Kumamap recorded nearly 5,000 bear encounters between April and June, or 36 per cent more than the same months last year.<\/p>\n
While the database sometimes counts the same incident more than once, its creator Danyel Koca said it points to a trend, and is backed up by official data suggesting sightings have increased and even doubled in parts of Japan.<\/p>\n
Japan’s Ministry of the Environment said more than 1,000 bear sightings were reported nationwide in January and March this year, nearly double the number for the same period last year, according to local media<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why are bear encounters rising?<\/p>\n The bear at the Fukushima steelworks attacked three more people before it was chased into an electronics factory, where it reportedly climbed out of a window and is still at large.<\/p>\n Across the country, four people have been killed<\/a> by bears since April 1, when Japan’s fiscal year begins, according to Japan’s Ministry of the Environment.<\/p>\n Among the victims was a 73-year-old woman found dead near her home in north-eastern Japan last week.<\/p>\n Japanese residents are being warned to steer clear of bears. (ABC News: Yumi Asada)<\/p>\n Authorities were also investigating<\/a> whether a bear had killed a person last month west of Tokyo, when only the bottom half of a body was discovered in the mountains near a backpack and trekking poles, according to local media reports.<\/p>\n That incident, which has not been added to the national death toll, occurred days after a Russian hiker was seriously injured by a bear in the same area.<\/p>\n Japan confirms fatal bear attack<\/a><\/p>\n Japanese authorities say a 55-year-old woman found dead last month was killed by a bear.<\/p>\n Most encounters involve the Asian black bear on the islands of Honshu and Shikoku, and the Ussuri brown bear on the northern island of Hokkaido. Both are omnivorous species.<\/p>\n Experts say a shortage of nuts due to poor seasonal harvests has driven them closer to cities in search of food, leading to the increase in bear sightings and attacks.<\/p>\n Yoshikazu Sato, a professor of wildlife ecology at Rakuno Gakuen University, told Japanese broadcaster<\/a> NHK last month that bears were also being born and raised closer to human settlements.<\/p>\n “As a result, these young bears don’t see people as a threat like the bears before them did,” Professor Sato said.<\/p>\n “They’re growing up without that fear and, as a result, they’re less wary of humans.”<\/p>\n Out of the wilderness<\/p>\n Now bears are wandering into cities.<\/p>\n This week, classes at 94 schools were suspended after one was seen for the first time in Utsonomiya, a city of 500,000 people about 100 kilometres north of Tokyo.<\/p>\n The bear was found on a private property and shot by a veterinarian with a tranquiliser gun on Tuesday, and nobody was injured, city official Ryuhei Irie told news agency Associated Press.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9b9eb8e088e14853e2315e6b22a7d0c0.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4998755fb228ffd213467ee78035e5fe.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/de46f4836bf363919b362db64a0ed700.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n