Bear captured in Kyushu in 1987.
The Kyushu Bear is a cryptid reported from Kyushu, Japan. In Kyushu, the bear is considered extinct since the last one was captured in 1987. However, there have been unofficial bear sighting records since then.
Sightings[]
Bear sightings are reported every year in Kyushu (see this site: http://sukeroku.blog55.fc2.com/blog-category-65-0.html), and two of the most famous sighting reports are as follows.
On October 17, 2015, a man and woman saw a bear-like creature running near the top of Mount Sefuri between Saga and Fukuoka prefectures in Kyushu, Japan. It was about 1 meter long.
The next day, on the 18th, a male climber spotted a 1 meter bear-like creature standing upright 2 kilometers from the summit of Mount Sefuri.
（Sources of the two eyewitness testimonies: https://karapaia.com/archives/52203243.html
Explanations[]
According to Professor Iwamoto of Miyazaki University, bears cannot swim long distances, so it is unlikely that they swim from Honshu to Kyushu.
The most likely theory is that the bears of Kyushu did not become extinct, but survived in small numbers.
On the other hand, there are many reports of Bigfoot-type cryptids from Kyushu, such as the Beastman of Tonkararin, the Kumamoto Ape Footprints, and the Strange Beast of Kurate, so some people believe the sightings were of these cryptids rather than bears.