This morning I received the following e-mail from the departmental secretary:

Dear Andrei-san,

Good morning.
Please find forwarding message is a bear sighting info, near the campus.
We hope you keep safe and enjoy being here in Sendai.

Kind regards,

Tohoku University, Department of Science
Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8578 JAPAN

Map of bear appearance at Tohoku University

Local people say: “we took land of bears, so now they are coming back”. However some suggested, that maybe a Russian visitor was mistaken for a bear (Russia=bear). Or that  the bear was expelled from the university and is angry now.

However,  Dr Alexander Korobko from Holland suggests another hypothesis:

I think the bear does not like you or the Science (or both), as it is avoiding the School of Science.
The story is very interesting. Keep us updating. And put the map in progress on your website.

He also questions the intentions of the bear, as

The bear definitely cuts your way back to the International office. The bus is also trapped.
Only one way left is going South (but I’m afraid of Fukushima). No way. Stay there indefinitely.

So, my message to all of you: Science is a dangerous profession – beware of bears !