There have already been a record 10 fatalities across the nation this year.

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Monday said he was looking into the possibility of sending troops to Akita prefecture in response to requests from the prefectural government, with officials in Tokyo confirming later in the day that the decision had been approved.

The ministry said the troops would provide logistical support, such as setting up box traps and transporting bears that had been euthanised. It emphasised that military personnel would not be permitted to use their firearms to shoot bears and that task would continue to fall to professional hunters.

On Monday, police summoned by anxious relatives to a house in Iwate prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, found a body that had sustained extensive claw and bite wounds.

The same day, the body of a woman in her 80s was discovered in a drainage ditch on the outskirts of Akita City. The woman had suffered severe injuries across her entire body, police told local media, and authorities are searching for a large bear that had previously been seen in the area.