Shoji Kuramochi, 73, is one of Japan's few surviving hunters, and he may be the only one with 100 trained hunting dogs. Besides being a hunter of wild boars and deer, he's also an expert at the traditional Japanese art forms of bonsai cultivation and the breeding of beautiful and rare types of kingyo (goldfish).

Japan is turning into a safari park full of wild boars and deer, and the people who are supposed to take care of the animals — well, they belong to the zoo! Since we don't have any wolves or other predators on our islands, and we have very few hunters, we have seen a huge increase in boars and deer. In parts of Kobe city, herds of wild boars roam the streets knocking people over. And what is our government doing? Nothing. Because the people who make decisions are sitting at desks and have no idea what is happening outside.

Because of global warming, many species of animals are reproducing more often than before. Wild boars used to give birth to piglets once a year, but now in many parts of Japan the winters are so warm that they have another litter in the winter, too. Most of the offspring survive, so from one mom, we expect at least 12 wild boars a year. Calculate what happens in five years! In Kobe, unless all the wild boars are caught now, the epidemic will not be contained.