monthly_pref_sight_sum_english

# Monthly prefecture-level bear sightings in Japan, 1997–2025 ## 1. Dataset overview This dataset contains monthly counts of bear sightings reported by Japanese prefectural governments for 30 prefectures on Honshu and Shikoku, Japan. For the prefectures included here, bears are Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus). Brown bears (Ursus arctos) occur only in Hokkaido and are not included in this dataset. The data are aggregated at the level of prefecture × calendar year × calendar month. The time span covered is from 1997 to 2025 (up to May 2025; later months contain no rows in the CSV file). The dataset was compiled for a research manuscript on forecasting bear sightings in Japan that is currently in preparation. Once an associated article is published, users are encouraged to cite both the article and this dataset when reusing these data. ## 2. Files and structure This package contains the following files: 1. `monthly_pref_sight_sum_english.csv` - Main data file with monthly bear sightings by prefecture. 2. `README.md` (this file) - Documentation of variables, data sources, processing steps, and limitations. No additional code or scripts are included in this package. Data-processing code is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request (if not provided in the associated article or its supplementary materials). ## 3. Description of `monthly_pref_sight_sum_english.csv` ### 3.1 General structure - File format: comma-separated values (`.csv`), UTF-8 encoding - Number of rows: 3,277 - Number of columns: 4 - Each row corresponds to a single combination of (prefecture, year, month) for which a non-missing value was available in official statistics. ### 3.2 Variable definitions 1. `pref` (character) - Prefecture name in English. - Prefectures included (30): Aomori, Akita, Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Niigata, Yamagata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Nagano, Gifu, Shizuoka, Mie, Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Kanagawa, Tokyo, Shiga, Kyoto, Nara, Hyogo, Wakayama, Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi. - Hokkaido and the eight prefectures in Kyushu–Okinawa are not included because either bears are absent or official occurrence counts are not published in a compatible format. 2. `year` (integer) - Calendar year (Gregorian). - Range: 1997–2025. 3. `month` (integer) - Calendar month of the sighting count. - Values 1–12 correspond to January–December. - For some prefectures and earlier years, official statistics are reported only for part of the year (often April–November). Months with no official value are omitted from the CSV file and should be treated as missing, not as zero. 4. `sight_sum` (integer) - Total number of bear sightings reported for the given prefecture, year, and month. - The exact definition of a “sighting” (e.g. number of incidents, number of reports, or number of animals) may differ among prefectures because each prefectural government compiles statistics using its own procedures (see Section 6: Limitations and important notes). - Units: count of reported bear occurrences (dimensionless). ### 3.3 Missing values and zeros - The CSV file contains no explicit missing-value codes (no NA, blank, or sentinel values). - If a particular (prefecture, year, month) combination does **not** appear as a row in the file, it should be interpreted as “no official value available” (missing), **not** as zero. - A value of `sight_sum = 0` indicates that the original source explicitly reported zero occurrences for that month. ## 4. Data sources The dataset was compiled from two types of official sources: 1. **Prefectural government publications** Monthly or annual