FYI, if hunting in Japan were not already difficult enough, the following is from today's Daily Yomiuri, a national newspaper in Japan:


Number of hunters in Fukushima Prefecture drops due to nuclear crisis
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The number of registered hunters in Fukushima Prefecture this season plunged about 30 percent from the previous season amid negative effects of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant, raising fears of damage to crops due to pests.

As to reasons for the decline, some people who lived in the no-entry zone left guns behind when they evacuated, while others fear that wild animals and birds in the prefecture may be contaminated with radioactive substances.

The hunting season generally falls between mid-November and mid-February, with an extra month for boar hunting.

Local residents who wish to hunt for birds and other animals are required to register with the prefectural government every year to engage in their respective hunting methods, such as the use of firearms or traps.

This season, there were 3,291 applications to register in the prefecture as of Nov. 15, much lower than the 4,779 in the previous season.

Shinichi Yamada, 67, from the town of Namie, who now lives in a house provided by the Iwaki city government, went hunting at least 30 times per season until this season.

But he did not register as a hunter this season because he is not allowed to retrieve guns from his home in the no-entry zone and bring them to his temporary housing unit.

Though he entrusted one gun to an acquaintance, visiting the acquaintance to retrieve his gun would cost him much money and time.

Yamada said, "If my life as an evacuee is prolonged, I may have to give up on trying to get my gun."

Masami Ogawa, 69, of Fukushima City also gave up on hunting this year, as radioactive cesium exceeding the government's interim limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram was detected in the meat of boars and black bears captured in the prefecture.

After the prefectural government warned local residents not to eat the meat of boars and other animals captured in eastern and central parts of the prefecture, he decided not to register.

"It had been one of my great pleasures to see neighbors tasting meat [of game I brought back from hunting]," Ogawa said.

With the decline in the number of hunters, fewer rodents and pests are expected to be killed, raising fears of widespread damage to agricultural crops in the prefecture.

In an effort to avoid this problem, the Nihonmatsu City government started offering 20,000 yen per boar to hunters starting this season.

Though the Date City and Kawamata Town governments have taken similar measures, it is uncertain whether it will be enough to encourage local residents to continue hunting.

Yoshihiko Mizuno, chief of the prefectural government's natural environment preservation section, said: "At this stage, there is nothing we can do to encourage people to register as hunters. We should steadily take measures to prevent damage caused by harmful animals and birds, such as encouraging people to improve fences."

The numbers of hunters in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures have also been on the decline due to impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The number of registered hunters was 2,580 as of Nov. 10 in Iwate Prefecture, down from 2,808 a year ago.

In Miyagi Prefecture, the number was 2,000 as of Nov. 18, down from 2,278 a year ago.

Local government officials said the decreases were mainly a result of people losing their guns in the tsunami, while others decided to retire early in the wake of the disaster.

(Jan. 5, 2012)

BTW, yesterday I bought a 5 kilo bag of rice, which turned out to be from Miyagi Prefecture, mentioned above and north of Fukushima. My wife took it back.