Overview
- A ministerial meeting approved recruiting retired police officers and former soldiers with firearms experience to help kill problem bears and obtain hunting licenses.
- Weapons rules were loosened so police can carry rifles for bear response, with armed patrols beginning in parts of Iwate and formal issue ceremonies held in Akita and Iwate.
- The Self-Defense Forces are assisting with logistics such as setting live traps and transporting and disposing of carcasses, while not shooting bears themselves.
- Officials report a record 13 deaths since April and near-daily incidents, including bears entering shops and being sighted near schools in northern prefectures.
- Experts point to poor natural food years linked to climate variability, dense postwar conifer plantations, and rural depopulation that has left fewer hunters; local measures range from temporary onsen closures to drone loudspeakers in Gifu.