An 82-year-old woman in Japan was attacked by a bear during her morning walk. A nearby camera captured the moment the bear suddenly lunged at her from behind. pic.twitter.com/6qQnDWNGKs
— DW News (@dwnews) October 10, 2025
On October 8, 2025, an 82-year-old woman was attacked by an Asiatic black bear in the city of Daisen in Akita Prefecture, Japan. The attack was caught on video. The bear is presumed to be an Asiatic black bear because the brown bears (Ursus Arctos) in Japan are limited to the northern island of Hokkaido. Daisen and Akita prefectures are not in Hokkaido. Akita prefecture is on the largest of the Japanese islands, Honshu. Honshu has a significant population of Asiatic black bears.
From the bear’s actions, it appears to be a juvenile bear that has not yet perfected its hunting technique. The woman seems to hear the bear and turn toward it just before the running bear reaches her. The bear misses solid contact, only managing to claw the woman’s face before overshooting its mark. The woman is screaming, and after another abortive attempt at a take-down, the bear retreats. This is typical prey-testing behavior for bears. The bear does not go very far, but a passing driver rescues the woman. She gets into the left passenger seat and they drive off. She was taken to the hospital.
Japan has more fatal bear attacks than the United States. It is a surprising fact, given that Japan’s population is only 36% of the USA population. The USA has about ten times as many American black bears as Japan has Asiatic black bears. The USA has about 3-4 times as many brown bears (Ursus arctos) as Japan has brown bears (Ursus arctos) on Hokkaido Island. Bears are hunted much more regularly in the USA than in Japan. Japan has one of the lowest rates of firearms ownership in the world, while the USA has the highest rate of firearms ownership in the world.
The Asiatic black bear is more aggressive than the American black bear, although the two are closely related species. The brown bears on Hokkaido are the same species as the brown bears in Alaska, the lower 48 states, Asia, and Europe. They are a worldwide species with a number of subspecies that have slight genetic differences. In the USA, they are known as grizzly bears, brown bears, and Kodiak bears.
The Japanese government is in the process of reforming some of the onerous restrictions on hunting bears in Japan. Japan is in the process of reducing the population of brown bears on Hokkaido (about 11,000) to a more manageable number. One of the reforms has been to allow hunters to shoot bears in urban areas without having to obtain prior permission to shoot in each individual case.
Japan could gain resources and reduce the population of brown bears in Hokkaido by selling hunting rights to sportsmen worldwide. Given the experience of Alaska, it is likely an auction for brown bear permits in Japan would bring in 30 or 40 thousand dollars each. This would bring money into the local economy for the hiring of guides, use of hotels, and other tourist amenities.
The animosity toward firearm ownership in Japan makes such an outcome highly unlikely. Elderly Japanese hunters have complained that bureaucratic restrictions are one reason they are having difficulty recruiting younger hunters.
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About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
A couple weeks ago a Missouri man was killed by a bear while on a trip to Arkansas. That’s the second death by bear in the State within a month and the first time a bear killed anyone in Arkansas since 1892.