Bear enters Japanese supermarket, pounces on customer, as nationwide toll reaches new high

Tokyo
 — 

A bear rampaged through the sushi section of a supermarket in central Japan Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks that have pushed this year’s death toll to a record high.

Two customers, ages 69 and 76, were injured when the bear, standing at 1.4 meters, crossed a parking lot before entering a supermarket in Numata City, about 80 miles north of Tokyo, according to local police. One was injured in the parking lot, the other inside the store.

Though this encounter wasn’t fatal, two bear attacks earlier this month took the death toll to 7 people so far this year, according to official data and local news reports – the highest annual toll since records began…