Bears attack cities - Japan responds with culling and military

As Golden Week begins, one of the country’s most important travel periods, authorities are sounding alarms in several regions. In the prefectures of Aomori, Iwate, and Fukushima, warnings have been issued about a sharply increased risk from bears. Experts describe a volatile season, the animals are active, and encounters with humans are rising.

The incidents are piling up. On April 20, the body of a woman is found in Iwate, likely the victim of an attack. On April 27, a bear attacks a hunter in Hokkaido, severely injuring his face. Two days later, a woman is attacked in a residential area in Toyama and critically injured, the first case of its kind there in 26 years. The same day, an animal appears on a street in Sendai, and a train driver reports a bear directly on the tracks. On April 30, another attack follows in Toyama, again causing severe injuries.

The scale can now be measured in numbers. More than 130,000 sightings and incidents have been recorded nationwide. During Golden Week, attacks have increased ninefold since 2019. The year 2025 becomes the worst since records began. 13 deaths, more than 100 injuries, over 235 documented attacks, and more than 20,000 sightings. What stands out is that the animals are not only defending themselves but are attacking deliberately, even in residential areas.

One event shows the new reality particularly clearly. In October, a bear enters a supermarket near Tokyo and attacks two people in the sushi section. A few weeks later, two women are attacked one after the other in Akita. The threat is no longer limited to remote regions. The causes are clear. In 2025, the acorn and beech nut harvest fails almost completely, key food sources before hibernation. Animals move on, shift territory, and end up in suburbs and cities. At the same time, the population has grown massively. From around 15,000 animals in 2012 to about 54,000 in 2025. Conservation measures of past decades have worked. Now the balance is tipping.

There is also a structural problem. Fewer and fewer hunters are available, many are old, and there is little new recruitment. Training takes up to ten years. At the same time, people are leaving rural areas, fields and gardens are becoming overgrown and provide food. Even the exclusion zone around Fukushima has turned into an undisturbed habitat.

The state is responding with force. Already in 2025, the military is deployed in Akita. More than 12,000 animals are killed or captured over the course of the year. The total number of culls reaches 13,499. Police are now allowed to shoot in residential areas. A package of measures worth 34 billion yen is approved, including state funded hunters, new equipment, and thousands of traps. In 2026, the next stage follows. The government presents a plan through 2030. In Tohoku alone, 12,000 animals are to be reduced, with another 2,000 in the Tokyo area. The number of personnel deployed is to be tripled. Tens of thousands of deterrents are being distributed.

At the same time, the official approach is changing. Bears are no longer treated primarily as a protected species but as a population to be actively managed. Residential areas and agricultural land are designated as zones from which animals are to be consistently driven out. If they enter, killing is considered the standard response. Japan is facing a development that is no longer local. It is not about isolated incidents, but a situation affecting the entire country.