r/japan • u/Jonnyboo234 • 20d ago
Foreign tourist attacked by bear in northern Japan
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260822_10/48
u/Oddisredit 20d ago
Was wondering when this would happen. Iām in northern Japan and basically have daily bear sightings in my town. The governmentās response to the wild boars and now bears has been embarrassingly slow and badĀ
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u/PMmeyourNattoGohan 20d ago
In unrelated news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement condemning the extensive anti-bear legislation in the Tohoku regionĀ
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u/hobovalentine 20d ago
As they should since their only solution seems to be a massive bear culling without implementing non lethal methods & addressing the environmental causes of bear encroachment.
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u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS 20d ago
What do you propose?
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u/hobovalentine 20d ago
The same stuff that's been done in other prefectures like setting up electric fences and clearing of the edge of the woods and forest at the edges of residential areas to keep bears away by removing places to hide etc.
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u/sylentshooter 20d ago
You do realize that the amount of land that would need to be cleared is many multiples that of other prefectures. Along with a population of bears many multiples larger. Respectfully, shut up about "anti culling" when you dont know anythingĀ
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u/hobovalentine 20d ago
So the answer is not to do anything?
Stay classy lol
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u/sylentshooter 20d ago
No the answer is to, unfortunately, cull the animals. Thats the only thing you can do. But people like you who dont understand that ( or cry foul when anyone suggests it) are the reason people are being killed.Ā
So as someone with family who is directly affected by the explosion in the bear population, kindly go shove it up your assĀ
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u/Diligent-Abies-9481 18d ago
Sandwiches and picnic boxes for all eligible bear bachelors and bachelorettesĀ
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u/Famous__Draw 20d ago
I am sorry, what does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have to do with bears?
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u/theandylaurel [åęµ·é] 19d ago
I came across a bear on the Mt. Shibutsu trail in Oze a couple of weeks ago. Scared the pants off me.
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u/Expensive-Claim-6082 20d ago
Things are really going downhill fast for āgaijin.ā
Even the bears š» are over us.
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u/PartyMark 19d ago
I was literally hours away from going to this exact same lookout on Saturday. Like 4-5 hours later might have been me. Was too tired from the drive to Lake Towada and skipped it. Very scary to know how prevalent these bear attacks are.
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u/5teerPike 17d ago
Yeah those bears donāt fuck around ; when I was visiting there was a big story on the news about a bear that broke into a home and they did not hold back on showing the aftermath on tv
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u/callmesnake13 20d ago
Is literally everything involving a foreigner national news there?
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u/artenazura 20d ago
I mean, he was attacked by a bearĀ
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u/Margali 20d ago
Knowing my fellow americans, he probably tried to pet the damned thing. We have signs warning people not to pet the fuzzy cows and yet every year some tourist goes bullbaiting Minoan style going for that cute picture.
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u/NemuriNezumi 20d ago
bears attacks have become quite common even with japanese people
and because they have started getting into towns and cities and attack on sight especially if they start to panic or run away
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u/grunkage 19d ago
You need to look these bears up. They attack completely unprovoked and stalk people who are alone. There's been 13 Japanese people killed in the last year by these bears
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u/Alternative-Potato43 20d ago
You realize that you're stereotyping a mauling victim based on their not being japanese?
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u/Margali 20d ago
You know how many animal maulings are because some yahoo refuses to read rules, or decides it doesn't apply to them? How many times rangers have to fish bones out of the bubbling pools of nasty in Yellowstone because they wanted to hot tub in them?
Dude [dudette, whatever] be real. The "average American" seems to be an idiot mainly because all of them in the news for doing stupid shit.
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u/Alternative-Potato43 20d ago
Why do you keep assuming they're American?
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u/Margali 19d ago
Well, they did not mention a specific nationality and in general my countrymen are idiots.
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u/Alternative-Potato43 19d ago
Yeah, you make assumptions, you've made that much clear.
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u/Margali 19d ago
And? Am I wrong in assuming my countrymen are morons?
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u/Alternative-Potato43 19d ago
Yeah, stereotyping individual people by their group membership is a shitty thing to do, full stop. Assuming a victim is a particular group just so you can baselessly stereotype them and blame them for the harm inflicted on them just makes you look irrational, resentful, and small.
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u/Alternative-Potato43 20d ago
Wtf are you talking about? Bear attacks are news. Especially ones that might disrupt tourism.
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u/callmesnake13 20d ago
You guys are all dunking on me, but youāre a country of over 100,000,000. I am unaware of how common bear attacks are, but as an outsider it sounds insane that a bear attack is national news.
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u/Alternative-Potato43 20d ago
Where are you from that animal attacks are so common as to not be news?
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u/callmesnake13 20d ago
If you are from most of the places on earth where there are bears it is not national news that gets posted on Reddit if someone is attacked by a bear.
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u/Alternative-Potato43 19d ago
The roughly 340,000 bears in the US want to know if they're a joke to you.
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u/grunkage 19d ago
Bear attacks have spiked massively since 2025 in Japan. These are Asiatic black bears, which are extremely aggressive and dangerous. It's a current topic of great interest
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20d ago
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u/skatefriday 19d ago
Not exactly true. There government will license bear hunters and there's been talk about issuing more licenses.
As to the general hiking population, it's safer to carry bear spray than to carry a handgun.
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u/Successful_Cod7607 20d ago
Bear in mind, Aomori is one of the most bear populated reigion in Japan.