Almost 100 schools had to shut down due to a bear roaming the city streets and evading capture. Officials in Utsunomiya, located approximately 60 miles north of Tokyo, advised students to stay home following numerous sightings of a bear over the weekend.
The bear, measuring around one meter in length, was first seen near a park on Saturday. It was captured on CCTV the next day running in front of two surprised young men in the city center. Later, it reappeared in residential areas and was spotted in an industrial estate about a mile and a half from the city center early the next morning.
This marks the first instance of a bear being sighted in the city, where a search involving police and local hunters resumed today. Residents have been instructed to find shelter indoors if they encounter the bear, secure their doors and windows, and refrain from leaving out trash at night to avoid attracting the animal.
Loudspeaker-equipped cars have been deployed across the city to alert residents, suspecting that the bear might be hiding in bushes and could reappear after dark. All 94 primary and junior high schools in the region were closed on Monday, impacting 36,000 students, with eight high schools, accommodating 3,700 students, also urging parents to keep their children at home. This precaution follows an incident the previous week where a bear injured four individuals.
Emergency services responded to a steel factory in the Sasakino district of Fukushima after the bear entered the premises and attacked two workers before escaping through a window. CCTV footage captured the bear confronting a man in his 20s, knocking him down, and then attacking a second man in his 60s within the factory.
The bear was observed inside the factory using its paws to turn on a water tap for drinking. No updates on the bear’s location were provided during the weekend. Japan is facing a surge in bear encounters due to environmental changes and a declining rural population, leading bears to venture further for food.
Environmental factors and a shrinking rural populace have caused a scarcity of acorns and beech nuts in the mountains, prompting bears to search for sustenance in new areas. Abandoned farmlands and neglected orchards due to demographic shifts have eradicated the natural barrier between wilderness and inhabited regions.
Experts believe that a younger generation of bears is becoming accustomed to human presence, with unharvested fruit trees, household waste, and pet food offering easier food sources than the forest. The nation’s Environment Ministry reported a record 13 fatalities in over 230 bear attacks in 2025, a significant increase from the previous decade’s average of three deaths annually.