★ Editor-in-chief Koji Yamazaki is the director of the Ibaraki Nature Museum and professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Agriculture. He is a former representative of the Japan Bear Network and a member of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group. All 10 contributors are actively engaged in bear research or have been involved in incident sites—including ecologists, physicians, local government officials, and on-site conservation experts. This is a truly frontline expert team.
★ Bears are not nocturnal. Is “playing dead” wrong? Do bears hate snakes? The book directly corrects many widespread misconceptions, using real incident cases from Akita and Hokkaido. From April to July 2026, bear-related human casualties in Japan reached 53, unchanged from the same period last year.
★ From ways to avoid encountering bears, to how to use bear spray and its effectiveness, whether ice axes and trekking poles can be used to fight back, and how to respond if you might be eaten—the book covers the full process from prevention to emergency response. Each item includes POINTs and lessons, with an overall summary at the end.
★ The book also includes an online roundtable discussion by the contributors, “Protecting Yourself from Bears,” covering supplementary topics such as “human incidents have triggers.” With abundant photos, illustrations, and charts, this is a practical textbook specifically about bears.
★ For hikers, campers, forestry workers, mountain village residents, and anyone who might enter bear habitat.

Recently, news of bear sightings and bear-related human casualties has been constant, yet books that directly address “what to do when you encounter a bear” are almost nonexistent.

This book tackles the bear problem head-on, practically summarizing basic knowledge about bears, ways to avoid encountering them, and how to respond when you do, incorporating human incident cases from the past to the present. All 10 contributors are actively engaged in bear research or countermeasures, or have been involved in human incident sites—true experts.

The book also features an online roundtable discussion by the contributors, “Protecting Yourself from Bears,” covering supplementary topics such as “human incidents have triggers,” “the mistake of ‘playing dead’,” and “do bears hate snakes?” Photos, illustrations, and charts appear throughout, with “POINTs” and “lessons” for each item, and an “overall summary” at the end.

Koji Yamazaki（山﨑晃司）
Director of the Ibaraki Nature Museum. Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Agriculture. Born in 1961 in Chofu, Tokyo. Specializes in forest animal ecology. PhD in Agriculture. Former wildlife investigator for the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Zambia, curator at the Tokyo Tama Zoological Park’s Natural History Museum, senior curator at the Ibaraki Nature Museum, and professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture’s Faculty of Regional Environment Science. Former representative of the Japan Bear Network, former board member of the International Association for Bear Research and Management, and member of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group.

Chapter 1: What Kind of Animal Is a Bear?
Chapter 2: What Can Be Done to Avoid Encountering Bears
Chapter 3: If You Encounter a Bear
Chapter 4: When You Should Fight Back Against a Bear
Chapter 5: Learning from Bear Incident Cases
Chapter 6: How to Reduce Bear-Related Harm
Online Roundtable: Protecting Yourself from Bears—What We See from Research and Countermeasure Sites
Appendix: Basic Knowledge for Safely and Reliably Capturing Bears