A bear occupies the living room of a private home in Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, Tohoku, Japan, warming itself under a "kotatsu," a traditional Japanese heating device, Dec. 24. Screenshot from NHK's website

A recent incident in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture has brought attention to the increasing number of bear encounters in residential areas. On Dec. 23, a man in his 60s returned home in Kitakata City to find a bear lounging in his living room under a heated "kotatsu."

A kotatsu is a heating device consisting of a table with a built-in brazier, covered with a thick blanket. In Japan, homes lack the underfloor heating system found in some countries, and insulation is kept minimal to prepare for earthquakes, making indoor spaces notoriously cold in winter. Instead, families warm themselves by placing their hands and feet under the kotatsu. The 90-centimeter-long bear, too, was enjoying the cozy warmth of the kotatsu, having already devoured the food that had been left on the table. It showed no intention of leaving, even after detecting the homeowner's presence.

Authorities ultimately tranquilized the bear the following day and returned it to the wild.

This is not an isolated case. Other bears have been discovered in abandoned homes in Kitakata, and attacks on people are becoming more frequent across Japan's Tohoku region and northern Hokkaido.

Escalating bear encounters

On Nov. 30, a bear entered a supermarket in Akita Prefecture and attacked a store employee. The 47-year-old worker sustained head injuries before escaping. The bear roamed the store for 55 hours, eating meat from the display section and knocking over flower arrangements before it was finally captured.

On Nov. 6, a 63-year-old man jogging in Nagano Prefecture's Nozawa Onsen Village was attacked by a bear that emerged onto the road. He sustained head and shoulder injuries but survived. More recently, on Jan. 12, reports of bear sightings in Akita City's Japan Self-Defense Forces garrison and near Akita Port signaled that these encounters continue to occur.

Experts say bears traditionally avoid human-populated areas due to their natural wariness, making this surge in attacks particularly unusual. The root cause appears to be a combination of a shrinking population and declining buffer zones between nature and human settlements, known in Japan as “satoyama.”

Role of population decline

Japan's rapidly aging population and rural depopulation have contributed to an increase in bear sightings. Satoyama, which once served as a natural boundary between bear habitats and human communities, is disappearing as small villages shrink or are abandoned. As a result, bears perceive these areas as part of their natural range, leading to more frequent human encounters.

Akita Prefecture exemplifies this demographic shift. As of July 2023, its population had dropped to 899,314, making it the first prefecture in the Tohoku region to fall below 900,000 residents. In October, Akita's ratio of the working-age population (15 to 64 years old) was the lowest in Japan at 51.6 percent, while its proportion of elderly residents (65 and older) was the nation's highest at 39.5 percent.

The number of bear-related injuries has also surged. According to Japan's Ministry of the Environment, 212 people were injured in bear attacks between January and November last year — three times the 75 recorded in 2023.

Growing crisis

The situation is not confined to Tohoku. Forestry experts warn that bear encounters are likely to spread across Honshu, Japan's largest island. Research indicates that Japan's bear habitat has doubled in size over the past 40 years, now covering more than 60 percent of the country's landmass.

Some experts suggest that coexistence, rather than extermination, is the key to managing Japan's bear population. Kiyoshi Uchiyama, a professor at Iwate University, says simply culling bears will not resolve the issue, as Japan's aging population and shrinking communities will persist. Instead, he calls for better wildlife monitoring and habitat management to maintain a buffer zone between bears and humans.

Shinsuke Koike, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, echoes this sentiment. He notes that bears play a vital role in maintaining healthy forests and warns that indiscriminate killing could have long-term ecological consequences. “Rather than eliminating bears, Japan should increase research efforts and develop national strategies for coexistence,” he said.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.