BearBell releases free Kumapp bear‑sighting app for Hokkaido and Tohoku

On July 13, startup BearBell, founded by International Liberal Arts University student Yudai Hattori, launched Kumapp, a free iOS and Android application that shares real‑time bear‑sighting reports. The app notifies users within five seconds when a sighting is posted near their current location or registered places such as home, school or work.

Kumapp initially covers Hokkaido and six prefectures in the Tohoku region. It aggregates open data from local governments, citizen submissions, and camera‑based image recognition, with an AI system scoring the reliability of each report. The service aims to shorten the traditional three‑day lag in official alerts, helping residents and visitors avoid danger and enabling faster coordination with authorities and hunting groups.

Within the first day the app generated over 1,400 reports and surpassed 20,000 downloads, drawing more than one million social‑media impressions. BearBell plans to expand coverage nationwide, eventually providing a country‑wide safety infrastructure for bear encounters.