Amid rise in bear attacks, Japan’s businesses take precautionary measures to protect workers

TOKYO – Some companies in Japan are drawing up safety manuals and reviewing work arrangements to protect employees as

bear attacks continue across the country.

Other businesses are struggling to meet demand for bear deterrents. Railway operators are grappling with the threat the creatures pose to train services.

As part of safety guidelines it formulated, FamilyMart on Nov 10 began displaying warning messages on in-store digital signage screens at its about 10,660 convenience stores across Japan. The message urges people to watch out for bears. If a bear is sighted, customers are urged to quietly take shelter in the store or a vehicle, and employees will halt all outdoor work.

“We put top priority on ensuring all our employees and customers have a shared safety awareness,” a FamilyMart public relations official said.

Companies in the non-life insurance industry, in which employees frequently leave the office to meet clients, are allowing more flexible working arrangements.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance had previously prohibited the use of company cars for travelling to and from work. But from November, the company will let employees use such vehicles for commuting and also fully pay the parking costs for its company vehicles.

Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance has instructed employees who may encounter bears while travelling to or from work to flexibly use work-from-home options.

More train services affected

In regions where bears have frequently been sighted, some factories have taken steps such as affixing barbed wire and noise-emitting sensors to fences to prevent the creatures from entering their grounds.

Railway companies, which have been plagued by instances of bears wandering onto tracks and disrupting train services, need various countermeasures to deal with a wide range of bear-related problems.

According to East Japan Railway (JR East), cases of trains suspending operations or being delayed by 30 minutes or more due to bears occur every year. However, while 11 such cases occurred in fiscal year 2024, the figure had skyrocketed to 71 between April and October in fiscal year 2025.

JR East said its officials in charge of track and equipment inspection and maintenance operations in the Tohoku, Kanto and Koshinetsu regions will be provided with bear repellent spray and bells. However, as things stand, preventing collisions between bears and trains remains a thorny challenge.

“It would be tough to implement such sweeping measures,” JR East president Yoichi Kise said.

Sales surging

Cainz, which operates about 250 hardware stores in Japan, has reported growing sales of items such as repellent spray and bells intended to scare off bears. At one store in Fukushima prefecture, sales of such goods in the past month or two have, on average, been about quadruple the sales from the previous year.

Other hot sellers include solid pest repellents, firecrackers and pistols that emit a loud sound to scare away birds.

“Products that had met a limited market have been purchased for personal protection by people of all ages in many areas,” a Cainz official said. “Some stock is running low because supply couldn’t keep up with demand.”

Sales of repellent spray and bells at DCM’s home improvement centres across Japan have increased, on average, about 30 per cent from the previous year.

“Sales of such goods settle down from the latter half of October and November in a typical year, but demand has remained strong this year,” a DCM official said.

The company is prioritising the supply of such products to regions where bear sightings are frequent, but some shortages have yet to be resolved. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK