Self-Defense Force private, 19, dismissed over cannabis use in Hiroshima
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force dismissed a 19-year-old private second class at the Kaita garrison in Hiroshima Prefecture on 6 November 2026 for using cannabis and other drugs at a friend's home in Hiroshima City in August. He had been arrested in September with two friends on suspicion of cannabis use.
🇯🇵 Kaita, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture · Japan
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Arrested
3
Sentenced
1
Agencies
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Kaita garrison, Kaita Police Station
Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force dismissed a 19-year-old private second class
at the Kaita garrison in Hiroshima Prefecture on 6 November 2026 over cannabis
use.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]The dismissal was pronounced by the 46th Infantry Regiment, the unit
at the Kaita garrison in Kaita town, Hiroshima Prefecture, according to the
Chugoku Shimbun.[9][10]
The garrison said the soldier used cannabis and other drugs at a friend’s home
in Aki Ward, Hiroshima City, in August this year.[1][10][7]In September he was
arrested together with two friends on suspicion of cannabis use.[1][10][5][7]The
broadcast report on the arrests said police suspected the three men of using
cannabis at one of their homes between about May and August 2026.[11]Sankei
reported that neighbours complained about noise on the night of 29 August, that
the soldier collapsed while officers questioned him and was taken to hospital,
and that a drug test was positive.[12][4][5]The Kaita police station arrested him in
September on suspicion of violating the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law
by use.[12][3][4]
Asked about the matter in the garrison’s hearing, the soldier said it was a
momentary impulse and that he was deeply sorry.[1][7]Colonel Manji Hyodo,
commander of the 46th Infantry Regiment, said the force would tighten
instruction to its members and work to prevent a repeat.[1]The Chugoku
Shimbun reported that the garrison said this was the first time one of its
members had been arrested over a drug case.[11]
Neighbours called police about noise on the night of 29 August, according to the Kyodo account carried by Xinhua.[3][4]
The dismissal followed a noise complaint called in to Japanese police on the night of 29 August 2026.[5]
Photos and video
Photo of the Kaita garrison of the Ground Self-Defense Force in Kaita town, Hiroshima Prefecture, published with the report on the soldier's dismissal.Photo details
No weight, form or value of the cannabis was published, so no cannabis quantity is recorded.
Sankei reports the soldier also used a type of synthetic drug; that substance is outside this tracker's scope and no quantities of any drug are given.
The September arrest date within the month is not stated; the arrest is placed in September 2026 on the sources' wording.
The dismissal is an administrative disciplinary measure, not a court sentence, and no court outcome is reported.
The soldier's name was not published in the accessible text.
The Chinese account says only that the soldier was dismissed over cannabis and other drugs and gives no weight or form of the drug, so the report's open question on cannabis quantity remains.
The Sohu page credits Xinhua and cites Kyodo, so it is a wire reprint rather than independent reporting of the garrison's statement.
The TSS page shows a 7 November 2026 posting date although the dismissal took effect on 6 November; the report keeps 6 November as the incident date.
The Chinese account is a Xinhua reprint of a Kyodo report and identifies the drugs only as cannabis and other drugs, without weights or forms.
The portal page gives no weight, form or value of the cannabis used, and identifies the other drugs only as such, so no quantities are added.
The portal's headline image is a thumbnail associated with the page and is not established to show this case; the garrison building photo is listed instead.
The Kochi District Court sentenced Fui Ashida to five years in prison and a 1 million yen fine for repeatedly selling cannabis and cocaine in Kochi and for credit-card fraud. Presiding judge Yoshitake Tanaka called the offences malicious, citing sales to 17 customers at least 33 times.
The Yamaguchi District Court sentenced a 31-year-old man to three years in prison and a 500,000-yen fine for confining two men in a Shimonoseki flat in December 2024 and, in October 2025, holding about 172 grams of cannabis for profit and using it. The court called the confinement malicious and said the cannabis carried a high risk of spreading the harm of illegal drugs.
A 21-year-old convicted of defrauding an elderly person of 1.5 million yen and possessing cannabis in Okayama Prefecture was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and a 300,000-yen fine. The Hiroshima High Court's Okayama branch vacated the May verdict on 28 October 2026 after prosecutors appealed its failure to set a workhouse detention term for the fine.
The Tokyo District Court gave former Japan men's volleyball international Shunichiro Sato a one-year prison term suspended for three years on 31 July 2026 for possessing 0.831 grams of dried cannabis. Police found the drug in a bag he left at an Itabashi pachinko parlor during a national team camp in May; his national registration was erased and his club contract ended.
Arrested 1Charged 1Cannabis 831 mgPrison 1 year (suspended for 3 years)
