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Japan Cyclists Risk Jail for Using a Mobile

This photo taken on April 10, 2024 shows police officers checking on a bicycle along a street in the Shibuya district of central Tokyo. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT
This photo taken on April 10, 2024 shows police officers checking on a bicycle along a street in the Shibuya district of central Tokyo. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT
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Japan Cyclists Risk Jail for Using a Mobile

This photo taken on April 10, 2024 shows police officers checking on a bicycle along a street in the Shibuya district of central Tokyo. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT
This photo taken on April 10, 2024 shows police officers checking on a bicycle along a street in the Shibuya district of central Tokyo. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT

Cyclists using a mobile phone while riding in Japan could face up to six months in jail under strict new rules that entered into force Friday, Agence France Presse reported.

Those who breach the revised road traffic law can be punished with a maximum of six months in prison or a fine of up to 100,000 yen ($660).

"Making a call with a smartphone in your hand while cycling, or watching the screen, is now banned and subject to punishment," a National Police Agency leaflet says.

Some accidents caused by cyclists watching screens have resulted in pedestrian deaths, according to the government.

Although the total number of traffic accidents is declining in Japan, the proportion that involve bicycles is on the rise.

Unlike many other countries, riding a bicycle on the pavement is allowed in usually law-abiding Japan and a common sight.

Under the new rules, cycling while drunk can land the rider with up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Those who offer alcoholic drinks to cyclists face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 300,000 yen.

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Varieties

Scientists Rebuild Face of 400-year-old Polish 'Vampire'

A three-dimensional reconstruction of Zosia's face, a woman buried as a vampire, is pictured, in this undated handout photo taken in Stockholm, Sweden. Oscar Nilsson - Project Pien/Handout via REUTERS
A three-dimensional reconstruction of Zosia's face, a woman buried as a vampire, is pictured, in this undated handout photo taken in Stockholm, Sweden. Oscar Nilsson - Project Pien/Handout via REUTERS
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Scientists Rebuild Face of 400-year-old Polish 'Vampire'

A three-dimensional reconstruction of Zosia's face, a woman buried as a vampire, is pictured, in this undated handout photo taken in Stockholm, Sweden. Oscar Nilsson - Project Pien/Handout via REUTERS
A three-dimensional reconstruction of Zosia's face, a woman buried as a vampire, is pictured, in this undated handout photo taken in Stockholm, Sweden. Oscar Nilsson - Project Pien/Handout via REUTERS

Buried with a padlock on her foot and an iron sickle across her neck, "Zosia" was never supposed to be able to come back from the dead.
Entombed in an unmarked cemetery in Pien, northern Poland, the young woman was one of dozens feared by her neighbors to have been a "vampire".
Now, using DNA, 3D printing and modelling clay, a team of scientists has reconstructed Zosia's 400-year-old face, revealing the human story buried by supernatural beliefs, Reuters reported.
"It's really ironic, in a way," said Swedish archaeologist Oscar Nilsson. "These people burying her, they did everything they could in order to prevent her from coming back from the dead... we have done everything we can in order to bring her back to life."
Zosia, as she was named by locals, was found in 2022 by a team of archaeologists from Torun's Nicolaus Copernicus University.
Aged 18-20 when she died, analysis of Zosia's skull suggests she suffered from a health condition which would have caused fainting and severe headaches, as well as possible mental health issues, Nilsson said.
The sickle, the padlock and certain types of wood found at the grave site were all believed at the time to hold magical properties protecting against vampires, according to the Nicolaus Copernicus team.
Zosia's was Grave No. 75 at the unmarked cemetery in Pien, outside the northern city of Bydgoszcz. Among the other bodies found at the site was a "vampire" child, buried face down and similarly padlocked at the foot.
Little is known of Zosia's life, but Nilsson and the Pien team say items she was buried with point to her being from a wealthy — possibly noble — family.
The 17th century Europe she lived in was ravaged by war, something Nilsson suggests created a climate of fear in which belief in supernatural monsters was commonplace.
Nilsson's recreation began with creating a 3D printed replica of the skull, before gradually building layers of plasticine clay "muscle by muscle" to form a life-like face.
He uses bone structure combined with information on gender, age, ethnicity and approximate weight to estimate the depth of facial features.
"It's emotional to watch a face coming back from the dead, especially when you know the story about this young girl," Nilsson says.
Nilsson said he wanted to bring Zosia back "as a human, and not as this monster that she is buried as".