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[Cfh123]

It seems like every other day there is another story of a bear attack in Japan.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bear-kills-person-japan-record-year-deadly-attacks/

In the story I read (from NHK easy news - in Japanese for my language practice), the bear initially attacked two people. Two people then came to help. One of the 4 was killed and the others injured. 4 people vs 1 bear - the bear wins.

I understand these Japanese bears are similar in size to the black bears we have in North America. Although black bears here don't pose much of threat to people.

Grizzly bears are extremely dangerous apex predators, but they don't stroll into town and walk into the local convenience store like the bears in Japan.

I guess the Japanese bears are hungry at this time of year before winter, and not scared of people.

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

 

[lachesis]

I heard that it's really getting worse these days.
Part of the reason is the increased deer population + human population moving away from the small towns... that all the mountain roads are really becoming a pathway to town for many bears after being abandoned.
The bears in the mainland is smaller in size (still a threat), but the ones in northern Hokkaido are big ones like grizzly, I think.

 

[Nocty]

but the ones in northern Hokkaido are big ones like grizzly, I think.

yeah they will fuck your shit up if they catch you unawares. They can get big and aggressive.

 

[AJUMP23]

I want a tanooki attack.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Old Japs had Godzilla roaming the streets. Now they can't take care of a bear.

Are guns common in Japan to defend themselves ?

 

[Zathalus]

I hear the bears are moving into urban areas and contributing to the graffiti issues as well. All from a reliable YouTube source.

 

[lachesis]

Shotguns and air guns are common among hunters - but rifles and especially handguns are not basically banned. They also eat bear meat - in a form of nabe or braised/steak/cutlet etc

Bear sighting in Japan is still rare - and they won't come down to very populated cities... it's those rural towns with declining human population + increasing bear population are in trouble with more common bear sightings. I was actually shocked that they had a bear sighting not too long ago in Gunma prefacture, Numata, a famous hot spring city - in a supermarket.

and bears on the road in Hokkaido..

 

[Cfh123]

There was a recent story (in NHK news) of a bear trying to open the door to a nursery school with kids inside.

 

[Robot Carnival]

I think I've read that this year there had been almost double the number of bear sightings and attacks compared to 2023 when it was the previous highest reported numbers. some scholars are saying because of the climate change the oak trees are not providing enough nuts for the bears to feed for hibernation, and since the human habitats are so close to the wild now, the bears kinda just have to venture into the human territory to find food.

 

[Liljagare]

Mainly old bears in regions where they have learned - Humans and their trash = food.

4 dead in 5 years meanwhile, 12445 dead in traffic, but bears are bad, just so you know.

Cars good, bears bad.

 

[reinking]

Mainly old bears in regions where they have learned - Humans and their trash = food.

4 dead in 5 years meanwhile, 12445 dead in traffic, but bears are bad, just so you know.

Cars good, bears bad.

Meanwhile, in the US, An estimated 39,345 people died in U.S. traffic crashes in 2024, 7 people got smacked by cougars. We now want to exterminate cougars from vast regions, but, not a single person was killed. Humans...

Oh, yeah, while we're on it, all wolves all over the planet should be killed too. They killed like 6 people in the wild during the last 1000 years.

 

[Mistake]

I keep hearing about the bears in Japan, but I honestly think it's just the news focusing on it a lot more than usual. Good for ratings

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

THESE KUMA WILL FUCK YOU UP!

 

[mitch1971]

Do they know kung fu?

 

[Wildebeest]

Japanese people eat bears more often than the opposite.

 

[GymWolf]

Bears were lucky takamura wasn't hanging around

 

[Draugoth]

I will never forgive mother nature for creating these murder machines with the cutest hug-able faces ever.

 

[ReBurn]

Shotguns and air guns are common among hunters - but rifles and especially handguns are not basically banned. They also eat bear meat - in a form of nabe or braised/steak/cutlet etc

Bear sighting in Japan is still rare - and they won't come down to very populated cities... it's those rural towns with declining human population + increasing bear population are in trouble with more common bear sightings. I was actually shocked that they had a bear sighting not too long ago in Gunma prefacture, Numata, a famous hot spring city - in a supermarket.

and bears on the road in Hokkaido..

When a bear walks into your store you just transfer ownership to them and leave through the back door.

 

[Little Mac]

 

[Cfh123]

Polar bears are adorable but probably the most dangerous animal on the planet to people.

 

[Adapting]

 

[lachesis]

Well, it seems like it's very expensive to be a hunter - and existing hunters are getting very very old as the country is getting old - and the number of licensed hunters are declining quickly.
Used to be about 500k licensed hunters in 70s, but now about 200k - but most of them are inactive due to old age - and around 60% that 200k hunters are over age 60.

Also it costs a small fortune to get started as a hunter too - super high hurdle of getting a gun license, high cost of buying/maintaining hunting dogs - so basically you risk your life and also lose your money to hunt - a measly 20k yen reward per bear, while it could cost 10k yen to go out to hunt per day. It's not like you are hunting them with some big guns - but a single firing air gun. You'd need a team of hunters, several dogs etc to hunt a bear... so the cost/risk vs reward isn't worth to many folks I heard.

Things are getting pretty bad - that the governor of Akita prefecture recently requested Japanese Self Defense Force to hunt the bears down.

 

[poodaddy]

Mainly old bears in regions where they have learned - Humans and their trash = food.

4 dead in 5 years meanwhile, 12445 dead in traffic, but bears are bad, just so you know.

Cars good, bears bad.