This remote village in Japan sells bear meat from a vending machine

A remote Japanese town has been selling bear meat from vending machines, providing supplies to Asian black bears, which are listed as a vulnerable species, caught in traps or in the mountains by hunters.

Bear attacks are a growing problem in Japan’s rural areas due to a lack of food in the forest that drives the animals into settled areas in search of food.

“Birds can be dangerous when they enter the city, so hunters will either set traps or shoot them,” said Daishi Sato, who placed a vending machine outside a soba noodle shop near the train station in Semboku, 400 kilometers north of Tokyo in Akita Prefecture.

Asian black bears are listed as vulnerable, but not critical, and bear eating is legal in Japan. Meat from trapped bears is tastier because the blood is drawn off immediately, according to Sato.

Vending machines across Japan offer everything from drinks, snacks and surgical masks, to more exotic foods such as edible insects and whale meat.

“This bear meat is not common, so we want tourists who come to the city to buy it,” said Sato.

They sell seven to 10 packs of 250 grams for 2,200 yen ($22.39 Cdn) per week on average.

Last year, 75 people were injured in bear encounters in Japan and two died, according to government data. One of them died in Akita.