Cloudy skies tied to climate change are leading to food shortages, spurring bear attacks in Japan
Stock photo. (Getty Images/ghrushev)
Residents in northern Japan now have a new hazard to worry about: hungry bears. The country is seeing an unprecedented spike in attacks, with more than a dozen people killed and more than 200 injured in 2025. The surge has prompted the government to deploy troops in Akita Prefecture, and the US Embassy in Tokyo to issue an unusual “wildlife alert,” according to Vox. Most incidents involve Asiatic black bears, a species that is not typically aggressive, making the increase in attacks particularly concerning.
“Bears have been appearing in supermarkets, and there’s a possibility that a bear may be in front of your house when you wake up in the morning,” Japanese defense chief Shinjiro Koizumi said at an October news conference, according to the New York Times. “People are living in great fear.”
New research published in the journal Global Change Biology suggests an unexpected factor may be contributing to the problem: clouds. The study, led by Keio University researcher Hengjun Xiao, links the rise in attacks to climate-driven changes in atmospheric winds that are making northern Japan cloudier, Vox reports.
Less sunlight means forests produce fewer nuts and shoots, leaving bears with less food and increasing the likelihood they will wander into towns and fields where people live. Akita’s spring season in 2025 was among the darkest on record, and beech trees there produced almost no nuts. Scientists say Japan’s “bear crisis” may be part of a broader pattern in which climate change is intensifying conflicts between people and wildlife. Similar situations are emerging elsewhere, including elephants in drought-stricken regions entering villages in search of water and whales altering migration routes in warming seas, which increases the risk of collisions with ships.
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