About Kumamap

August 2025: a 26-year-old hiker was killed in a brown bear attack on Mount Rausu, Hokkaido.

This incident prompted an investigation into bear incident data across Japan, revealing a critical problem: 47 prefecture governments track incidents independently—different websites, all Japanese-only, incompatible formats.

For hikers planning routes through the Japanese Alps, this creates a serious challenge. Trails cross multiple prefectures, but bears don't respect administrative boundaries. A bear incident 2km from your hiking trail might be reported in a different jurisdiction's system—invisible to anyone who doesn't know exactly where to look.

Kumamap was built to solve this problem.

Each prefecture publishes bear incident data in its own way: Google Maps pins, PDFs, Excel files, custom APIs. The formats are chaotic. For international visitors, this data is effectively invisible.

The data exists. But it's scattered across 47 different websites, all in Japanese, with no unified way to view it.

Kumamap centralizes 128,000+ incidents from all prefectures with translation and unified mapping.

Automatic Updates: Data is collected from all 47 prefectures and translated automatically.

Distance-Based Matching: Prefecture boundaries don't work for travelers. Kumamap matches incidents to 5,000+ areas by distance: 12km for hiking trails, 18km for tourist spots. Search Mount Fuji and see all incidents within hiking distance, regardless of prefecture.

Community Reporting: Anyone can report incidents. Click the map, drop a pin, upload photos, and submit. No account required. Reports are reviewed before publishing.

Kumamap started with bear incidents, but the vision is bigger: a comprehensive, multilingual outdoor safety platform for Japan.

Future features: Real-time trail conditions and closures, wildlife activity patterns across seasons, weather integration for mountain routes, trailhead access and transportation, multi-hazard awareness (landslides, floods, snow conditions), and community-verified trail reports.

The goal is to make Japan's mountains accessible and safe for both domestic and international visitors through centralized, translated, real-time data.

Data Sources: Official reports from prefectural environmental conservation departments across Japan. Updated twice daily (6 AM and 6 PM JST).

News Reports: Automated collection from Japanese news RSS feeds. Updated twice daily.

Community Reports: Anonymous submissions from local residents and visitors. Reviewed before publishing.

Privacy: No personal information is collected. All reports are anonymous, with only location data made public.

Citations: Kumamap data has been cited by Fuji TV's Nonstop!, peer-reviewed research in Wiley's Global Change Biology, and recommended by The Japan Times.