The country confirmed the first fatal bear attack of 2026 after a record 13 deaths last year, with reports pointing to a jump in sightings as the animals emerge hungry from hibernation.
A spate of bear encounters, including at hot spring resorts and in supermarkets last year, sparked alarm, with the government deploying troops to help trap and hunt the animals.
Record sightings have been reported again this year as the bears emerge from their winter slumber, according to local media.
This year’s first confirmed fatality, reportedly a 55-year-old woman, was discovered on April 21 in Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, according to the environment ministry.
Two more sets of human remains were found this week, police said, with media reports drawing a link to bear attacks.
One of the two bodies was discovered elsewhere in the Iwate region on Thursday while another was found in a forest in Yamagata prefecture on Tuesday, police said, without providing the cause of the deaths.
Broadcaster NHK identified one of the two as Chiyoko Kumagai, 69, who went missing after going to a mountain forest to pick edible wild plants.
Police and rescuers launched a search on Thursday in the forest where her car was parked and found her body shortly after 8am, NHK reported.
She reportedly had injuries on her face and head that appeared to have been caused by an animal’s claws.
City officials said local hunters were expected to begin patrolling the area yesterday, according to the broadcaster.
Last year’s record number of fatal attacks was more than double the previous high of six. More than 200 people were also injured.
The animals were seen entering homes, roaming near schools and rampaging in supermarkets and hot spring resorts almost on a daily basis.
Between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, more than 14,000 bears were culled, official data showed, almost three times the previous year.
Scientists say that last year’s upsurge was driven by fast-growing numbers of bears, combined with a falling human population, especially in rural areas.
Bears are thriving, thanks in part to an abundance of food – including acorns, deer and boars – under the influence of a warming climate, experts say.
The brown bear population has doubled in three decades and now stands at around 12,000, while the number of Asian black bears has climbed on the main Honshu island, reaching 42,000, according to a 2025 government report.
This in turn has led to “overcrowding”, forcing some bears to stray out of the mountains – which make up around 80% of Japan – towards areas inhabited by humans, experts say.
Cubs in particular can become less fearful and develop a taste for farmed produce and common fruits such as persimmons.
But poor harvests in 2025 pushed bears to seek food elsewhere, including in towns and villages. — AFP
