JAPAN WILDLIFE SHIRETOKO BEARA picture made available on 09 October 2013 shows two young brown bears wrestling after hunting salmons on a river in Shiretoko on Japan ' s northeastern island of Hokkaido , 02 October 2013 in preparation for hibernation in winter . Shiretoko , located on Shiretoko Peninsula , is called as last rarely - visited regions . Most of the area on the peninusla is defined as Shiretoko National Park , where is known as the home of Japan ' s brown bear , and defined as World Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005 . Shiretoko means end of the Earth in Ainu language . Ainu is indigenous people on Japanese northern island of Hokkaido and worship brown bear as kimunkamuy , god in mountains in Ainu . Hokkaido Government office announced in June 2013 estimated population of brown bear in Hokkaido was around 2244 - 6476 in 2012 due to questionary investigation to 5 , 800 hunters . More than half of them inhabit in Soya and east of Hokkaido including Shiretoko , Hokkaido Goverment office said in the report . The population of the bear is almost twice than the previous questionary survey in 2000 but the figures are very rough due to difficulty of real investigation . The local government has announced in mid - September 2013 the haunting of brown bears will increasse this autumn due to bad growth of acorns and oak as food to take for the hibernation . EPA / KIMIMASA MAYAMA ▶   연합뉴스 " 모바일 앱 다운 받 기 "▶   지금 뉴스 스탠드 에서 뉴스 Y 를 만나 보 세요 ! ▶   그림 으로 보 는 " 인터랙티브 뉴스 "< 저작권자 ( c ) 연합뉴스 . 무단 전재 - 재배 포금 지 . >