The number of bear attacks in Japan has reached a record high: between April 2025 and March 2026, 13 deaths and over 220 injuries were registered. This figure is significantly higher than the same period last year, when three people died and 82 were injured. As the autumn feeding season for bears approaches, authorities are on high alert.
The rise in human-bear encounters in Japan is linked to the reduction of rural settlements after World War II, when millions of young people began migrating to cities. Liam Adcock, a wildlife researcher from the Piccho Wildlife Research Center based in Nagano, explained that the loss of agricultural land, which previously served as a buffer between settlements and forests, has made the boundary between forests and cities less distinct.
He also noted that stricter hunting regulations and a reduction in the number of hunters have contributed to an increase in the population of two local Japanese bear species—the Hokkaido brown bear and the Asiatic black bear. It is estimated that there are over 57,000 bears living in the country.
Climate change exacerbates the situation: vegetables, berries, and acorns that bears depend on ripen later and become scarcer. Adcock emphasized that, however, one food source remains constant—human waste.
This has forced hungry bears to approach populated areas more often than ever before, leading to 50,000 bear sightings last year. In its 2026 document, the government described the animals as a 'serious threat to public safety and peace,' while simultaneously easing bear hunting rules and developing a population control roadmap. According to the plan, the bear population in several prefectures should be reduced to 62–67% of the current level by 2030 through trapping.
Adcock stated that despite the continued cultural preference for coexistence, the priority has shifted to ensuring immediate public safety and effective threat response. He added that fireworks are often used in cities to scare away bears, but when this is insufficient, police or military personnel are called in, which often means euthanizing bears, especially if it happens during the day in the presence of people.
In regions where bear encounters are frequent, such as Gunma, Toyama, and Ishikawa, forests around residential areas have begun to be equipped with surveillance cameras using artificial intelligence to identify bears and alert local officials. This system, developed by Hokuriku Electric Power Company in collaboration with communication systems company Hokutsu, allows authorities to warn residents and take measures to drive the bear away from the city.
In Hokkaido, KDDI SmartDrone installed a drone port in the city of Shintotsukawa, capable of launching a drone within 10 minutes of detecting a bear, tracking the animal until help arrives. Non-lethal methods are usually preferred for scaring away bears. Adcock believes that AI and drones are 'very effective for detection and quite useful for deterrence.' The technology has also shown effectiveness in other parts of the world, such as the US, where a small 2024 study showed that drones in Montana successfully deterred bears from human habitats in 91 percent of cases.
However, this technology is impractical for private individuals wishing to protect their property. This is where the solar, animatronic 'Monster Wolf Robot' costing $4,000 comes into play. This robot was originally created to protect crops from bears by imitating the howl of the extinct Japanese wolf to scare them away. Motohiro Miyasaka, CEO of Wolf Kamui Co., which promotes this robot, told CNN that sales doubled 'after frequent bear sightings in Japanese urban areas since last year.' The company is also developing a portable 8-inch plush version for anglers, campers, and hikers; the 'Monster Wolf Mini' is planned to be tested closer to the end of 2026.
Nevertheless, according to engineer Daniel Koki from Tokyo, these systems are not a panacea. He told CNN that using AI, drones, and robots requires significant investment, they are complex to create, use, and scale nationally. He added that while they save lives in certain instances, they do not provide immediate information to local residents and tourists.
In August 2025, a fatal bear attack on a tourist on Mount Rasu in Hokkaido prompted Koki to study data on bear incidents across the country. He noted that 'there was no single practical place to check the risk.' Although there was already a lot of information about bears in Japan, it was scattered across numerous local sources: prefectures and municipalities published reports in various formats—PDFs, local maps, Excel files, press releases, and pages only in Japanese, making it difficult to check a single route or destination.
Koki decided to make the information publicly available before people went outdoors and founded Kumamap—a bear incident tracker. Using data from local authorities, national news, and verified community reports, Koki claims that the application promotes coexistence. He explained that 'if people understand the risk, they can prepare better and avoid unexpected encounters.' At the beginning of August, the app had nearly 6 million users and tracked 156,631 public bear incident reports, including 821 verified community reports.
Adcock acknowledges the potential of technology for bear conservation but stresses that humans on the ground are almost always necessary to solve this problem. Therefore, the Piccho Wildlife Research Center recommends using Japan's original 'deterrence technology'—scarecrows. Adcock mentioned that semi-wild dogs were previously used in Japan to naturally drive bears away from cities. He added that his organization uses Finnish Karelian deterrent dogs to reduce human-bear conflicts by tracking, barking, and chasing bears away from residential areas without harming them.
He concluded that despite nearly doubling the number of bear encounters compared to last year, the cities where they work have recorded the lowest encounter rates in a long time. Adcock expressed hope that more regions and countries would pay attention to this method. Overall, the effective implementation of new technology and non-lethal methods, such as deterrent dogs, in Japan is an example that other countries can learn from.