Commentary
For the past half-century or more, manufactured scares have been a recurrent part of life. Every year a very small number of people are killed (usually only 1) or injured by bears here in Hokkaido, Japan. However, the news media invariably plays up these incidents.
As a result, for a few weeks every year some hiking trails in Sapporo are ritually closed off to the public after some bear sightings. Many people I know have a great fear of bears, though the actual risk of being killed by a bear is extremely small. Their chances of dying in a bathtub are far, far greater….