SHIZUKUISHI, Iwate -- This northeastern Japan town has seen a string of cases where a bear suddenly entered homes and devoured sweets, pickles and other food. One house was targeted six times, apparently by the same bear. The animal is believed to have become fixated on the taste of sweets.

On July 13, this Mainichi Shimbun reporter went to the home of Mitsuo Yamamoto, 70, whose food, he said, had been targeted by a bear six times this month alone. An electric fence had been set up around the property. Yamamoto said it had been installed hurriedly the day before in response to the repeated attacks.

According to Yamamoto, the first time a bear entered the house was in November of last year. It ate pickles from two barrels left in the dirt-floor entryway. The barrels were left smashed, and the pickles were scattered everywhere.

Eight months later, the same bear apparently visited again. At around 4 a.m. on July 5, it again ate pickles and dried eggplant, then opened another sliding door, climbed up into the hallway and devoured about 5 kilograms of cat food.

Just after 7 p.m. the same day, as the family was eating dinner, they heard a door opening. Wondering who it was, Yamamoto stepped into the hallway. He found the bear trying to climb into the hallway to eat the cat food.

He shouted loudly to drive it off and immediately shut the front sliding door. But the bear stood up and tried to open it. What followed was almost like a wrestling match -- the bear trying to pull the door open and Yamamoto trying to force it shut. About two minutes later, the bear finally left, but a part of the door lock was bent out of shape.

Then, five days later, at around 9 p.m., Yamamoto returned home from shopping to find the sliding door open. When he peered into the hallway, the bear poked its head out of his father's bedroom. He banged on the stove and drove it out, but four bags of cookies bought the day before, three bags of "karinto" snacks made with brown sugar, 1 kilogram of white sugar from the kitchen and dried bonito flakes had all been eaten. His parents, he said, had been asleep without noticing. Then about two hours later, at around 11:20 p.m., the same bear apparently came back yet again, and there was another struggle over opening and closing the door.

The next morning, at around 6 a.m. on July 11, the bear began pounding on a window of the house. In about 30 seconds, the glass shattered and the bear entered. It disappeared once, but when it returned again that night, Yamamoto sprayed it in the face with bear spray from the doorway, and it quickly fled. Yamamoto says that after repeatedly struggling with the bear as he tried to close doors, his arms and shoulders have become sore.

"Cookies, karinto -- everything got targeted," Yamamoto said. "Maybe because it's summer, it's especially obsessed with sweets. We were advised to evacuate, but my elderly parents are here, and when you think about how hard it would be to move them, it's not easy to leave the house."

According to the Shizukuishi Municipal Government, four other households in the area have also suffered similar damage, including bears entering their homes and breaking window grilles. On July 12, the town discussed a response with the Iwate Prefectural Government and police officials, and decided to install electric fences, box traps and cameras in the area. Members of the local hunting association are continuing to keep watch as well.

(Japanese original by Akira Kudo, Akita Bureau)