AINU AND KITTIES AND BEARS OH MY

I love how people are fixating on the cats and bears–like, I’ve been planning for the cats especially for months and months and I’m SO GLAD people are just going, “Cats? Of Course Cats!!!” 

The bear, on the other hand, was a last-minute addition when I found out that Hokkaido has more brown bears than anywhere else in Asia except Russia, sooooooooooo of course he’s run into a few.

And I’m super happy that people have been so interested in the Ainu! They have a fascinating history that spans centuries, much of which is marked by forced assimilation and decline, so it feels good to bring a little bit of attention to that, in a small way. 

Ok this is totally off topic but I am legit kind of upset about this despite living in bear country and it being bear season, here is the whole story as I told it privately: 

I was at the bottom of [redacted] Hill by [redacted] Drive walking this afternoon and I heard claws clacking on pavement and looked behind me expecting there to be a dog, but it was not a dog, it was a black bear, galloping down the sidewalk directly behind me and not slowing down.  I was extremely surprised.  It continued to be a bear.  It was maybe 3-4 metres away tops and I stepped slowly back out of its path and screamed at it at the top of my lungs repeatedly.  It didn't slow down but it barrelled right by me and veered across someone's lawn and into the swamp across [redacted] Drive.  There was a ten year old boy down the street screaming at it to keep it away from him too.  

I warned a few people walking dogs down the street ("oh, that was you screaming then lol") and asked at the library how to report it because I couldn't find a number, and the other librarian said "oh I never report them, just leave the poor things alone."  Well, she didn't just nearly get hit by a bear in a subdivision.  I think it was responsible to report that one.