Photo by Michael Anfang on Unsplash

Japanese City Closes 94 Schools After Bear Sighting

curiousJun 11, 2026·354 words·3 min read

The eastern Japanese city of Utsunomiya has shuttered all 94 of its primary and secondary schools after a bear was sighted within municipal boundaries for the first time on record. The medium-sized black bear, estimated at roughly one metre in length, was first observed near a city park on Saturday before reappearing on CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras early Sunday morning, dashing past two startled young men in the city centre.

Japan has had about 50,000 bear sightings this year, mostly in the north-east. Bears near Tokyo are rare but are becoming more common. Last week, a bear in Fukushima attacked four people and entered an office before escaping. Experts say acorns, the bears' main food, did not grow well this year. So the animals come into towns to find food.

Bear attacks in Japan have risen sharply in recent years. Deaths and injuries hit a record high in the year to March. Some local governments are testing CCTV cameras linked to artificial intelligence (AI) systems that follow animal movements. About 12,000 to 42,000 Asiatic black bears live on Honshu, Japan's main island, while about 12,000 larger brown bears live on Hokkaido.

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