A bear ecology expert says the animals have been moving closer to communities in Japan over the past 40 to 50 years. One sign of that: bear sightings have increased in urban areas in recent years.

Professor Koike Shinsuke of the graduate school of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology says that as cities and towns have receded in some areas, bear habitats may be expanding. In an aging of society with a declining population, people are living in tighter clusters.

Koike says there is enough food for bears in the mountains this year, as trees have produced abundant acorns. Yet sightings in urban areas continue because bears remember finding and eating chestnuts and persimmons in these areas last year. He says they may have come out of the mountains thinking they can get the same food again.