Japan confirms year’s first fatal bear attack, two others suspected

TOKYO – Japan confirmed on May 8 the first fatal bear attack of 2026 after a record 13 deaths in 2025, 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, in 2025 sparked alarm, with the government deploying troops to help trap and hunt the animals.

Record sightings have been reported again in 2026 as the bears emerge from their winter slumber, according to local media.

The first confirmed fatality in 2026, 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 told AFP, with media reports drawing a link to bear attacks.

One of the two bodies was discovered elsewhere in the Iwate region on May 7, while another was found in a forest in Yamagata prefecture on May 5, police said, without providing the cause of the deaths.

Broadcaster NHK identified one of the two as Ms Chiyoko Kumagai, 69, who went missing after going to a mountain forest to pick edible wild plants.

Police and rescuers launched a search on May 7 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 on May 8, according to the broadcaster.

Supermarket sweep

The record number of fatal attacks in 2025 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.

Scientists say the upsurge in 2025 was driven by a fast-growing bear population, 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 per cent 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 persimmon.

But poor harvests in 2025 pushed bears to seek food elsewhere, including in towns and villages.

The forecasts for nuts and other food in 2026 are better, but as the animals have emerged from winter hibernation, there have also been record numbers of sightings, according to local media.

In Miyagi, Akita, and Fukushima prefectures, the number of sightings in April was around four times that of the previous year, the Yomiuri daily reported.

Mr Koji Yamazaki, a leading bear expert and head of Ibaraki Nature Museum, said residents in the northern Tohoku region must stay vigilant in the spring of 2026.

“I’m not sure yet why we’re seeing this kind of unprecedented damage so early in the spring,” Mr Yamazaki told AFP, adding that the year 2026 is expected to be “calm”.

“Given that all the incidents have occurred relatively close to settlements and the bodies have been severely damaged, I suspect a bear has eaten them,” he said.

Mr Yamazaki explained that Tohoku has a dense bear population as “the number has been growing for about 20 years”.

“I also suspect factors such as abandoned farmland and unused land due to depopulation and an ageing population have an impact,” he said.

Brown bears – which can weigh up to half a tonne and outrun a human – are found only in the main northern island of Hokkaido.

Smaller Japanese black bears, meanwhile, are common across large parts of Japan, including on the main island of Honshu, and are responsible for most of the attacks. AFP