Japan's Environment Ministry says 69 people were attacked by bears from April to August. Five of them died. Two people were killed in the period.There were 12,067 bear sighting reports across Japan through July this fiscal year, starting in April, excluding the Kyushu region and Okinawa and Hokkaido prefectures. That figure is up more than 40 percent from the 8,536 reports in the same period of fiscal 2023.The ministry says if there is little food for bears such as acorns in mountains in and after autumn, more of the hungry bears may wander into urban areas. Officials are calling on people to avoid leaving food waste outside for too long.