On Monday, the revised Wildlife Protection, Control and Hunting Management Act went into effect in Japan as bear attacks and sightings continue to rise in populated regions in Japan. The new ruling allows for the \u201cemergency shootings\u201d of bears and other potentially dangerous animals in populated areas under certain conditions. In the past, animal shootings were generally banned in public spaces. Licensed hunters were allowed to fire their guns only after the approval of a police officer. Under the amended legislation, a weapon can be used on a threatening animal more freely if a city or town mayor deems it \u201cnecessary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bear Attacks Increasing Nationwide in Japan\u00a0<\/p>\n
While most bear attacks and sightings in Japan are concentrated in the Tohoku and Hokkaido regions, there has been a significant increase in Tokyo and surrounding areas in recent years. As of August 21, 154 bear sightings have been reported in Tokyo in 2025. The metropolitan government, which recently started displaying a map<\/a> of bears found within its jurisdiction, is urging its citizens to remain vigilant. On August 23, a man fishing in Okutama was attacked by a cub. Fortunately, he managed to walk back to the campsite to call for help. After tending to him, a staff member at the site called for an ambulance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was fishing when I heard this sound like a rock falling,\u201d said<\/a> the man who had scratches on his forehead, eyelids, neck, arms and other parts of his body. \u201cAfter glancing up, I initially thought there was nothing there. Then immediately, it came down on me from above, or rather, it landed on top of me. I wondered what it was and tried to shake it off. It must have been just a split second. If I\u2019d been attacked for even a few minutes like that, it would have ended differently.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bear Sightings in Tokyo\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the attack in Okutama, bears have been seen in the neighboring town of Ome on at least three occasions. Members of the local hunters\u2019 association were called upon last Wednesday, after a bear was seen along Ome Kaido avenue near Hinatawada Station on the JR Ome Line. That same day, a bear was also spotted on a road near a tourist facility in Hinode. \u201cIf you see a bear, don\u2019t go near it. Call the police,\u201d was the warning<\/a> from the town\u2019s municipal government.<\/p>\n Related Posts<\/p>\n Discover Tokyo, Every Week<\/p>\n Get the city’s best stories, under-the-radar spots and exclusive invites delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, the revised Wildlife Protection, Control and Hunting Management Act went into effect in Japan as bear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-113901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}