Japanese city suspends 94 schools after first-ever bear sighting

Utsunomiya closed all 94 primary and middle schools after the city’s first-ever bear sighting.
The Asiatic black bear remains at large — last seen about 500 metres from a middle school.
Bear encounters are rising nationwide (bear numbers have reportedly tripled since 2012); experts blame food shortages, climate change and abandoned farmland, and the government has set up a task force.