Bears, back on the news and back on the prowl

It was only a matter of time. As the weather warms, we knew that bears would be on the move again in Japan. They usually wake up around late March or early April.  And I for one suspected that before long we would be seeing news reports of bears in Japan once again. Sure enough, bear reporting is on the rise!

I saw my first bear related story of 2026 yesterday. And I caught the follow up on the news again today, because they killed the bear in question. Reportedly the bear had been seen around residential areas of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, since Friday. The police had at least 10 different reports of sightings. Presumably it was the same bear, but there is always the possibility that there was more than one. Things escalated on Sunday morning, when the police were alerted to the fact the bear had entered someone's garden.

They set a box trap for the bear, but the bear didn't approach it. So ultimately, they used tranquilizer guns. Later, they killed the bear. The prefectural government has issued a prefecture wide warning about bears in Miyagi, because the number of sightings of bears so far this month (April 2026) is 1.5 times the average for April in the past five years.

It doesn't bode well that sightings are already higher than last year. If sightings are higher, it most likely will mean that attacks are higher too. New laws passed last year give local authorities the power to use lethal force against the bears. But the average person does not possess any means to protect themselves from an unexpected encounter with a bear. They advise avoiding activities in the morning and evening and to refrain from leaving waste outside.