Bear sightings continue in various parts of Japan.

S/ Q: Was the bear over there?

S/ Witness / It was on that tree. Do you see the Y-shaped area in the middle? That’s where it was.

A bear about 60 centimeters long was on a persimmon tree near a house in Niigata Prefecture.

S/ Witness / It stayed still up there. Not eating persimmons but just resting without moving. It stayed like that until it was shot. First there was a bang and then two shots and then another two shots. There were about eight shots in all.

The bear remained in place, so it was removed through emergency shooting.

On the same day, emergency rifle hunting also took place in Yamagata Prefecture.

A bear cub, which was about 75 centimeters in length, was also on a persimmon tree here.

S/ Was there a bear?

S/ There’s apparently a bear at the shrine.

Emergency shooting allows municipalities to authorize the firing of hunting rifles in urban areas.

The Environment Ministry and others say 23 cases have been carried out since the system started in September.

As local authorities struggle to respond, Akita and Iwate prefectures launched a new measure on November 13.

This is the Akita prefectural police headquarters.

S/ We will now hold the deployment ceremony for the bear removal response project team.

S/ Kobayashi Minoru, Akita prefectural police chief / To establish a system where police officers use rifles to remove bears, we have formed the bear removal response project team today and will deal with the matter.

Police officers will take on the unprecedented mission of removing bears on their own.

Starting November 13, police officers can use rifles to remove bears when hunters cannot arrive in time.

According to the National Police Agency, a bear removal project team is made up of four members.

Two of them are riot squad officers from the firearm unit that is normally tasked with counterterrorism activities, and they will carry rifles.

The two others are the leader and a liaison officer who will coordinate with municipalities.

Two such teams will be set up each in Akita and Iwate.

The teams will use special bear-hunting bullets.

These bullets are designed to minimize penetration to prevent secondary damage while maintaining high lethality.

Officials are hoping the police teams will help deal with the recent surges in bear sightings amid a shortage of hunters.

In Tokyo, the governors of Hokkaido, Niigata and the six prefectures of the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan submitted an emergency request concerning bear countermeasures to the Environment Ministry.

The official who received the request said the ministry will work hard to secure budget allocations and provide support to the prefectures.

Responses to bears have reached “state of emergency” levels.

The US Embassy in Japan is also urging caution.

S/ Tamura Ayano, Reporter / The embassy is warning Americans in Japan to stay alert for bears. Its post mentions northern Japan and Sapporo.

The embassy is advising people to avoid affected areas, be wary of surroundings and report bear sightings to local authorities.