Govt Aims to Establish Bear Population Control by FY30, Hopes to Achieve ‘Coexistence’ with Bears

By Morio Kodama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

2:00 JST, April 6, 2026

The government has created its first roadmap for bear population control following a series of attacks on humans.

In November, it presented a package of countermeasures against bears with initiatives to be undertaken by nine relevant ministries and agencies. The roadmap outlines the measures and the government aims to make them more effective before bears become fully active after hibernation ends.

Under the current policy, bears are to be taken if sighted. The roadmap shifts the focus to actively taking them in certain areas. The government is aiming for “coexistence between bears and humans” by fiscal 2030.

Overpopulation concerns

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said, “We prioritize the safety and security of the public and will devote all our efforts to constructing a system for how to respond when bears are sighted as well as to achieve coexistence between humans and bears,” at a Cabinet meeting on bear damage attended by Environment Minister Hirotaka Ishihara and others on March 27.

The Environment Ministry’s survey showed the brown bear distribution range in Hokkaido has expanded by 30%, and that of Asian black bears on Honshu by 40% over 15 years from fiscal 2003.

The number of human casualties in the 1980s was less than 30 per year. In fiscal 2025, however, a record 237 people had been attacked as of the end of February, resulting in a record 13 deaths.

The core strategy of “coexistence” aims to suppress bear sightings by taking them when they come within and around human settlements. In particular, the government will annually cull about 20% of the estimated population of Asian black bears in the Tohoku, Kanto and Chubu regions — where human casualties have been especially high — for the time being, saying that the population has grown too large.

By taking more bears than their natural population growth — 14.5% per year — the government aims to decrease the bear population to 62% of current levels by fiscal 2030 in the six Tohoku prefectures, 67% in the seven Kanto prefectures and 63% in the nine Chubu prefectures.

In the Kinki and Chugoku regions, which have seen minimal attacks, the government will maintain the bear population at current levels by taking the bears at a rate roughly equal to the natural growth.

Hokkaido, which is inhabited by brown bears, will follow its own management plan to reduce the population to 71% of current levels by 2034.

Tripling number of staff

Personnel, equipment and resources involved will be expanded to facilitate active culling. An Environment Ministry survey conducted in February and March showed 784 local government employees were responsible for operations including taking bears. A ministry official said quite a few municipalities have been unable to establish a system.

The ministry plans to increase the workforce to 2,500, roughly three times the current level, through the deployment of licensed hunters hired by local governments. The number of box traps in use will be approximately doubled from 5,527 to 10,000.

Alongside these measures, relevant authorities will work together. The Environment Ministry will foster understanding of the emergency hunting program and the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry will cut down trees along rivers where bears roam. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will strengthen safety measures at schools and the Defense Ministry and the National Police Agency will request cooperation from retired personnel familiar with the handling of firearms.

Knowledge, experience essential

The roadmap was compiled in just four months following the announcement of the countermeasures package and therefore lacks fully fleshed-out details. For example, only numerical targets are provided regarding the bears to be taken and the staff conducting the operations, with no indication of what kind of personnel will be deployed or how they will be assigned.

“Simply assembling a sufficient number of people is meaningless,” a 77-year-old chairman of a local hunting association in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, said. “Without adequate knowledge and experience, bears cannot be taken safely.”

The government will hold annual ministerial meetings to review the roadmap.

“It is significant that they have outlined measures to be implemented within a set timeframe,” Iwate University Associate Prof. Kiyoshi Yamauchi, who studies wildlife management, said. “To ensure their effectiveness, the government must take responsibility and make revisions as necessary.”