Firefighters and army helicopters battled a fire that burned through old wooden houses in a fishing town in southwestern Japan.

A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country's largest urban blaze in almost half a century.

Tension between Japan and China has escalated over the new Japanese leader's suggestion Tokyo could intervene militarily if Beijing attacks Taiwan.

Bear sightings and attacks have increased in parts of Japan, especially in municipalities close to or adjacent to populated zones,” the U.S. Embassy said in a wildlife alert.

By Joseph Campbell and John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) -Within days of China urging its citizens not to travel to Japan due to a diplomatic dispute, Tokyo-based tour operator East Japan International Travel Service had lost 80% of its bookings for the remainder of the year.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year bonds, which move inversely to price, climbed 2 basis points to 1.765 per cent on Wednesday — the highest level since June 2008 and the global financial crisis. The sell-off extended to longer-dated notes. Yields on 40-year JGBs rose to a record high of 3.695 per cent.

Firefighters and army helicopters are battling a fire that has burned through a neighborhood in southwestern Japan and forced more than 170 people to evacuate.

U.S. Treasury yields were a touch lower in early action as traders braced for potential spillover from another weak Japanese auction of government bonds. Yields in the Treasury mar