This photo shows a huge bear in a trap in Tomamae, Hokkaido. (Courtesy of Toyoyuki Hayashi of the town’s hunters’ association)
SAPPORO — One French restaurant in this north Japan city is capitalizing on the persistently high number of bear captures in the region this year to use the meat in various dishes.
The rise in seized brown bears has steadily increased since the abolition of spring culling in Hokkaido in 1990. As a result, there are initiatives to make effective use of bear meat, such as serving it in restaurants.
This photo shows various cuts of bear meat. Clockwise from top-right, belly meat on the bone used for the rue with French brown sugar, roast thigh meat with honeyberry sauce, and small cuts of bear heart. (Courtesy of Les KaneKiyos)
“Les KaneKiyos,” a French restaurant in Sapporo’s Nisi Ward, is directly cooperating with hunters in the town of Biei to source the meat.
The eatery’s “Brown bear Consomme,” carefully extracting flavor from bear bones, tendons and minced meat, is praised for its distinctive taste. It can be added to the evening course menu alongside roasted bear, known for its chewiness, and stewed bear, featuring tender belly meat on the bone.
Chef Kiyoshi Fujimoto, 50, commented, “The strong flavor that one might imagine from a ferocious animal is not present at all. Enhancing tastes through skill defines French cuisine. I want customers to enjoy the meal these bears lost their lives for.”
Fewer captures than 2023
This photo shows chef Kiyoshi Fujimoto from Tomakomai, Hokkaido who honed his skills at “Stella Maris” in Paris after graduating from culinary school in Sapporo at age 28. (Mainichi/Haruka Ito)
Hokkaido authorities announced that 1,026 brown bears were captured in the prefecture in fiscal 2024. While the number is lower than the record high of fiscal 2023, it was the third highest since records began being kept in 1962. With this fiscal year’s number of captured bears likely to surpass 2024’s figure, the creature’s increasing appearances in human-inhabited areas in recent years are again being highlighted.
According to the Hokkaido government’s bear countermeasure office, the highest figure in fiscal 2023 was when nut yields were low, with 1,804 captures. The second highest figure came in fiscal 2021 with 1,056 bears seized. It’s possible that the plentiful nuts and acorns in 2024 resulted in a reduction in bear encounters in populated areas in fiscal 2024, seeing 981 “permitted captures,” which involve firearms and traps to avoid damage, and 45 hunts via a registration system.
With nuts scarce once more in fiscal 2025, there is a possibility that captures will increase again as the number of valid captures alone reached a preliminary number of 963 by the end of October, approaching last fiscal year’s figure.
(Japanese original by Haruka Ito, Hokkaido News Department)
AloJapan.com