OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture—All of Ayuka Saito’s training in the Self-Defense Forces could not have prepared her for the life-and-death situation she faced while holding her baby.

She even performed an ill-advised maneuver against the threat.

But in the end, a swift kick to the stomach enabled Saito, 21, and her 1-month-old baby to emerge unscathed from a bear attack.

The incident occurred a few minutes after 9 p.m. on Sept. 11 in a residential area of Otsuchi town.

Saito had run out of seasonings while cooking dinner, so she headed for a drug store while carrying her sleeping baby, Ouga, who was born at the end of July, at her chest.

About 50 meters from her home, Saito took pictures of the beautiful moon with her smartphone. She then heard a rustling noise on the right side of the road, and then what sounded like a dog whimpering for affection.

Three blackish animals emerged around a metal plate crossing a roadside ditch. Saito thought they were wild boars, but as they got nearer, she realized the animals were Asian black bears each about 1 meter tall.

NO ONE AROUND

Saito was born and raised in a town on the coast of Fukushima Prefecture.

Her home was swept away by the tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

Inspired by the SDF members who helped her family and the hometown, Saito decided that she would join the SDF after she grew up.

While in the SDF, she met her future husband, who had also suffered grief in the 2011 disaster.

After they got married, they left the SDF and moved to the husband’s hometown of Otsuchi half a year ago.

The three bears that Saito saw on Sept. 11 were the first that she had seen in her life.

Two of them moved around in front of her, seemingly trying to block her way.

Saito screamed for help. However, she realized that she and her baby were all alone, and she had no choice but to deal with the situation by herself.

While in the SDF, she was told that if bears appeared during a training exercise, the members should just wait until the animals left the area. She had no idea what to do when actually confronted by a bear.

Still, she remained calm.

While she was wondering whether to look the bears in their eyes, one of them charged.

Saito thought, “I have to protect my baby,” but she could not use her hands because they were holding Ouga.

Saito extended her right leg in front of her and kicked the bear. She felt the coarse hair of the bear and figured she hit it in the belly.

Saito usually wears flip-flops outdoors, but on that day, she put on her sneakers, which may have added to the impact of her kick.

The bears stepped back a little, giving Saito an opening to run through.

She fled the area still holding Ouga, who weighs 4 to 5 kilograms, at her chest.

The bears followed, but Saito kept running as fast as she could. After a while, she heard sounds of something entering the bushes. When she turned around, the bears were gone.

The bear encounter lasted about one minute.

After running for about 100 meters, Saito entered the drug store and looked at her baby for the first time since the bears appeared.

Ouga had slept through the entire episode with the three bears.

Saito called her husband, who drove to the store to be with his family.

“I knew bears sometimes show up here, watching children wearing bear-deterrent bells,” Saito said. “But I didn’t expect it would happen. I should bring a bear bell, too.”

SLOWLY STEP BACK

According to the nature conservation division of the Iwate prefectural government, 1,993 bear sightings were reported in the prefecture from April through July this year. One person died and seven were injured in bear attacks up to August.

Last year, Iwate Prefecture had the largest number of bear sightings for October.

For bear encounters, the division recommends people keep looking into the bears’ eyes while stepping back slowly.

It advises against provoking the bears, turning your back to them or running away.

The Otsuchi municipal government, in cooperation with local civil engineering and construction businesses, started establishing buffer zones by removing brush between forests and houses or schools.

The effort has led in part to a reduction in bear sightings from levels of the previous year.

However, the site where Saito encountered the three bears had not been cleared.