Bear attacks in Japan are surging as declining hunter populations embolden wildlife to venture into human settlements in search of food. Experts attribute the trend to a shrinking number of people hunting bears, which traditionally kept the animals wary and confined to mountain regions. As rural communities age and younger generations abandon hunting traditions, bears have lost their fear of humans and increasingly raid garbage, crops, and livestock in populated areas. The shift reveals how the collapse of rural livelihoods reshapes the boundary between human and wild spaces, a problem Japan shares with other aging developed nations.