Tokyo to lift ban on bear hunting next April

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to lift its ban on the hunting of Asian black bears for the first time in 20 years amid an increasing number of bear sightings and run-ins with humans.

According to a five-year bear management plan endorsed Tuesday by an expert panel, the Tokyo government will aim to cull about 34 bears a year starting next April to keep the number of bears in the area from increasing.

The culling by experienced licensed hunters will be permitted in Western Tokyo municipalities of Hachioji, Machida, Ome, Akiruno, Okutama, Hinode and Hinohara, as well as any other areas along river banks that bears travel through before wandering into urban areas.

Since 2008, the metro government has banned the hunting of bears, treating them as a nearly endangered species in need of protection. But since 2021, the number of bear sightings has surged, from 70 in 2021 to 213 in 2025. Areas where bears have been sighted are expanding, too. 

The percentage of sightings within 200 meters of human habitats, which include residential and farming areas, has risen over the years, from less than 10% to over 40%.

Tokyo currently estimates the number of bears at somewhere between 120 and 378. The population density is estimated at 0.47 bears per square kilometer of forest on average. The estimates are based on analysis using the “hair trap method,” where researchers monitor bear populations and behaviors by setting up barbed wire enclosures to catch hair samples as bears pass by.

The number of bear attacks in Tokyo has been relatively low, between zero and two per year, and no deadly encounters have occurred.

In the Tohoku region, however, bears have been a major threat for humans, with six fatal incidents so far since April. Fiscal 2025 saw a record-high death toll of 13 nationwide.

Experts cite compounding factors for the recent rise in bear sightings and attacks. Shortages of acorn and nut harvests in the forest — which some experts attribute to climate change — have driven hungry bears out of mountains into urban areas. 

Others have pointed to changing hibernation patterns, the loss of “buffer zones” in rural areas due to depopulation and the aging and dwindling ranks of licensed bear hunters as reasons for increasing numbers of human-bear incidents.