Overview
- Since April, Japan has recorded more than 100 bear attacks with 13 deaths, most concentrated in Akita and neighboring Iwate.
- The Self-Defense Forces began assisting this week in Kazuno, Akita, providing unarmed logistical support such as moving traps and transporting captured animals.
- Newly revised rules allow anti-riot police to use rifles to kill bears in Akita and Iwate, with operations coordinated with local hunting associations.
- Authorities and researchers cite poor acorn yields, expanding bear populations, climate shifts, and rural depopulation as drivers pushing bears into towns.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government says a national action plan will be presented by mid-November, as some prefectures test drones and surveillance tools to deter incursions.