Japan deployed troops Wednesday to help contain a surge of bear attacks that have terrorised residents in a mountainous region in the northern prefecture of Akita.
Reports of sometimes deadly encounters with brown bears and Asiatic black bears are being reported almost daily ahead of hibernation season as the bears forage for food. They have been spotted near schools, train stations, supermarkets and hot springs resort.
Since April, more than 100 people have been injured and at least 12 killed in bear attacks across Japan, according to Environment Ministry statistics at the end of October.
That growing bear population’s encroachment into residential areas is happening in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population, with few people trained to hunt the animals.
The government has estimated the overall bear population at more than 54,000.
The Defence Ministry and Akita prefecture signed an agreement Wednesday to deploy soldiers who will set box traps with food, transport local hunters and help dispose of dead bears.
Officials say the soldiers will not use firearms to cull the bears.
‘Every day, bears intrude into residential areas in the region and their impact is expanding,’ Deputy Chief Secretary Fumitoshi Sato told reporters.
Self-Defense forces personnel unload a bear cage from a military truck in JSDF Akita Camp, Akita, northern Japan, October 30, 2025
Since April, more than 100 people have been injured and at least 12 killed in bear attacks across Japan, according to Environment Ministry statistics at the end of October
A brown bear gnaws at the cage it is trapped in in Sunagawa, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan October 16, 2024
‘Responses to the bear problem are an urgent matter’.
The operation began in a forested area in Kazuno city, where a number of bear sightings and injuries have been reported.
White-helmeted soldiers wearing bulletproof vests and carrying bear spray and net launchers set up a bear trap near an orchard.
Takahiro Ikeda, an orchard operator, said bears have eaten more than 200 of his apples that were ready for harvest.
‘My heart is broken,’ he told NKH television.
Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki said local authorities were getting ‘desperate’ due to a lack of manpower.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday the bear mission aims to help secure people’s daily lives, but that service members’ primary mission is national defence and they cannot provide unlimited support for the bear response.
The Japanese Self-Defence Forces are already understaffed.
The ministry has not received requests from other prefectures for troop assistance over the bear issue, he said.
In Akita prefecture, which has a population of around 880,000, bears have attacked more than 50 people since May, killing at least four, according to the local government.
Experts say most attacks have occurred in residential areas.
An older woman who went mushroom-hunting in the forest was found dead in an apparent attack over the weekend in Yuzawa city.
Another older woman in Akita city was killed after encountering a bear while working on a farm in late October.
Members of Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) practice setting up a bear trap in Kazuno, Akita Prefecture, Japan, November 5, 2025
A member of Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) holds a shield during a practice setting up a bear trap in Kazuno, Akita Prefecture, Japan, November 5, 2025
Abandoned neighbourhoods and farmland with persimmon or chestnut trees often attract bears to residential areas. Once bears find food, they keep coming back, experts say
A newspaper delivery man was attacked and injured in Akita city on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, a resident of Akita city spotted two bears on a persimmon tree in her garden. She was indoors and filmed the bears as they walked around for about 30 minutes.
She told a local TV network the bears appeared at one point to want to enter the room she was in, and she moved away from the window.
Abandoned neighbourhoods and farmland with persimmon or chestnut trees often attract bears to residential areas. Once bears find food, they keep coming back, experts say.
Experts say Japan’s aging and declining population in rural areas is one reason for the growing problem.
They say the bears are not endangered and need culling to keep the population under control.
Local hunters are also aging and not used to bear hunting. Experts say police and other authorities should be trained to help cull the predators.
The government set up a task force last week to create an official bear response by mid-November.
Officials are considering bear population surveys, the use of communication devices to issue bear warnings and revisions to hunting rifles.
The lack of preventative measures in the northern regions has led to an increase in the bear population, the ministry said.
