Oji Holdings said it would stop making children’s nappies in September amid a sharp decline in demand. Japan has a rapidly ageing society

A nappy manufacturer in Japan is to stop making the products for babies and instead raise production of adult diapers, in a reflection of the country’s rapidly ageing society.

Oji Holdings, which specialises in paper products, said it would stop making children’s nappies in September amid a sharp decline in demand. The firm has seen sales drop from a peak of about 700m in 2001 to 400m today.

Employee of metal plant in Fukuyama spotted a trail of yellowy-brown paw prints leading away from a container of hexavalent chromium

It could be the opening scene from a new Marvel film. Residents of a Japanese city have been warned not to approach or touch a missing cat that appears to have fallen into a vat of toxic chemicals before scampering off.

The search for the unlucky feline began after an employee of a metal plating plant in Fukuyama, western Japan, arrived at work to find a trail of yellowy-brown paw prints leading away from a container of hexavalent chromium, a highly acidic carcinogen.

Congestion charge comes amid boom in tourism that has put pressure on infrastructure and increased potential for accidents

People hoping to ascend Mount Fuji along its most popular route will be charged ¥2,000 (£10.50, $13.35, A$20.50) when the climbing season starts in the summer, as local authorities try to ease congestion fuelled by Japan’s tourism boom.

The trails leading up Japan’s highest mountain – a Unesco world heritage site since 2013 – are becoming increasingly overcrowded, prompting concern over littering and “bullet ascents”, in which often inexperienced climbers try to scale the 3,776-metre peak without resting.