‘Almost Every Day’: Japan Confronts Surge in Deadly Bear Attacks — 13 Killed, 100+ Injured

The sense of alarm is palpable in parts of northern Japan, where residents have begun fastening bells to bags in the hope the noise will deter bears and where warning signs urge people to stay vigilant.

Since April, a record 13 people have been killed nationwide and more than 100 wounded in a sharp rise in bear incidents, with frequent reports of animals entering homes, roaming near schools and appearing in supermarkets.

'We hear news almost every day about people being attacked or injured,' said 28-year-old Kakeru Matsuhashi, a traditional Matagi hunter, as he walked through forest clutching a knife. 'It's becoming something that feels personal, and it's simply frightening.'

Human stories and immediate danger

One recent survivor, 68-year-old Keiji Minatoya of Akita prefecture, said a bear sprang from his garage in 2023, pinned him to the ground and bit his face. 'I was thinking: "This is how I die,"' he said after managing to escape into his house.

Other victims include a 67-year-old man in Iwate whose body was found outside his home with bite marks, and a 60-year-old man believed to have been attacked while cleaning an outdoor bath at a remote hot-spring resort; his body was later found in nearby woods.

Why attacks are rising

Experts link the spike to a combination of ecological and social factors. Japan's brown bear population has roughly doubled over three decades to about 12,000, while Asian black bears on Honshu are estimated at around 42,000, according to a recent government report.

Warmer conditions have increased food availability in some years, but acorn production still fluctuates on a two-to-five year cycle. This year — as in 2023 — acorn supplies are poor, pushing hungry bears, often with cubs, down from the mountains into towns to forage.

Researcher Naoki Ohnishi of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute says some mountain areas are "overcrowded" with bears: 'Put simply, the size of the bear population has gone beyond the capacity of the mountains to hold them.'

Long-term rural depopulation has reduced human presence at forest edges, eroding traditional buffers between communities and wildlife. Increased exposure to people can make cubs less fearful and more likely to seek farm produce and fruit such as persimmon.

Government response and debate

The government has moved quickly: troops have been deployed to assist trapping and logistics, and riot police units have been authorised to use rifles against dangerous animals. Last year authorities added bears to the list of animals subject to population control, reversing protections that had previously limited culling.

Japan culled more than 9,000 bears in 2023-24 and removed over 4,200 between April and September this year; Akita prefecture alone has reported culling more than 1,000 bears so far. At the same time, rural resources are strained: the hunter population has fallen to less than half of its 1980 level, and as of 2020 there were roughly 220,000 hunters, most in their 60s or older.

'Thorough culling' is, in Ohnishi's view, the only effective long-term way to reduce risk for residents. But experts warn that culling alone will not address underlying drivers such as habitat change and human settlement patterns.

Medical perspective and outlook

Hajime Nakae, a professor of emergency and critical care at Akita University Hospital, who has treated bear injuries for about 30 years, says the nature of attacks is changing. Whereas startled bears in the past might strike once and flee, he says, some now 'charge at you from about 10 metres and then leap at you.' He warned that without meaningful intervention, bear injuries could increase and spread to other regions.

For the immediate future, experts expect a temporary easing as bears enter hibernation: hibernation patterns have not shifted significantly, and many animals are likely to remain dormant through winter. However, scientists stress that the combination of a growing bear population, periodic poor mast (acorn) years and shrinking rural human presence means the problem is likely to recur without sustained, multifaceted responses.

Reporting contributors: hih/aph/jm/lb