Almost a hundred schools had to shut down as a bear caused havoc in a bustling city, managing to elude capture. Utsunomiya officials, located approximately 60 miles north of Tokyo, urged students to stay home following multiple bear sightings over the weekend.
The bear, measuring about one meter in length, was first seen near a park on Saturday. Early on Sunday, CCTV footage captured the bear darting past two surprised individuals in the city center. It resurfaced in residential zones later that day and was spotted in an industrial area roughly one-and-a-half miles from downtown early Monday.
This marked the first bear sighting in the city, prompting a search involving law enforcement and local hunters to resume. Residents were advised to seek refuge indoors if the bear was sighted, secure doors and windows, and refrain from placing trash out in the evenings to prevent attracting the animal to residential areas.
Authorities drove vehicles with loudspeakers throughout the city to caution residents. Speculations arose that the bear might be concealed in foliage and could reappear after nightfall. On Monday, all 94 primary and junior high schools in the vicinity closed, impacting 36,000 students. Additionally, eight high schools, with 3,700 students, advised parents to keep their children at home due to safety concerns following a previous bear incident where four individuals were injured.
In another incident, police and firefighters rushed to Fukushima’s Sasakino district in northeastern Japan after a bear entered a steel factory and attacked two workers before fleeing through a window. CCTV footage depicted the bear approaching a man in his twenties at the factory gates, throwing him to the ground before assaulting a second man in his sixties.
While inside the factory, the bear was observed using its paws to turn on a water tap for a drink. The bear’s whereabouts over the weekend remained undisclosed. Japan is facing a surge in bear encounters attributed to environmental changes and a declining rural population.
Climate variations influencing weather patterns have led to reduced acorn and beech nut harvests in mountainous regions, driving bears to venture further in search of sustenance. Abandoned farmlands and neglected orchards have removed the natural barrier between wilderness and inhabited areas due to the aging rural population, facilitating bear encroachments.
Experts suggest that a younger generation of bears, accustomed to human presence, are finding easy meals in unharvested fruit trees, pet food, and household waste instead of foraging in the wild. The Environment Ministry reported a record 13 fatalities in over 230 bear attacks in 2025, a stark increase from the previous decade’s average of three deaths annually.
