As my wife and I listened to a news bulletin in June about bears killing four people in Akita Prefecture, she gave me one of those silent looks pregnant with meaning. Let me try to translate as best I can: It was one of those looks that say, "You see, you are nuts!" I am guilty as charged, but claim mildly mitigating circumstances.
Since 1991, I have encountered bears on a regular basis while hiking in the hills of Gunma Prefecture. I estimate an average of seven a year, thus somewhere close to 150 encounters. But all encounters are not equal. Most have been the innocuous sightings at, say, 20 to 50 meters that involved the bear running away when it saw or heard me.
In other cases it was decidedly more hairy, with the bear charging toward me or at least running uncomfortably close in my direction.