In Akita, Japan, there's a hot new vending machine in town. Pay, press a button, and you'll be treated to some delicious bear meat. (This on the heels of a Japanese whaling company stocking vending machines with whale snacks.) The idea came from a local restaurant called Soba Goro. From The Guardian:
The machine, which touts its contents as a regional speciality, was stocked with locally killed wild bear and sold a mixture of lean and fatty meat, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said.
The meat came from bears captured in the mountains by members of a local hunting club who were permitted to kill a certain number during the annual hunting season, the paper added[…]
"Bear meat tastes clean, and it doesn't get tough," a Soba Goro spokesperson told the Mainichi.
