The Kita-Nippon Bank has begun accepting deposits for a time deposit product under which the bank donates to bear-damage countermeasures in line with the amount deposited. A sum equivalent to 0.05% of the amount deposited will be donated to Iwate Prefecture’s bear countermeasure programmes. Headquartered in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, the bank is a regional lender operating mainly in the Tohoku region.
Open for deposits until the end of March 2027
The product is called the “Kurashi to Mori no Anshin Teiki Yokin” (roughly, “peace-of-mind time deposit for our lives and forests”). It went on offer on 2 November, and the offer closes on 31 March 2027.
It is open to individuals, sole proprietors and corporations. The minimum deposit is ¥100,000 for individuals and sole proprietors, and ¥5m for corporations.
As noted above, the bank will donate the equivalent of 0.05% of the amount customers deposit to Iwate Prefecture’s bear-damage countermeasures. The donation is scheduled for May 2027, after the offer period ends. Iwate Prefecture currently tackles the problem across five areas: “preventing incursions into areas where people live”, such as creating buffer zones between human settlements and bear habitats; “emergency response to sightings”, such as strengthening capture capabilities; “strengthening the management of bear populations” through a range of survey methods; “developing and securing personnel” such as trappers and hunters; and “building systems to make countermeasures more effective”, such as setting up response teams.
Returning to the deposit itself, the interest rate is set at the bank’s posted over-the-counter rate plus 0.20% a year. It is a one-year time deposit that renews automatically; as of 4 November, The Kita-Nippon Bank’s rate for one-year deposits stood at 0.625%.
Bear attacks killed six people in Japan in FY2026
As OHYASHIMA reported exactly a year ago, damage caused by bears has become increasingly prominent in Japan over the past year or two.
Last fiscal year (April 2025 to March 2026) was particularly severe, with 13 people killed in bear attacks. Perhaps because this heightened public vigilance, the death toll for the current fiscal year has been held to six. Even so, that is hardly a small number, and sustained countermeasures will remain necessary.
Beyond further financial support of the kind The Kita-Nippon Bank is offering, advances are also hoped for in academic research and in the products and services companies are developing to address the problem.
