Japanese towns are grappling with a surge in bear encounters that has forced schools to close and left residents injured. A recent attack in one town saw a bear injure four people before ingeniously opening a water tap and unlatching a window to escape a building. To understand what's driving this uptick, France 24 spoke with Kazuhiko Maita, a researcher at the Institute for Asian Black Bear Research and Preservation who has survived nine bear attacks himself, about the escalating crisis facing Japan's communities.