A Yamaguchi man made national news in Japan last week when he grabbed a monkey with his bare hands and helped restrain it until police arrived. G. Mau* was washing a frying pan in the kitchen when he turned around to find a wild monkey climbing in through the window.

Before he knew it, the monkey lunged at the man’s face. Mr Mau instinctively grabbed the monkey by the hands and held it down. Other inhabitants of the shared company housing came to the man’s aid. The four men held the monkey and taped its paws.

Mr Mau sustained minor injuries to his right hand.

Asked by reporters why he acted the way he did, the man replied, in Japanese, “I had heard that a monkey had been biting people in the area, so I knew I had to stop it from getting away [and hurting more people].”

In fact, an elderly woman sustained a broken finger, swollen eye and other injuries when she was attacked by a monkey earlier this week.

The man, who hails from Indonesia and is currently in Japan on the Technical Intern Trainee Program, was interviewed by several news outlets. Wasn’t he scared of the monkey? “I was scared. But I knew that I had to act.”

While monkeys are common wildlife in Japan, it is fairly rare for monkeys to attack humans. Netizens joked that the monkey may have been seeking air conditioner and cooler indoor temperatures, as Japan has seen a heat wave this past week.

Residents are advised to call the police and maintain their distance should they encounter a wild monkey.

Sources: The Yomiuri Shimbun, Saga Shimbun, and NHK, with further reporting from KNG.

*Names transcribed phonetically from Japanese.

*Interviews and quotes translated freely from Japanese into English.