A town in Japan has started selling bear meat from a vending machine. The meat comes from Asian black bears that are caught in traps or in the mountains by hunters. The bears come into town to find food because there is not enough in the forests. This is causing more bear attacks in rural Japan.

Daishi Sato put the vending machine outside his noodle shop in Semboku in Akita Prefecture. Asian black bears are listed as vulnerable, but it is legal to eat bear in Japan. Meat from trapped bears is tastier because the blood is drained immediately.

Vending machines in Japan sell many things, including drinks, snacks, surgical masks, edible insects, and whale meat. Sato wants tourists to buy the bear meat because it is not very common. He sells seven to 10 packs of 250 grams each week for 2,200 yen each.

Last year, 75 people were hurt by bears in Japan and two were killed, including one in Akita.