Posts using vegetable and broccoli emojis—commonly seen on social media—are in fact coded messages referring to cannabis, as authorities warn that such disguised posts are contributing to a rapid increase in drug use among young people.
The number of people apprehended nationwide for cannabis-related offenses, including possession and use, reached a record 6,832 over the past year, with more than 70 percent of those involved aged 20 or younger, highlighting the growing spread of the drug among younger generations, according to data compiled by the National Police Agency.
Three individuals, including the operator of a Tokyo-based outcall sex service, were arrested for allegedly providing locations for prostitution to Vietnamese women believed to have entered Japan on short-term visas, authorities said.
Japan’s divorce system is undergoing a major transformation from April 1st, introducing optional joint custody and a new legal framework that allows child support to be claimed without prior agreement between parents, sparking both support and concern among divorcees and legal professionals as the country adapts to a new era of family law.
Prince Hisahito visited Kyoto over two days from February 26th to 27th, 2026, making a private pilgrimage to sites including the mausoleum of Emperor Meiji following the completion of his coming-of-age ceremony, with previously undisclosed photos later released by the Imperial Household.
A new type of fraud exploiting multi-function copy machines at convenience stores has been reported across Japan, where victims are deceived into printing fake legal documents and handing over money.
A new “blue ticket” system for bicycles will be introduced on April 1, targeting riders aged 16 and older with monetary penalties for traffic violations, as authorities move to tighten enforcement amid rising accident numbers.
Kyoto’s traditional wooden townhouses, known as machiya, are disappearing at a pace of roughly two per day, prompting the city to allocate an unprecedented 460 million yen in its newly approved fiscal 2026 budget on March 24th in a bid to preserve the historic streetscape that has long defined the ancient capital.