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Kyoto has installed multilingual signs across the city to alert residents and tourists Bear Amidst the rapid increase in views.
yellow signals English, Sugar, Korean, And the Japanese advise people on what to do if they encounter an Asian black bear. One tip is to crouch low and protect the head and neck.
A QR code on the signs links to a Kyoto prefectural website that tracks views.
The first sign was put up outside the Yase branch of the Sakyo ward office on Saturday, after bear feces was found nearby at the beginning of the month.
City officials said they received 112 reports of bear sightings and other information about them between April and Nov. 25, up from 86 during the same period in 2024.
as signs come Japan It experienced the most intense period of bear activity on record, with the number of attacks and sightings increasing across the country, including in areas that are popular with foreign visitors.
A record 13 people have been killed in attacks since April this year, according to local media, and incidents of bears breaking into homes, roaming near schools and even going on a rampage in supermarkets have been reported on an almost daily basis.
This week, the National Police Agency announced a number of emergency measures to help provinces facing the most severe infiltration.
The agency said it would distribute 44 rifles and bullets suitable for killing bears to police forces in 13 prefectures, including Akita and Iwate, the epicenter of the latest surge, and provide 790 sets of protective gear to officials guiding evacuations and guarding areas where bears were sighted.
On 28 November, the Cabinet approved a supplementary budget allocation of 480 million yen (£2.5 million) to pay for the measures.
Police said the training would be started gradually.
Earlier this month, local officials said they could no longer cope with the increasing attacks, so the military was deployed to parts of northern Japan to help trap the killed.
The increase in encounters is linked to many pressures. The bear population in Japan is estimated to have tripled since 2012 due to a decline in hunting, while habitat loss and food shortages are making the problem worse. Poor acorn and beech-nut harvests are pushing bears into cities as they search for food before their winter hibernation.
Japan’s rural depopulation, which has left large swaths of abandoned agricultural land and overgrown properties, exacerbates the problem by providing shelter and forage to wandering bears.
In some areas, such as Akita, Iwate and Gifu, authorities have reported a sixfold increase in the number of sightings this year, and residents have begun carrying bear bells even in semi-urban areas.
This means the threat is no longer limited to remote mountain towns. Recent sightings have been reported in Kyoto’s major tourist attractions Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Shirakawa-go, where a Spanish tourist was injured last month.
More than 220 people have been injured in bear attacks across Japan since April, the highest number ever recorded, according to NHK.