Sightings of Asian Black Bears Increasing in Shimonoseki, Stoking Fears of Spread to Kitakyushu

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:03 JST, December 14, 2025

As damage caused by bears worsens across eastern Japan, particularly in the Tohoku region, Asian black bear sightings in Yamaguchi Prefecture have also remained high, hitting 372 cases this fiscal year.

Shimonoseki, the area of the prefecture closest to Kyushu, was previously considered an area with few bear sightings. As of Dec.2, however, the location had recorded its highest number of sightings in four years, at 21.

Kyushu, where bears were once thought to be extinct, is closely monitoring the situation, as Shimonoseki is located directly across the Kanmon Straits.

The west Chugoku Mountains, which straddle Yamaguchi, Hiroshima and Shimane prefectures, are habitat to Asian black bears. According to Yamaguchi Prefecture’s nature conservation division, the number of sightings in the area has consistently exceeded 200 annually since fiscal 2018, reaching 444 in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2024, the figure surged to 799 cases, nearly doubling the figure of the previous fiscal year.

The north-eastern region of Yamaguchi Prefecture, including parts of Iwakuni and Shunan, has long been considered a permanent bear habitat. However, in recent years, multiple bear sightings have even been reported in central and western Yamaguchi Prefecture, including Shimonoseki, indicating habitat expansion.

In September, a camera installed by the city government captured a bear entering an abandoned house and using both paws to push aside a wooden platform as well as smashing through a wall.

Given the increasing number of sightings in the western areas of Yamaguchi Prefecture, Kitakyushu — the gateway to Kyushu, which is separated from Honshu by only the narrow, approximately 650-meter-wide Kanmon Straits — is paying close attention to reports of bears appearing in Shimonoseki.

Since December 2023, when reports of bear damage began to be received nationwide, the Kitakyushu city government has posted self-defense measures on its website to address citizens’ concerns about bear sightings within the city. Following the severe damage caused by bears in eastern Japan this year, the city has also received inquiries such as “Are there bears in Kitakyushu?”

Prof. Shinsuke Koike, an expert on bear ecology at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said, “They can swim, and there are records of them swimming several hundred meters to coastal islands in Tohoku.”

Regarding the possibility of bears crossing to Kyushu, he added: “However, the coastal areas of Kitakyushu lack forests. It seems unlikely they could establish themselves there.”