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The story
Early in the morning on November 8, 2026, a man jogging in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture was attacked by a bear and injured on his hands, legs, and other parts of his body. The bear fled the scene, and police are continuing to patrol the surrounding area on alert. The thread lit up with a geography debate over whether the bear could swim across the Kanmon Strait to reach Kyushu, plus an exchange of info on how well bear bells and bear spray actually work, and just how fast bears can run. Meanwhile, comments downplaying the attack drew pushback, exposing a real gap in how seriously people were taking it.
NTV News
Early on the morning of the 8th, a man who was jogging in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, was attacked by a bear and bitten on his hands, legs, and other areas. The bear left the scene afterward, and police are on alert in the surrounding area.
(Broadcast November 8, 2026)
Source: youtu.be / Original article here
What people said
Looks like it's finally about to cross over into Fukuoka.
Seriously.
Please, let's keep Kyushu as the one region in Japan with no bears.
It can't even cross the Tone River — no way it's getting across the Kanmon Strait.
There's no way a mere bear could get into the Land of Mayhem! (a nickname for Fukuoka, known for its rough reputation)
Actually wait, he wasn't even running through the mountains, was he?
The bear's coming right down into town.
Some idiot actually went and smuggled a bear into Kyushu on purpose once.
They caught it and ran a genetic test — turned out to be a Honshu bear.
Kyushu should get a taste of the suffering the rest of us on Honshu deal with.
The bigger the city, the more idiots there are who think walking around counts as exercise.
Like, do you see a kid or a dog or a cat walking and think 'wow, getting some exercise in'?
Though sure, there are tons of people running laps around the Imperial Palace or along the Sumida River.
What are you even saying?
That's the opposite of what Re: #22 said.
If it makes it all the way to Kumamoto, the locals would probably be thrilled. (Kumamoto's name contains the kanji for 'bear,' and its mascot Kumamon is a bear)
Kumamon is the only bear we need.
That worked back when bears were still scared of humans.
These days it's just a dinner bell saying 'food's over here.'
Got a Japanese-made one on Amazon for about ¥3,000.
Shelf life of 4 years, sprays for 30 seconds.
Having it really does put my mind at ease for walks and taking out the trash.
Isn't that one non-compliant with the Ministry of the Environment's 'Recommended Performance Requirements for Bear Deterrent Spray' and the US EPA's bear spray performance guidelines?
Is that the one with the short spray range?
Bells actually work the opposite way — they just announce 'dinner's here!'
Seeing old guys buy bells without knowing that
gives me a weirdly complicated feeling.
Isn't that a Hokkaido thing?
Asiatic black bears don't eat people the way brown bears do.
There've been a ton of Asiatic black bear attacks in recent years though…
Even if they don't eat people, there have been attacks in Akita and Iwate.
Even if you survive, you might end up losing an eye or with a fractured skull.
The ones they're trying to protect because they're rare are in Shikoku, I think — same species, so I don't think we need them here too.
It's such a treacherous stretch of water that even ships get into accidents there.
But couldn't it just walk across on the Kanmon Bridge or through the national highway tunnel?
Oh really?
In Hokkaido there was a bear that swam to an island 20km away.
The strait itself might have fast currents,
but even if it gets swept out to sea, it'll just calmly swim back.
But then how did bears get to Honshu and Shikoku in the first place?
Did they all come down from the north?
Apparently it was Kano (a district within Shunan).
If you're the type who jogs, you've got confidence in your legs, don't you?
Just sprint away at full speed!
Skip the whole 'proper response' thing and just run!
That's what I'd do.
I'd go full speed yelling 'catch me if you can, Mr. Bear' lol
Even Asiatic black bears can hit over 10 meters per second — faster than Usain Bolt.
If it's serious, there's no outrunning it.
Asiatic black bears can run 40-50 km/h.
And on top of that, bears have great endurance and are relentless once they're after you.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Asiatic black bears, native to Honshu and Shikoku, were effectively declared extinct in Kyushu by the Ministry of the Environment back in 2012, making it extremely unlikely that a bear would actually turn up there today. The thread’s recurring debate over whether a bear could cross the Kanmon Strait reflects this habitat split. On bear bells, some pointed out that while they once worked on bears that avoided humans, they now just broadcast a person’s location to bears that have grown used to people — an easily overlooked shift in the underlying assumptions as sightings increase in recent years. Posters also pushed back against comments downplaying the danger, noting that Asiatic black bears can run around 40 km/h, far too fast for a person to outrun.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Yamaguchi] Man Attacked by Bear While Jogging… Bitten on Hands and Legs, Injured — Shunan City.”
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