December 12th-16th is Winter-TAISETSU (greater snow)-62th KOU “Bears start hibernating in their dens.”
There seem to be more bear sightings than usual, such as a bear coming down to the town and eating persimmons. I thought I had stopped hearing about it since December started, but just the other day (the 7th) it seems that something that looks like a bear was seen in Hachioji, Tokyo.
Perhaps there are fewer nuts such as acorns, or perhaps they have learned that there is food when they go down to human settlements.
They usually go into hibernation from around November, but I wonder if their hibernation period has been delayed due to the unusually warm weather…
