Man attacked by bear outside public toilet in busy Japanese city

A man was attacked by a bear while using a public toilet in Japan on Friday, marking the latest incident in a wave of bear encounters in densely populated areas.

The attack occurred in the Gunma Prefecture, near Numata railway station, north of Tokyo, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

Police say the victim, a 69-year-old man who remains unidentified, was mauled by a 1.5-metre-long bear just before exiting the public toilet at about 1:30 a.m., and sustained minor injuries to his leg.

The bear fled the scene after the man began yelling and kicking his legs in self-defence, The Guardian reported.

The station where the bear attack occurred is centrally located in Numata City, close to homes and restaurants, and only 1 km from the city hall building.

Police remain on high alert in the area, the Japanese outlet wrote.

The bathroom encounter came about a month after a bear wandered into a grocery store in the same urban area and reportedly attacked a person in the parking lot before lying on top of a customer and ransacking the food counter.

According to AFP, the bear was approximately 1.4 metres long and scoured the store’s fish and sushi selections before stamping on avocados in the fruit section.

In the same week, a man was mauled to death by a bear while out picking mushrooms, and another 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 man 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.

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Around the same time, a bear attacked a Spanish tourist at a bus stop in the Shirakawago settlement in Gifu Prefecture, the Japan Times said.

In another confirmed mauling fatality, a woman in her 70s died in September while picking mushrooms in 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 become more common in recent years, partly due 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 since the start of April, according to the environment ministry, with the total number of attacks standing at 220 — also a record, NHK reported, with the most deaths occurring in the Iwate prefecture.

Acorns and beechnuts are the primary food sources for bears. In years when these resources are scarce in their natural habitat, they are more likely to venture into residential areas in search of food, thereby increasing the likelihood of human encounters.

In response to the uptick in attacks, the Japanese government has mobilized the military to assist local hunters in trapping bears. Armed police have also been permitted to shoot the animals as local hunting populations decline.