Body Found After Bear Attack, Possibly Japan’s First Such Death This Year

MORIOKA (Japan), April 22 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- The body of a woman was found in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Iwate on Tuesday after a police officer was injured in a nearby bear attack, police said, Kyodo News Agency reported.

If confirmed as a fatal bear attack, it would be the first such death in Japan since Nov. 3 in Yuzawa, in neighbouring Akita Prefecture, according to the Environment Ministry.

Thirteen people were killed by bears in Japan in 2025. Between July and October, five people were killed in bear attacks in Iwate, four of them in October alone, ministry data showed.

The 56-year-old police officer encountered a bear at a stream in Shiwa on Tuesday morning while searching for a missing person, police said, adding that the body of an adult woman was later found a short distance away. The officer sustained injuries to his arm and face.

A hunter accompanying the search team killed the female bear, according to authorities. The bear was 1.3 metres in length and appeared to be an adult.

Police officers had been searching for the owner of a vehicle found on a road with its engine running late Monday afternoon.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO