New School Uniforms Required In Nagano

Bears are on the rampage! They’ve been attacking schoolkids in surprise attacks.

While this sounds kind of farcical - bears leaping out of bushes and clawing youngsters to bits, its pretty serious - the 14 year old boy injured in this attack is in a serious condition in hospital, having sustained injuries to his shoulder and one of his eyes. There’s been an increase in bear sightings this year, and people were instructed to be more cautious. Happily for the victim, the local authorities wasted no time in reminding him it’s all his own fault -

Municipal education authorities have long urged children in elementary and junior high school to wear bells to scare off bears, but [the boy] did not have a bell.

*tut tut* He’ll remember next time, that’s for sure.

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006 Japan, Japanese News Trackback URL for this entry