statistics on bear occurrences were obtained from publicly available documents on prefectural government websites. For each prefecture, we primarily used tables and summaries contained in documents prepared for the Prefectural Wildlife Protection and Management Plans (tokutei chōjū hogokanri keikaku) and in dedicated prefectural reports that list annual and monthly numbers of bear occurrences. We did not use ad hoc press releases or agricultural damage statistics as data sources for this dataset. Because these sources consist of many separate reports across multiple prefectures and years, individual URLs are not listed here. All sources were open, publicly accessible documents at the time of data collection. 2. **Ministry of the Environment (national summary)** For recent years, we also used the national summary of bear occurrences compiled by the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan: - Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. “クマ類の出没情報について[速報値](直近5カ年)” Updated 5 December 2025. Available at: https://www.env.go.jp/nature/choju/effort/effort12/syutubotu.pdf This document provides preliminary (“速報値”) annual and monthly counts of bear occurrences for each prefecture, based on numbers reported by prefectural governments. ## 5. Data processing The following steps were used to construct `monthly_pref_sight_sum_english.csv` from the original sources: 1. For each prefecture, we identified official tables or summaries that reported bear occurrence counts by month and year in the documents described in Section 4.1. 2. Where prefectural or Ministry of the Environment sources directly provided monthly totals, we transcribed those values without further transformation. 3. Prefecture names were standardized to English spellings (see the list under `pref` in Section 3.2). 4. All counts were stored as integers in the `sight_sum` column. No rescaling or normalization was applied at this stage. ## 6. Limitations and important notes Users of this dataset should be aware of the following limitations: 1. **Heterogeneity among prefectures** The Ministry of the Environment notes that each prefecture compiles bear occurrence statistics using different procedures, such as counts of reports to the police or information provided by municipalities. As a result, the exact meaning of “one occurrence” is not perfectly standardized across prefectures. Counts should therefore be interpreted primarily as indices of relative temporal change within a prefecture, rather than strictly comparable absolute values among prefectures. 2. **Preliminary values** The Ministry of the Environment summary explicitly labels the data as preliminary (“速報値”) and states that values may be revised later. This dataset reflects the values available at the time of compilation and may not capture subsequent minor corrections. 3. **Spatial coverage** - Hokkaido is excluded because official counts of bear occurrences are not published in the same format. - The eight prefectures in Kyushu and Okinawa are excluded because bears are absent there. - Within the included prefectures, data coverage starts in different years (see the associated article, once available, or inspect the distribution of `year` by `pref`). 