A giant animated bear escaped from the Tokyo Anime Zoological Park in Ueno at 07:22 this morning. Within hours it had escaped the country and reached the Chinese mainland, whereupon it caused havoc in Qingdao, on the southern coast of the Shangdong Peninsula.
The bear, named Dekkai-chan, is approximately 80 metres tall when on all fours but can reach a fearful 150 metres tall if he rears up on his hind legs. Chinese locals were at first curious at the large cartoon bear's presence, but soon became panicked as it unwittingly crushed pedestrians, cars and buildings underfoot as it headed north towards the plains of Helongjiang Province in search of animated berries and shoots to eat.
Beijing authorities grew alarmed at the bear's approach towards the capital city and scrambled fighter jets to intercept, at which point it fled west into the mountainous regions of Qinghai Province. Its current whereabouts are unknown but there is an urgent search already underway. The United States has called for the bear's capture as soon as possible before it escapes into the Central Asian states, where it could unwittingly destroy vital oil pipelines. The Japanese government has appealed for calm, however Beijing has responded angrily, accusing Tokyo of increased militarism.
The escape comes at a time when relations are already strained between the two powerful Asian neighbours, and just after an internal report was leaked from the Tokyo Emergency Planning Centre stating that Tokyo was unprepared for another Mothra attack of the scale that struck the city in the 1950s. Some people in China suspect that the animated bear's escape is a ruse to draw attention away from domestic criticism in Japan.
The zookeeper in charge of Dekkai-chan's enclosure, who was thought to be reading manga at the time of the escape, was unavailable for comment.
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