, Columnist
Urban Bears Bring Fur and Loathing to Japan
Bears are becoming brazen in Japan.
Source: Kyodo News/Getty Images
In a seminal 1996 episode of The Simpsons, bear attacks lead to anger among the people of Springfield and the formation of Bear Patrol, a ludicrously over-the-top and over-funded response unit that protects the city from ursine invaders with B-2 stealth bombers.
I can’t have been the only one to think of this response when reports first circulated that Japan was sending its Ground Self-Defense Forces, the equivalent of the army, to tackle the scourge of bears in the north of the country.