“Ninja Bear” Shows Off Nunchucks Skills at Japanese Zoo

• Twitter user @shirokumaroko uploaded a video of a bear swinging a three-section staff called sajiegun.
• The zoo staff noticed the young cub interested in swinging sticks, so they decided to give him the weapon.
• The bear has “become very good at handling it and his posture has improved.”

You think you have seen it all this 2020 but how about a black “ninja” bear who can swing the nunchucks like it’s nobody’s business? Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, it IS indeed a bear who swings the nanchuck.

The “Ninja Bear” is four-year-old Tsubasa who was born and raised at the Yagiyama Zoological Park in Sendai City, Japan. Just like other major zoos, this one has its own stable of “star” animals, those who draw in visitors to their enclosures and gets their pictures taken like a celebrity.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. THAT is a bear with nunchucks.

Tsubasa, with his ninja skills, has outshined them all. Twitter user shirokumaroko uploaded a video of the bear swinging a three-section staff called sajiegun, a weapon similar to a nunchuck.

ツバサのスゴイところ✨
二足歩行で簡単にバックできる😆#八木山動物公園　#ツキノワグマ　#ツバサ pic.twitter.com/q8tu9wn8hB

— そらまめきなこ (@shirokumaroko) July 11, 2020

A park representative said in an interview with Japanese news site J-Town Net that the staff noticed Tsubasa, who was a young cub then, having an interest in swinging sticks around. So they figured out that the bear can do more if given a three-section staff.

Tsubasa will swing just about anything that is like a stick.

去年の秋より動きが洗練されてる…。厳しい鍛錬の結果ですね pic.twitter.com/Vb5G4qg5Q1

— さぶらう (@avant_sabro) March 30, 2020

So they gave Tsubasa the sajiegun in the summer of 2018. Since then, the bear was able to “practice” and is now using the nunchucks better than most of us.

Of course, one would wonder if the bear was really “practicing” with the weapon, just like a human would. The park representative said that Tsubasa was “just swinging it around happily. But as a result it’s become very good at handling it and his posture has improved.”

Indeed, one would look at the bear’s straight back, nimble legs, and skill with the weapon and think that Tsubasa could be just a human in a bear suit. But Ninja Bear is definitely real and adorable as heck, too!

Yagiyama Zoological Parkhas been closed to the public due to the pandemic. This gives Tsubasa more time to hone his nanchuck skills more, just in time to show off to the public once the zoo reopens.