That s no sheep! Bear captured running along road in northern Japan
April 5, 2021 (Mainichi Japan) NEMURO, Hokkaido A man driving along a road in Japan s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido encountered a rare sight recently when a bear suddenly started running ahead of the vehicle a scene captured on video by a passenger. The incident occurred on National Route 44 in the town of Hamanaka in eastern Hokkaido, at around 9 p.m. on March 2. The driver spotted something bulky on the road and at first thought it was a large sheep. After he realized it was a bear, he asked a female passenger to record it with a smartphone.
Japan NPO ends its 10-year effort of collecting bottle caps to donate vaccines to children
January 24, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
This photo provided by the nonprofit organization Genki Project shows members of the organization and high school volunteers sorting plastic bottle caps in the town of Bihoro, Hokkaido Prefecture. KITAMI, Hokkaido A Japanese nonprofit organization s project to collect plastic bottle caps and donate the money raised from recycling them to a fund dedicated to providing vaccines to children worldwide is set to end due to tightened rules on plastic waste. The NPO Genki Project, based in the town of Bihoro in Japan s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, decided to end its donation project, which has continued for some 10 years, in June. Domestic regulations on plastic waste have become stricter following amendments to the Basel Convention, which came into effect in January. The NPO estimated that it would incur huge deficits after a recycling contra