Last year, Huw and I went on a hike through the mountains of Kobe, starting from Ashiyagawa and ending in Shukugawa. Along the way, we saw many signs with wild boars on them, but saw no real wildlife to speak of, only other hikers. This sign stands right in front of the Hankyu train station, warning the people of Ashiya about the dangers of wild boars that sometimes come down from the hills to get run over by BMWs and Mercedes Benzes. If you're going to get run over, Ashiya is definitely the place to do it!
The little kid yells "Dame!" at her dad as he gets attacked as a result of feeding the boar. Ah, this brings back so many colorful childhood memories, notably the one where my dad chased after a female black bear and her cubs in order to snap a picture. I'm just disappointed that he didn't get the picture...
Signs warning hikers against feeding or playing with the boars were more common than one might expect. Personally, if I saw a boar I wouldn't want any part of it after watching Old Yeller but I guess not that many people have seen what happens when you screw with a boar. You either get gored and end up being shot by your best friend, or you kill the boar, eat it, put its head on a stick and worship it as the God of the island. And then you kill Piggy and use his glasses to make fire.
the only memory I have of these things is from the hanafuda cards played with my folks as a kid. Not sure if they're endangered, but I don't think there are too many of them things left.
I think they're relatively plentiful. You can hunt for them in some of the more rural parts of Japan, and once in a while I have come upon restaraunts that serve inoshishi. Still haven't seen one in the wild, unless you count the skull that I found at Sumoto castle.
I hear they are plentiful up in the mountains, especially on trash day.
We've still got lots of wild pigs up in the Monterey area. ( as well as a mama cougar in Carmel!) I remember seeing and hearing the pigs at night, rooting around like mini dozers in the fertile black lettuce fields of Watsonville. My uncle used to try and shoot them from a truck so's they wouldn't turn on him. Them suckers are mean, fast and butt ugly!
Poor Old Yeller. What a sad childhood memory!