All Spray And No Play: Japan Schools Use 'Unique' Repellants To Keep Bears Away

Last Updated:June 24, 2026, 19:08 IST

Tokyo suburb to install 700 bear repellent sprays in schools and communities after deadly attacks, as Japan battles rising urban bear encounters.

After recording five deaths and 20 injured due to bear attacks since April till May, a Tokyo suburb has announced the decision to install 700 anti-bear sprays in schools and community organisations.

Eleven sightings or signs of bears have been reported there since April, with a motion-activated camera capturing footage of a black bear around a residence on April 29, broadcaster NHK reported.

Bear repellent sprays are artificial intelligence-driven detection systems and deterrent alarms equipped with flash devices.

According to Kyodo News, supervised by Yoshikazu Sato, a brown bear biologist and professor at Rakuno Gakuen University in Hokkaido, the spray has a maximum range of about 10 metres and discharges for roughly 10 seconds. It contains over 2% capsaicin, an irritant to a bear’s eyes, nose and lungs. The spray is priced at 9,900 yen, including a holster.

According to the environment ministry, while Japan reported 13 deaths by bears last fiscal year, five fatalities were recorded between April 1 and May 30 this year.

AFP quoted local government spokesman Ryosuke Sato saying that the city will spend 15 million yen ($93,000) on sprays, movable electric fences and devices that make high-pitched sounds.

He further said the authorities plan to draft an action plan to bring in hunters and also take other measures in case bears appear in local neighbourhoods.

“By closely working with police and hunters, we are drafting a manual on how to deal with bears should they come to our streets," Sato added.

Earlier this month, 94 schools in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, were shut for three days after a bear was reported roaming the streets.

In another incident in Fukushima, a bear attack had injured four people in two factories and a residential area.

In recent years, the country has witnessed a spike in the number of bear sightings and attacks, especially in urban areas.

In the last year to March, bear sightings nationwide topped 50,000 — more than double the previous record set two years earlier, AFP quoted official data.

In May, a Japanese company making ferocious-looking robot wolves reported that it was getting large orders in the wake of bear attacks.

AFP quoted Ohta Seiki, the Hokkaido-based firm that makes “Monster Wolf", an animatronic scarecrow with flashing red eyes that howls and growls menacingly to scare away wild animals, saying that they have already received around 50 orders this year, more than the usual volume for an entire year.

“We make them by hand. We cannot make them fast enough now. We are asking our customers to wait two to three months," company president Yuji Ohta told AFP.

News world All Spray And No Play: Japan Schools Use 'Unique' Repellants To Keep Bears Away

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