kenji Sato ¥68,200
By Kenji Sato ¥51,700
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By Kenji Sato ¥143,000
By Kenji Sato ¥99,000

By Kenji Sato ¥297,000
By Kenji Sato ¥88,000
By Kenji Sato ¥93,500
By Kenji Sato ¥154,000
By Kenji Sato ¥55,000

As it is handmade, everything is one-of-a-kind.

When you look into it, you'll find that there are fewer stores than you'd think that always have a large number of wooden carved bears on display. Among them, Kuroiso's "Rooms" boasts one of the best lineups in the Kanto region, and indeed in the entire country. The interior of the store is packed with antiques purchased from Japan and overseas, and as you go further in, you'll find a space covered in wooden carved bears covering an entire wall. The sight of wooden carved bears of various sizes and shapes on display, from vintage items collected by the store owner, Kawase Shingo, to the latest ones by artists, is truly overwhelming.

Rooms is probably the only shop in Japan that has such a large selection of works by Kenji Sato, a contemporary artist active in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. A few years ago, Kawase went to Asahikawa and said he wanted to sell his works in the store, but was initially turned away. Some people might have been disheartened at this point, but he said nonchalantly, "If you can sell them after just one visit, that means that anyone can go there once, so I went there many times after that (laughs)," which made us stand up straighter. All of Sato's works made in 2024 are engraved with "53/100," which we thought was a serial number, but the fact that "it means that Sato has been carving for 53 years out of the 100-year history of wooden bear carvings" is truly priceless.

From old school tastes to those holding basketballs and wearing skis, you can feel the depth of his master's generosity from his flexible ideas. The charm can be conveyed from the photos, but it's still special to see and touch them in person. And what a route from wooden carving bears to the world of long trails, isn't there?