Brown Bear near the House...

You may not associate Japan with bears, but we do have two kinds of bears.

On the main island calld Honshu, we have blackbears. And here in Hokkaido, the Northern island,we have brown bears.

Today as I was walking on the trail in the moutain behind my house, I came across the big print on the snow.



Undoutedly this is the track of a brown bear. Deep marks of his/her claws showed the size of this bear.

I have never seen the actual bear yet in Hokkaido, but I was surprised to see even the track so close to my house.

Next time I go into the moutain, I will take my bear spray...