JohnElder comments

What is it with you guys!? An NPO works hard at trying to find alternatives to the systematic killing of nuisance bears in Japan (the article says over a 1000 are killed each year without much reduction in nuisance activities to show for it ) and all you can find to say are mindless disparaging comments? Shame on you, it is easy to criticize while doing nothing in front of your computers, quite another to try to make a difference through action! I checked on the indicated websites and these hikes really seem wonderful and they help this NPO raise much needed funds for the great conservation work they seem to be doing! They also seem like a great way to discover the Japanese Alps. These mountains are incredible, I have been there several times, but I have never seen a bear! The hikes also seem very safe, with the bears apparently spotted at high elevation above the timberline where they can be seen very safely from a distance. And I know there are in excess of six hundreds thousand bears in North America, yet accidents remain very rare. Bears are simply not the blood thirsty beasts some of you portray them as.