According to the sources, a Waseda University student was arrested in August for growing cannabis in an apartment building in Tokyo's Toshima Ward after buying seeds from a 34-year-old man, who was also under arrest for violating the cannabis law.

The 21-year-old male student, a junior at the prestigious private university, bought 10 cannabis seeds for 11,500 yen in late June after he "harbored an interest in cannabis through a lecture on the Netherlands at the university," he was quoted as telling the investigators.

In a separate case, two other Waseda University students and a Tokyo University of Science student were arrested after trying to smuggle cannabis into Japan from the Netherlands via airmail in late May.

The Netherlands are known as a nation that takes a tolerant policy toward soft drugs like cannabis.

A number of college students were arrested earlier this year for violating the cannabis law. They include students at Doshisha University, Keio University, Kansai University and Hosei University.