Bears in Japan are steadily getting closer to urban areas.

Not too long ago, conventional thinking was that when journeying through the forests and mountains of Japan, you should be on the lookout for bears. Conversely, when commuting through your city’s central train station, bears shouldn’t be a top priority—wild boars perhaps, but bears tend to have more sense.

The times they are a-changing, however, and it seems that this is the year of the bears in Japan, as they’ve been encroaching on areas inhabited by humans at an alarming rate this year. Even parts of the country where you wouldn’t expect to run into a bear, like the public men’s room of JR Numata Station, aren’t safe.

At about 1:30 a.m. on 28 November, a security guard on patrol outside the station took a moment to use the men’s room. Just as he was leaving, he came face-to-face with a bear at the entrance. Startled, the 69-year-old stepped back and stumbled onto his rear end. The bear moved in to attack, and the guard flailed his arms and legs to resist it.

It appeared to have worked, because the bear left soon after, but not before clawing the man’s right leg and causing minor injuries.

The city of Numata in Gunma Prefecture is by no means a big city, with a population of around 50,000 people. But it’s also a far cry from the kinds of rural areas with only one set of stop lights which bears have been known to wander into in the past. The city itself is also right on the outskirts of the Greater Tokyo Area.

▼ As you can see from the map, Numata Station is in a fairly well-developed part of the city.

A resident of Numata told the media that bear sightings are not uncommon in the mountainous areas surrounding the city, but this is the first time one has been seen this deep inside. The bear had not been found by morning, and police are urging residents to refrain from unnecessary outings.

▼ A news report shows the men’s room where the attack occurred, and police patrolling the station with shields in case it comes back.

Online comments expressed surprise that a bear would come as deep into a city as this one has and sympathized with the guard for what had to have been an incredibly shocking encounter.

“The last thing I expect coming out of a restroom is a bear.”
“He went from feeling as relieved as possible to as terrified as possible.”
“At least the bear waited until he was finished.”
“That’s right in the middle of the city. I can’t imagine a bear being there.”
“I doubt that man can go back to work after this.”
“The bear needed to cross a whole residential area to get to the station.”
“What’s going on out there? Is this an all-out war with the bears?”
“Wasn’t Numata where that bear rampaged through a supermarket? Could it be the same bear?”

On 7 October, a bear did make its way inside a Fressay supermarket in Numata, a few kilometers away from Numata Station, injuring two customers. The supermarket is located right on the edge of the city and mountains, making it a more likely site for a bear encounter. This bear also fled the scene and wasn’t caught, so the possibility that it’s the same bear exists.

On the bright side, we should be entering the season when bears begin to prepare their dens for hibernation, provided the temperatures get low enough. If so, then the number of bear encounters should drop considerably for the rest of the year. But without a concrete solution for the overall trend of bears entering inhabited areas throughout most of Japan, everything will just pick up right where it left off next year.

Source: FNN Prime Online, YouTube/ANNnewsCH
Top image: Pakutaso
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