Bullied Matagi born Kuma-kun manages his teddy bear phobia by working with real bears, while helping his widowed father transition from the end of a storied baseball career.

SYNOPSIS:

Exploring the themes of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man in a new context, Fear of Faith explores links between baseball, medicine, and the anxieties of bears.

Fear of Faith tells the story of a young Shirakami-born Matagi (bear hunting) boy, bullied for his father’s failure on the baseball field and for his own, ironic agrizoophobia (fear of Teddy Bears). Serving out the last year of his contract after an iconic career for the (fictional) Sapporo Bears, father Yoshikawa can’t seem to find the plate anymore. Though his son Kuma-kun excelled in the hunt as a child before his mother died, he is now timid, shy, and can’t stand the fantasies or mistakes of others, nor any suggestion of maternal replacement.

The team finally releases Yoshikawa after a disastrous playoff performance. He receives a new contract with the KL Yankees in Malaysia. The unwavering Kuma-kun accompanies him, finding an advertisement to ‘work with bears’. The post turns out other than he imagined. Kuma-kun, bear-lover, finds himself working at a bear-bile factory. Meanwhile, Yoshikawa regains form, while entering into a new relationship with the beautiful Carrie Lee.

Carrie arranges for the boy to escape the bear-bile factory by spending time at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. Kuma-kun’s Matagi skills enable him to flourish, while Yoshikawa and Carrie plan marriage.

Yoshikawa eagerly accepts a coaching post in the Collegiate Alaska Baseball League. The four travel to Alaska together, where Kuma-kun’s encounter with First Nations researchers enables him to accept Carrie and Yoshikawa’s relationship. After the League ends, all move happily to Sapporo, where Yoshikawa becomes manager of the Sapporo Bears.

Each of the twenty-one episodes in the series features baseball lessons, as well as Matagi, Ainu, Unangax̂ & Sugpiaq folklore.

FEAR OF FAITH: AN INHUMANITIES PROJECT