A 1.3-metre bear has been shot dead after attacking nine people including tourists at a bus terminal in a mountainous area of Takayama in central Japan.

Four men, including a 66-year-old, received serious injuries in the attack, including bite wounds to the face, police said, but none are considered life threatening.

The other five were only slightly injured.

Some of the more than 100 people at the scene of the attack escaped danger by taking refuge inside buses.

Employees at the terminal building eventually blocked the bear in a souvenir shop inside the terminal, where hunters later shot it dead.

An employee who tried to prevent the bear from storming into the building said, ''I tried to close the entrance to the terminal building, but it was too late".

- Kyodo