4. **Temporal coverage** - The earliest data included are from 1997. - For 2025, data are available only up to May at the time of data compilation. - Some prefectures report monthly data only for part of each year (e.g. April–November). Months outside the reporting period are omitted and should not be assumed to be zero. 5. **No individual-level information** The dataset contains only aggregated counts at the prefecture × month level. It does not include any spatially fine-grained locations, individual identifiers, or personally identifiable information. Users should consider these limitations when conducting comparative analyses across prefectures or interpreting absolute differences in counts. ## 7. Recommended citation When using this dataset, please cite: 1. The associated article that first describes this dataset (once published), for example: > Author(s). Year. Title. Journal name, volume:pages. DOI: article DOI. 2. This dataset: > Author(s). Year. Monthly prefecture-level bear sightings in Japan, 1997–2025. The exact citation details (authors, year, title, journal, and DOIs) should be updated once they are known. ## 8. Contact information For questions about data collection, processing, or interpretation, please contact the corresponding author of the associated article: - Name: Takeshi Honda - Affiliation: Yamanashi Prefecture Agricultural Research Center - Email: [e-mail]# 1997–2025年日本都道府县级月度熊目击记录 ## 1. 数据集概览 本数据集包含日本本州与四国地区共30个都道府县的官方月度熊目击统计数。本数据集覆盖的都道府县内的熊种为亚洲黑熊（Asiatic black bear）；棕熊（Ursus arctos）仅分布于北海道，未纳入本数据集。 数据按都道府县×公历年度×公历月份聚合，时间跨度为1997年至2025年（截至2025年5月，CSV文件中未包含后续月份的有效行）。 本数据集为一篇正在筹备的日本熊目击预测研究手稿所编译。待相关论文发表后，若复用本数据，请同时引用该论文与本数据集。 ## 2. 文件与结构 本数据包包含以下文件： 1. `monthly_pref_sight_sum_english.csv` —— 核心数据文件，包含各都道府县月度熊目击统计数据。 2. `README.md`（本文档）—— 变量说明、数据来源、处理流程与局限性说明。 本数据包未包含额外代码或脚本。若关联论文及其补充材料中未提供数据处理代码，可通过通讯作者合理申请获取。 ## 3. `monthly_pref_sight_sum_english.csv` 说明 ### 3.1 整体结构 - 文件格式：逗号分隔值（Comma-Separated Values，CSV），UTF-8编码 - 行数：3277行 - 列数：4列 - 每一行对应一组（都道府县、年度、月份）的有效官方统计组合。 ### 3.2 变量定义 1. `pref`（字符型）—— 英文拼写的都道府县名称。 纳入统计的都道府县共30个：青森、秋田、福岛、宫城、岩手、新潟、山形、富山、石川、福井、长野、岐阜、静冈、三重、群马、栃木、埼玉、神奈川、东京、滋贺、京都、奈良、兵库、和歌山、鸟取、岛根、冈山、广岛、山口、山梨。 北海道与九州-冲绳地区的8个都道府县未纳入本数据集，原因是当地无熊分布或官方未发布兼容格式的出现次数统计。 2. `year`（整数型）—— 公历年度（格里高利历），取值范围：1997–2025。 3. `month`（整数型）—— 目击统计对应的公历月份，取值1–12分别对应1月至12月。 部分都道府县及早期年份的官方统计仅覆盖年度部分时段（通常为4月至11月），无官方统计值的月份未纳入CSV文件，应视为缺失值而非0。 4. `sight_sum`（整数型）—— 指定都道府县、年度与月份内报告的熊目击总次数。 “目击”的准确定义（如事件数、报告数或个体数）可能因都道府县而异，因各都道府县政府采用各自的统计流程（详见第6节：局限性与重要说明）。 单位：报告的熊出现次数（无量纲）。 ### 3.3 缺失值与零值 - CSV文件中未使用显式缺失值代码（无NA、空值或标记值）。 - 若某一组（都道府县、年度、月份）未在文件中出现行，则应解释为“无可用官方统计值”（缺失），而非0。 - `sight_sum = 0` 表示原始来源明确报告该月无熊出现记录。 ## 4. 数据来源 本数据集从两类官方来源编译得到： 1. **都道府县政府出版物** 熊出现次数的月度或年度统计数据来自各都道府县政府官网公开文档。对于各都道府县，我们主要采用《特定鸟兽保护管理计划》（tokutei chōjū hogokanri keikaku）中的表格与汇总数据，以及专门列出年度与月度熊出现次数的都道府县专项报告。 本数据集未使用临时新闻稿或农业损害统计数据作为来源。 由于这些来源包含多都道府县、多年度的大量独立报告，此处未逐一列出URL。所有来源在数据收集时均为公开可访问的文档。 2. **环境省（国家汇总数据）** 对于近年数据，我们同时使用日本环境省编制的全国熊出现次数汇总数据： - 日本环境省。《熊类出没信息[速报值]（近5年）》（クマ類の出没情報について[速報値](直近5カ年)），2025年12月5日更新，可访问：https://www.env.go.jp/nature/choju/effort/effort12/syutubotu.pdf 该文档提供了由各都道府县政府上报的熊出现次数的初步（“速报值”）年度与月度统计数据。 ## 5. 数据处理 本数据集通过以下步骤从原始来源构建`monthly_pref_sight_sum_english.csv`： 1. 针对各都道府县，我们从第4.1节所述文档中提取按月度与年度统计的熊出现次数的官方表格或汇总数据。 2. 若都道府县或环境省来源直接提供了月度总计值，我们直接转录该数值，未进行额外转换。 3. 将都道府县名称统一为英文拼写（详见第3.2节`pref`变量的列表）。 4. 所有统计值均以整数形式存储在`sight_sum`列中，本阶段未进行任何重缩放或归一化处理。 ## 6. 局限性与重要说明 本数据集使用者需注意以下局限性： 1. **都道府县间统计异质性** 环境省指出，各都道府县采用不同流程编制熊出现次数统计，例如基于向警方上报的报告数或市町村提供的信息。因此，“1次出现”的准确定义在各都道府县间并未完全统一。因此，统计数据应主要被解读为单都道府县内时间相对变化的指标，而非跨都道府县可严格比较的绝对值。 2. **初步数据** 环境省汇总数据明确标注为初步（“速报值”），并说明后续可能修正数据。本数据集反映了编译时可用的数据，可能未纳入后续的小幅修正。 3. **空间覆盖范围** - 北海道未纳入，因官方未发布同格式的熊出现次数统计。 - 九州与冲绳的8个都道府县未纳入，因当地无熊分布。 - 在纳入的都道府县中，数据覆盖的起始年份各不相同（详见后续发表的关联论文，或按`pref`分组查看`year`的分布）。 4. **时间覆盖范围** - 最早的数据来自1997年。 - 2025年的数据截至编译时仅覆盖至5月。 - 部分都道府县仅报告年度部分时段的月度数据（如4月至11月），未纳入报告时段外的月份，不应假设其为0。 5. **无个体层面信息** 本数据集仅包含都道府县×月份级别的聚合统计数据，未包含任何精细空间位置、个体标识符或个人可识别信息。 使用者在开展跨都道府县比较分析或解读统计值的绝对差异时，应考虑上述局限性。 ## 7. 推荐引用格式 使用本数据集时，请引用： 1. 首次描述本数据集的关联论文（待发表后使用正式信息），示例格式： > 作者. 年份. 标题. 期刊名, 卷:页码. DOI: 文章DOI. 2. 本数据集： > 作者. 年份. Monthly prefecture-level bear sightings in Japan, 1997–2025. 具体引用细节（作者、年份、标题、期刊与DOI）待信息明确后更新。 ## 8. 联系方式 若对数据收集、处理或解读有疑问，请联系关联论文的通讯作者： - 姓名：Takeshi Honda - 所属机构：山梨县农业研究中心 - 邮箱：[e-mail]