“Recently, there’s numerous inquiries regarding India. We’ve never seen so much enthusiasm from Japanese companies,” says the surprised megabank staff who surveys Japanese corporate expansion into emerging countries.
On November 4, 2025, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment announced that the number of bear sightings nationwide in the first half of the fiscal year (April–September) had reached 20,792 cases (preliminary figure).
Japan now stands at a critical crossroads in its relationship with wild animals. In 2025, the number of people injured or killed by bears has reached an all-time high since statistics began, an unprecedented and abnormal situation.