Seishi Sato attacked by a bear while picking mushrooms, in Iwaizumi, Iwate prefecture.
© Seishi SatoSeishi Sato attacked by a bear while picking mushrooms, in Iwaizumi, Iwate prefecture.
Seishi Sato had an ominous feeling when he saw something rustling in a bush during a recent stroll in a forest in northern Japan.

Before he knew it, two Asiatic bears had sprung from the shrub, one charging at him as he frantically tried to fend it off while fearing for his life.

"When I saw them, I was so close and I thought I was in deep trouble," the 57-year-old from Iwate prefecture, in northeast Japan, told CNN.

He survived the attack — but not without plenty of scratches and puncture wounds on his arm and thigh.

Sato is among at least 212 people who survived what has been a record year for bear attacks in Japan, according to the Ministry of Environment. Six people have died.

With a month of 2023 still to go, this year's total has already far surpassed the 158 that took place throughout the whole of 2020 (the previous record year). And the number of bear attacks have never exceeded 200 per year since record began in 2006.

Sightings of "kuma", or bears, are not unusual in Japan but are generally concentrated in the northern part of the country, where mountain ranges, lush bush and crystal-clear rivers provide an ideal habitat and abundant sources of the acorns, beechnuts, fruits and insects that make up their diet.

But experts say Japan's bears are increasingly venturing out of their traditional habitats and into urban areas in search of food.