COMMUNICATIONS

The International Research Center for Japanese Studies has always welcomed scholars from many countries. Perhaps the largest contingent has been from China. The other day, we hosted a dialogue for Chinese and Taiwanese scholars who have spent time at Nichibunken.

I was invited to the event to give the opening remarks. I spoke of the incident I mentioned in my previous essay, the appearance of a bear around Nichibunken. I hazarded that the bear’s appearance was to be explained by restrictions on people’s movements owing to Covid. The bear came by, I declared, because there were less people around.

I received an unexpected reaction from Professor Liu Xiao Feng, who was at Nichibunken in 2013. “I saw a bear back in 2013, but nobody believed me when I told them. So I’m delighted that Professor Inoue’s remarks have vindicated me regarding the presence of bears.”

I was surprised. There were bears around nine years ago! Then their latest appearance has nothing to do with Covid. Nichibunken is merely a place bears can access easily. I now accept that my earlier theory was mistaken.

A badger prowling the grounds of Nichibunken (photo by Professor Isoda Michifumi, 2019)