Japan Records Deadliest Year for Bear Attacks

AmmoLand ^ | October 31, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Japan has had ten people killed by bears in 2025. It is a record number, with than 172 people injured by October 22. In 2023, more than 200 were injured, but only six died.

Japan has more people killed by bears than the United States. Since Japan started keeping records in 2007, the number of people killed by wild (not captured) bears has been 50 in Japan, with one uncertain, as of October 2025.  For the same time period, wild bears killed 35 people in the United States. From japantimes.co.jp:

Separate bear attacks in Japan killed one and injured four on Friday, officials said, days after the government vowed to toughen measures because of a record year of deadly assaults by the animals.

Before Friday’s attacks, bears had killed a record nine people this year, surpassing the previous high of six in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024.

The animal has been increasingly encroaching into Japan’s towns due to factors ranging from a declining human population to climate change.

During the same interval, 34 people were killed by wild bears in Canada.

Japan has about 11,000 brown bears and about 30,000-40,000 Asiatic black bears. Japan does not have any wild polar bears. The United States has approximately 35,000 brown/grizzly bears, 400,000 black bears (including those in Alaska), and around 3,000 to 4,000 polar bears, depending on the time of year. Canada has about 30,000 brown/grizzly bears, about 400,000 black bears, and about 16,000 polar bears.

The United States has the highest rate of privately owned firearms per person in the world (about 1.5). Japan has one of the lowest rates of privately owned firearms in the world (about .003).

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: attacks; banglist; bear; bearrepublic; bearsrepeating; japan; righttoarmbears; thingsiworryabout; unbearable

[marktwain]

Update: In the last week, two more people have been killed by bears in Japan, bringing the total to 12 this year, so far.

In the USA, there have been three people killed by bears in 2025, so far.

[billorites]

[Recompennation]

Did they stop the snap snap bear feeding giveaways. The national park service says don’t feed the bears that they will unlearn how to be self feedingly sufficient , yet our usda says you got to feed the folks?

[Hyman Roth]

Taste like sushi.

[Disambiguator]

The Japanese need to learn to embrace the joys of large-caliber handguns. A Super Blackhawk is a thing of beauty, and can be effective against bears. What’s not to like?

I’m sure the Japanese government begs to differ, though.

[Zhang Fei]

Some say you’re likely to be killed by another person than a bear. That’s true only because people encounters outnumber the bear equivalent maybe a billion to one. The average person is within rifle range of random strangers thousands of times a day, millions of times a year. He may never in his lifetime be within range of a bear’s claws even once.

[marktwain]

Good point.

[LadyDoc]

part of the problem is the depopulation of rural areas as people age and the younger folk move to cities.

[laplata]

Taste like sushi.

><

Wrong!

[woodbutcher1963]

Sounds like anyone taking a walk in the woods in Japan should be bringing a long an Akita dog as a companion.

[Dutch Boy]

My first thougjt was along the lines of the idiots visiting Yellowstone. They don’t seem to realize grizzly bears and bison are very dangerous and unpredictable. I wonder how many died in Japan thinking the bears were cute and wanted a selfie.

[03A3]

Not sure I’d want a SA in that scenario.

[Moltke]

Climate Change! But of course!

[griffin]

Feed the Pandas!!

[Campion]

Only criminals and the military have guns in Japan.

[Bonemaker]

Bears kill more people in Japan than criminals do. That’s what a homogenous society of law abiding Japanese will do. For example, imagine a Sweden populated by actual Swedes,an England with actual Brits, an America with...oh wait.

[sushiman]

I live in 熊本 which means bear origin . Prefecture’s mascot is a bear , naturally , and the most popular mascot in Japan .

[Henry Hnyellar]

Women chose the bear and the bears are fighting back.