A person was attacked by a bear while using a public toilet in Japan on Friday, marking the newest incident in a wave of bear encounters in densely populated areas.
The attack occurred within the Gunma Prefecture, near Numata railway station, north of Tokyo, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
Police say the victim, a 69-year-old man who stays unidentified, was mauled by a 1.5-metre-long bear just before exiting the general public toilet at about 1:30 a.m., and sustained minor injuries to his leg.
The bear fled the scene after the person began yelling and kicking his legs in self-defence, The Guardian reported.
The station where the bear attack occurred is centrally positioned in Numata City, near homes and restaurants, and only one km from the town hall constructing.
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Police remain on high alert in the world, the Japanese outlet wrote.
The lavatory encounter got here a couple of month after a bear wandered right into a food market in the identical urban area and reportedly attacked an individual within the parking zone before lying on top of a customer and ransacking the food counter.
Based on AFP, the bear was roughly 1.4 metres long and scoured the shop’s fish and sushi selections before stamping on avocados within the fruit section.
In the identical week, a person was mauled to death by a bear while out picking mushrooms, and one other person was found decapitated in a suspected bear attack, marking an uptick in such confrontations, Japanese officials said.
In several other bear attacks in October, a farmer was mauled in Gojome Town, northwestern Japan. The victim, a person in his 20s, called police, NHK reported, telling authorities he had been bitten and scratched by a bear on his property. He was taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members and others arrange a box trap to capture bears in Kazuno, Akita prefecture, northern Japan Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
Muneyoshi Someya/Kyodo News via AP
Around the identical time, a bear attacked a Spanish tourist at a bus stop within the Shirakawago settlement in Gifu Prefecture, the Japan Times said.
In one other confirmed mauling fatality, a lady in her 70s died in September while picking mushrooms within the Miyagi Prefecture. She was with three friends when the attack occurred, the outlet said.
Reports of bear attacks in Japan, including in residential neighbourhoods, have grow to be more common lately, partly attributable to a declining human population and climate change, which have impacted bears’ access to food sources and, in turn, their hibernation cycles.
Thirteen people have died in bear attacks in Japan because the start of April, based on the environment ministry, with the entire variety of attacks standing at 220 — also a record, NHK reported, with essentially the most deaths occurring within the Iwate prefecture.
Acorns and beechnuts are the first food sources for bears. In years when these resources are scarce of their natural habitat, they usually tend to enterprise into residential areas in the hunt for food, thereby increasing the likelihood of human encounters.
In response to the uptick in attacks, the Japanese government has mobilized the military to help local hunters in trapping bears. Armed police have also been permitted to shoot the animals as local hunting populations decline.
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