Jakarta, hitclubapk3 Indonesia
—
A surge in bear attacks in
Japan
sparked a culinary trend with bear meat now sought after by consumers after the animal was exterminated to reduce the threat to humans.
In the midst of the crisis, the owner of a restaurant in the hill town of Chichibu near Tokyo, Koji Suzuki, admitted that he was having difficulty meeting the surge in demand for grilled bear cuts at his restaurant.
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The meat comes from bears that were culled to reduce attacks that killed around 13 people this year.
Although it also serves deer and wild boar meat, bear meat has become the most popular after news spread about bears breaking into homes, roaming schools and running amok in supermarkets.
“With news about bears increasing, the number of customers wanting to eat their meat has increased rapidly,” Suzuki, 71, told
AFP
.
He also said that it is better to use the meat from the extermination rather than throw it away.
Meanwhile, Suzuki’s wife, 64-year-old Chieko, who manages the restaurant, said demand is now so high that she often turns away customers.
One of the visitors, 28-year-old composer Takaaki Kimura, tried bear meat for the first time.
“The meat is very juicy, and the longer you chew it, the better it tastes,” he said with a smile as he sat with friends around a grilling stone and simmering pot.
Although not an everyday dish, bear meat has long been consumed in mountain villages in Japan.
The Japanese government hopes that the meat can be developed as a source of income for rural communities.
“It is important to turn nuisance wildlife into something positive,” said Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Local governments will also receive subsidies of US$118 million (around Rp. 1.9 trillion) to control the bear population and encourage sustainable consumption.
The Japanese government hopes that eradicating bears weighing up to half a ton can reduce the threat in the country’s northern regions.
This year’s bear attacks killed 13 people, twice as many as before, even though there are still four months left in the fiscal year.
Scientists assess this crisis as being triggered by the growth of the bear population, a decrease in the human population, and poor acorn harvests which encourage bears to look for food elsewhere.
The government has deployed troops to provide logistical assistance in trapping and hunting the bear.
Riot police were also assigned to shoot them, and the total number killed to date exceeds the 9,100 killed in 2023-2024.
(rnp/bac)
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