A 50-year-old karate man kicked a bear in the face

50-year-old Masato Fukuda was on his way to look at a waterfall in the mountainous region of Hokkaido island when he suddenly saw two brown bears through the foliage. Shortly after, a bear attacked.

I thought I had to take action, otherwise I would be killed,” Fukuda told local media.

Unfortunately for the bear, his opponent is trained in the martial art of karate. The 50-year-old kicked the animal in the face twice. During the movement, he was slightly injured by a sprained leg, but the counterattack frightened the bears, which rushed through the forest.

According to local media, the two bears are about 1.5 meters long.

Bear attacks became Increasingly common in Japan. Last year, a record number of people were attacked by bears in Japan: 219 people. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) wrote that six of the cases had fatal outcomes. According to experts, this increase is due to animals finding it increasingly difficult to find food in their natural habitat, which in turn is partly due to climate change.

On Thursday, Japanese authorities urged hikers, farmers and others to be careful in forests and fields when bears began emerging from their dens — hungry and in a bad mood, according to the SCMP.