STORY: Ninety-four schools in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya have been suspended on Monday after its first-ever bear sighting.
:: Orion Street Mall Promotion Association
Surveillance camera footage showed the bear running through a shopping street just meters from a pair of residents.
The city of half-a-million residents about 60 miles north of Tokyo said the bear was first seen in a residential area near a park on Saturday evening.
It remains at large after the last sighting early Monday morning less than a mile from a middle school.
"I'm so surprised to see it (a bear) come this far into our city. It's never happened before."
:: Fukushima Steel Works
Last week, a bear attack in the northeastern city of Fukushima left at least four people injured.
Security footage showed a black bear chasing a worker by the entrance of a factory and throwing him to the ground.
Bear attacks, including in urban areas, have been on the rise in Japan as numbers grow helped by a decline in hunting.
It's prompted the government to set up a task force to reduce casualties.
Experts say climate change has reduced harvests of bears' natural food.
Depopulation of rural areas and the rise in abandoned farmland have emboldened them to seek food near human settlements.
