© 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 โ 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.