How Japan is fighting back against a surge of bear attacks

ODATE, Japan — Before students can come out to play at his school, Yoji Hikage has to give the all clear.

ODATE, Japan — Before students can come out to play at his school, Yoji Hikage has to give the all clear.

Hikage, a kindergarten principal in Japan’s Akita prefecture, has been on patrol every day since bears were spotted nearby in October, setting off firecrackers and playing human voices with a radio to scare them away.

The bear sightings in places such as Odate, a city of almost 70,000 people, are “extremely abnormal,” said Hikage, who said bears had never been seen in the three generations his family has lived in the area.

To protect his students, Hikage has also chopped down fruit and chestnut trees that might attract hungry bears, a decision he called “painful.”

The trees were “here since I was little and I have lots of memories,” he said. “But first and foremost: safety first.”