Man attacked by bear outside public toilet in busy Japanese city

The building where the bear attack occurred is centrally located, close to homes and restaurants, and only 1 kilometre from city hall.

A man was attacked by a bear while using a public toilet in Japan on Friday, marking the latest incident in a wave of bear encounters in densely populated areas.

The attack occurred in the Gunma Prefecture, near Numata railway station, north of Tokyo, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

Police say the victim, a 69-year-old man who remains unidentified, was mauled by a 1.5-metre-long bear just before exiting the public toilet at about 1:30 a.m., and sustained minor injuries to his leg.

The bear fled the scene after the man began yelling and kicking his legs in self-defence, The Guardian reported.

The station where the bear attack occurred is centrally located in Numata City, close to homes and restaurants, and only 1 km from the city hall building.

Police remain on high alert in the area, the Japanese outlet wrote.

The bathroom encounter came about a month after a bear wandered into a grocery store in the same urban area and reportedly attacked a person in the parking lot before lying on top of a customer and ransacking the food counter.

According to AFP, the bear was approximately 1.4 metres long and scoured the store’s fish and sushi selections before stamping on avocados in the fruit section.