Bears have killed a record seven people in Japan so far this year, the highest since 2006, when the survey started, a Japanese Ministry of the Environment official said yesterday.
Sightings of wild bears have increased in Japan in the past few years, even in residential areas.
“This is the largest toll since 2006 when statistics started,” surpassing five victims recorded in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Photo: AFP / Gunma Prefectural Police via Jiji Press
The statement followed confirmation that a man found dead last week in the northern region of Iwate Prefecture was killed by a bear.
Including the fatal cases, at least 108 people have been injured since April when the fiscal year started. That is up from 85 incidents of injury including three fatal cases the previous fiscal year and compares with 219 in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, a ministry survey showed.
Last week, a 1.4m adult bear entered a supermarket in Gunma Prefecture’s Numata.
The animal lightly injured a man in his 70s and another in his 60s, regional police and fire officials said.
The store is close to mountainous areas, but has never had bears come near before, said Hiroshi Horikawa, a management planning official at the grocery store chain.
“It entered from the main entrance and stayed inside for roughly four minutes,” he said. “It almost climbed onto the fish case and damaged glass. In the fruits section, it knocked over a pile of avocados and stamped on them.”
The store’s manager told local media that about 30 to 40 customers were inside at the time and that the bear became agitated as it struggled to find the exit.
The same day, a farmer in Iwate was scratched and bitten by a bear, accompanied by a cub, just outside his house.
Earlier this month, a Spanish tourist was attacked by a bear at a bus stop in the village of Shirakawa-go in central Japan.
Japan has two types of bears: Asian black bears — also known as moon bears — and the bigger brown bears, which live on the main northern island of Hokkaido.
Thousands of the animals are shot every year.
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