Three people in Japan have been mauled to death by bears all in the span of one week, according to PEOPLE. One of the victims was a man in his 70s who was foraging in a forest, per The Japan Times.
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3 People From Japan Die From Bears Within One Week
“A man in his 70s who went missing after going into the woods to harvest mushrooms was found dead,” said an Iwate Prefectural Police official. “We suspect he was attacked by a bear based on scratch marks.”
Although this incident occurred on Friday, October 10, another attack took place on Wednesday. The police revealed that they found a man dead, most likely from a bear attack, in another area of the same prefecture. According to local outlet TV Iwate, the bear had separated the victim’s head and torso.
Then, on Saturday, in the Nagano prefecture, police found a 78-year-old man’s body with several claw marks. While the cause of this man’s death is still under investigation, police believe a bear was responsible.
Unfortunately, bear attacks aren’t so uncommon in this country. The Japan Times reported that 103 people nationwide suffered bear injuries between April and September 2025, according to the Environment Ministry.
Bear Injures 2 After Charging Through Supermarket
Just last Tuesday, in the Gunma prefecture, terrified shoppers found an agitated bear roaming the aisles of a supermarket. This led to two men getting injured when the bear attack happened around 7:30 PM local time in Numata City.
“A bear entered a supermarket, injuring one man, and another man was attacked and injured by the bear when he noticed the bear at the entrance and tried to escape,” said officials.
Hiroshi Horikawa, a management planning official for the grocery store chain, was stunned after the incident. Although the store is near mountainous areas, this has never happened before.
Luckily, the two men sustained non-life-threatening injuries, NHK reported. Still, the bear reportedly charged through the fish and sushi sections, perhaps hungry for food.
PEOPLE noted that Japan has likely seen an increase in wild bear attacks and encounters due to several factors. These include climate change and population decline in specific regions.
Since April, the death toll from bear attacks has risen to six people. The agency may see a record number of bear-related deaths after these three recent attacks.