Wild "shika" deer have caused so much crop damage in Mie Prefecture that they have become fair game — venison, as it were.
The prefecture is distributing cookbooks to restaurants featuring ways to prepare "gibier" (wild game) venison dishes, a part of French haute cuisine, hoping in the process to revive its mountain communities.
Deer-caused crop damage — mainly rice — in Mie amounted to ¥140 million in fiscal 2009, the second-largest hit after Hokkaido.