Overview
- Police found the woman around 9 a.m. Monday in a forested area of Yuzawa with facial injuries they say are consistent with a bear attack.
- Authorities identified the victim as Kiyo Goto, 79, who had told her family Sunday she was going to the mountains and was later reported missing.
- Separate incidents the same morning injured a 65-year-old man in Akita City around 5:30 a.m., an 83-year-old man in Daisen around 7 a.m., and a man in his 70s in Towada, Aomori, around 10:15 a.m.
- Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki has asked that an SDF dispatch be considered to assist local authorities with transport and disposal related to bear culls.
- Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi says any SDF role would be limited to logistics and would not include shooting bears, and black bears are the species present on Honshu.