After a year with more than 50,000 sightings and 238 injuries, Japan’s vanishing hunting communities are struggling to contain the problem
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenJulian RyallPublished: 9:30am, 19 May 2026A Russian hiker was seriously injured in the mountainous west of Tokyo on Sunday morning, raising fears that Japan could be heading for another record year of human-bear encounters.Police said a bear attacked the man as he was hiking along a forest road near Mount Sanukido, close to the town of Okutama.
The man, who has not been named, sustained severe injuries to his face and arms and was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Hachioji city. His injuries were not life-threatening.
“Bears are clearly expanding their habitats into areas in the vicinity of human residential areas,” said Hifumi Tsuruga, a bear expert at the Hokkaido Research Organisation in Sapporo.
