Ayuka Saito hasn’t been living in the town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, for very long. It’s where her husband grew up, though, and the couple moved back to his hometown in the spring as they got ready to welcome their first child into the world, with their son being born in late July.
The 21-year-old Saito seems to be adjusting well to both her new home and new role as a mother. Around 9 p.m. on the night of September 11, she noticed they were running low on cooking spices, so she decided to go for a walk to a nearby drugstore to pick some up. Since the weather was nice, she decided to take her baby boy, who’s not yet two months old, with her, and snapped a few pictures of the moon, which was looking especially pretty in the September sky, along the way.
▼ It’s not clear exactly where in Otsuchi Saito lives, but the town was some very picturesquely bucolic views.
However, this tranquil stroll suddenly became something much less pleasant when Saito heard noises coming from some vegetation at the side of the road along with growling noises. At first she thought it might be a stray dog or wild boar, but it turned out to be, she says, three bears that emerged from the bushes.
This was Saito’s first time in her life to ever see bears in the wild, and her thoughts immediately turned to the baby she was holding in her arms. “I have to protect this child,” she remembers thinking, as the bears drew closer. When one of the animals lunged at her, Saito says she lashed out with her right foot, kicking the animal as hard as she could. She thinks her kick landed in the bear’s stomach, causing it to withdraw a few steps and opening up a lane for Saito to run through. She says the bears started to chase after her, but she kept running, and the next time she looked back, they were no longer in pursuit.
Saito is a former member of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, but says she never received any specialized training in how to fight off a bear and was apparently acting on instinct. Her story is one of impressive courage, and it’s a relief that neither she nor her baby were harmed, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that experts recommend handling most ordinary encounters with wild bears differently. Following Saito’s incident, the Iwate prefectural government’s Department of Nature Conservation issued a reminder that if you’re not already being attacked, the best course of action is usually to maintain eye contact with the bear and slowly back away, avoiding doing anything to startle the animal or present yourself as prey.
Running across three bears at once also suggests that Saito may have cross paths with a mother and cubs. Mother bears are fiercely protective and can become instantly aggressive if startled when roaming with their young, as we saw when one straight-up attacked a car earlier this year in Hokkaido. It’s for that reason that experts also strongly recommend attaching a bell to your belt or bag, or playing a radio, when walking in areas with a wild bear population, to make your presence audibly known long before a bear can feel like you’re threateningly encroaching on its personal/ursine space, and Sairo says she now plans to purchase a bell for this purpose.
Source: Livedoor News/Asahi Shimbun Digital via Otakomu, Asahi Shimbun Digital
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14 Comments
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tamanegi
"Japanese mom"? Why can't the article just be headed with "Woman in Iwate...."?
WiseOneIn Kansai
I'm really glad the mother and child are safe.
But I don't understand why she would walk at 9pm at night to a store 100 meters away ( according to Asahi News), in an area known to have bears.
Anyway, it was an unexpected experience that can benefit as a lesson!!
el
100 meters is nothing. She should have driven it? Much of Otsuchi is now clustered together after being destroyed on 3/11.
The big problem with bears in Tohoku is they’re now coming right down into inhabited areas too.
WeiWei
The lady has mistaken some other animal as a bear, so take the whole story with a big grain of salt.
ClippetyClop
What animal do you think she mistook 3 bears for?
WeiWei
Bears don’t hunt in packs, if it is a mama bear with cubs she will fight to the end. So most likely in the dark it was shika. It’s the most common mistake and accounts for half of all”bear” sightings in the dark.
ツキノワグマと見間違えられることが多いニホンカモシカ
Jonathan Prin
A kick in a bear would do strictly nothing outside the eyes or its nose maybe.
And I doubt highly she could run faster than a bear with baby in arms
...
Next time, learn about where you live. Safety first.
ClippetyClop
Shika or Kamoshika don't hunt at all.
She did. The threat fled and her cubs were safe.
If what she claims is true, no way was this a Kamoshika. They either coolly let you pass or leg it.
1glenn
Reminds me of the time I got dragged by the feet, while sleeping on the ground, by a Grizzley Bear in Yellowstone Park.
Kicking, screaming, and running like heck worked for me.
WeiWei
So basically in a panic you did everything wrong but were extremely lucky? If you don’t have bear spray or some long guns, play dead is the course of action for brown/grizzly. Never ever try to run away.
owzer
Sounds like animal abuse! Quick - somebody call the "Humane" Society!
Desert Tortoise
Black bear meets Tiger Mom :o
finally rich
A few weeks ago we saw what seemed to be a deer in the middle of a forest in Karuizawa, we even took a few pictures of the thing, it was fat, and the minute it stared right back at us we had no idea of what we were looking at, even with the pictures it's still hard to say if that was a bear or the ニホンカモシカ type of deer.
forgeddabowtit
You couldn't possibly mistake a serow for a bear. Unless it was pitch black (the evening). But you could say 'serow-yon-ara'! :)