Almost 100 schools in a bustling city had to shut down as a bear roamed the streets, managing to elude capture. Utsunomiya, located approximately 60 miles north of Tokyo, mandated that students stay home due to multiple sightings of a brown bear over the weekend.
Initially seen near a park on Saturday, the one-meter-long bear was captured on CCTV on Sunday darting past two surprised young men in the city center. It reappeared in residential areas later that day and was spotted in an industrial estate about a mile and a half from downtown early the next morning.
This was the first time a bear had been seen in the city, prompting a search by law enforcement and a local hunting group. Residents were advised to seek refuge in nearby buildings if they encountered the bear, secure windows and doors, and refrain from putting out garbage at night to avoid attracting the animal.
Authorities used vehicles equipped with loudspeakers to alert residents about the bear. It is suspected that the bear might have been hiding in bushes and is anticipated to resurface after nightfall.
Due to safety concerns, all 94 primary and junior high schools in the area closed, impacting 36,000 students, while eight high schools with 3,700 students advised parents to keep their children at home. This precaution followed an incident where a bear described as ‘highly intelligent’ injured four individuals the previous week.
Emergency services rushed to the Sasakino district in Fukushima, northeastern Japan, after a bear entered a steel factory and attacked two workers before escaping through a window.
Rising bear sightings and incidents in Japan are attributed to environmental changes and a declining rural population. Factors such as climate change affecting food sources like acorns and beech nuts in the mountains have pushed bears to venture closer to inhabited areas.
The country’s Environment Ministry reported an increase in bear-related fatalities, with a record 13 deaths from over 230 bear attacks in 2025, compared to an average of three fatalities per year in the previous decade.