About a week ago, while browsing the Internet, I came across a headline at the BBC Web site that made me pause: "Bear injures 9 at bus terminal." The first thought that crossed my mind was, "Why was a bear waiting for a bus?"
As everyone now knows, the Norikura Skyline Bus Terminal is actually at the top of a mountain in Gifu Prefecture, 2,700 meters above sea level, to be exact. That's well past the tree line, meaning it isn't a natural environment for bears. For that matter, it isn't a natural environment for bus passengers, either.
So what were both humans and a bear doing there? The humans were there because they were tourists enjoying the view. As for why the bear was there, well, we can't ask it because it's dead, having been killed by a licensed hunter.
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