Overview
- The rescue took place Saturday after a man in his 60s spotted a roughly 1.5m brown bear about 50 metres ahead on a 2,141m Hokkaido trail, leaving four climbers stranded for more than three hours before a helicopter airlifted them uninjured.
- Mount Rausu on the Shiretoko Peninsula was formally reopened to climbers the same weekend after being closed since last August following a fatal bear attack.
- Separately, an 83-year-old man in Akita was attacked while picking mountain vegetables on July 5 and suffered head and face injuries but was conscious when taken to hospital.
- The Environment Ministry and local authorities are accelerating prevention work by installing about 800 cameras, distributing bear spray and deterrent devices, and using a four-level brown bear alert and live sighting maps for residents and hikers.
- Scientists and officials link the rise in encounters to larger bear populations, poor mast harvests that push bears lower, rural depopulation that reduces human buffers, and shorter hibernation from warmer winters, raising the likelihood of more trail closures and stricter safety rules for tourism and local communities.