In September 2026, an aerial photograph of trees growing in concentric circles spread online, with social media users claiming they were part of a decades-old forestry experiment in Japan.

The claim: Photograph authentically shows a circular “experimental forestry” project in Japan.

“In 1973 Japan planted trees in concentric circles as part of an experiment in forestry spacing. This is what they look like today from above,” one Reddit post captioned the photograph.

(Reddit u/Impressive_East)

Apparently, that image and other photographs showing the same formations have circulated online for years, appearing on platforms such as Instagram, 9GAG, Facebook, Pinterest and X.

In short, the photograph was real, and the claim about the forest was also accurate. It showed two experimental plots of Japanese cedar near Nichinan, a city in Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. According to the Miyazaki Southern Forest Management Office, the experiment was established in fiscal year 1973 to study how different planting densities affected tree growth and wood quality. As such, we have rated this claim as true.

In fact, the photograph circulating in 2026 was not new. The same forest has attracted attention before —we traced it to December 2018. One of the images  circulating at that time was also available in The Associated Press’ image archive.

Origin of the photograph

The photograph first gained attention when Japanese news outlet Sankei News published it in a story about the forest.

(www.sankei.com)

The outlet credited the image to Miyazaki Southern Forest Management Office, a regional office of Japan’s Forestry Agency. Its caption (translated from Japanese via Google Translate) read, “A circular pattern visible in the mountains of Nichinan City, Miyazaki Prefecture.”

The image later appeared in numerous social media posts and articles.

What the photograph shows

The photographs circulating online show Japanese cedar trees arranged in two groups of concentric circles in a national forest near Nichinan, in Miyazaki Prefecture. An AP caption describing the forest said the trees in the outer ring were approximately 20 meters (66 feet) tall, about 5 meters (16 feet) taller than those near the center.

The circular forest was also discoverable on Google Maps and Google Earth, as the Miyazaki Southern Forest Management Office gave its location as 31°43’50.0″N, 131°23’05.0″E.

According to the office, the experiment was linked to changes in the local timber industry. Obi cedar was planted sparsely in the area for shipbuilding timber, but demand later shifted toward wood for general construction.

Researchers created the experiment to study how different planting densities affected tree growth and wood quality. It was established in fiscal 1973, with the cedar seedlings planted in March 1974. The trees were arranged in concentric circles at different distances from one another, creating planting densities of about 377 to 10,027 trees per hectare. Seen from above, this produced the circular pattern that earned the site the nickname “mystery circles.”

Later surveys showed that planting density affected the trees’ size and growth. A 2011 study concluded that around 2,000 to 2,800 trees per hectare was suitable for lower-cost forestry. The experiment’s final report, completed in fiscal year 2023, concluded that planting densities of 1,500 trees per hectare or fewer could be effective in terms of financial returns and afforestation costs.

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In August 2026, a rumor spread that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had declared brass musical instruments to be a national security threat to justify imposing tariffs on them.

The claim: In August 2026, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump declared brass instruments a national security threat and imposed tariffs on them.

One Facebook post about the claim read:

Trump vs trumpets!

This week, the Trump administration declared tubas, trombones, trumpets, and French horns a national security threat.

Brass instruments could soon face a 25% tariff on imports, parts, and accessories, as part of a wider push to expand tariffs on aluminium, steel, and copper. The six-page proposal, published by the Department of Commerce, uses the words “national security” nine times.

(Facebook page Classic FM)

Variants of the claim also spread on Reddit and on X.

The social media posts echoed reports in blog posts and news outlets, including the website of Classic FM, a radio station dedicated to classical music, and HuffPost.

Meanwhile, several curious readers emailed and searched the website seeking to verify the information.

It is true that on Aug. 6, 2026, the Department of Commerce published a request for comment on the Federal Register for a proposed rule to impose tariffs on brass instruments, among other products. The publication cited national security concerns.

However, it was not the instruments themselves the government department appeared to focus on, but the material from which they are made — a copper alloy. The request for comment cited Presidential Proclamation 10962 of July 30, 2025, in which Trump said copper “in all forms” — including its alloys — “is being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States.”

As a result, we’ve rated the claim mostly true.

Background of the proposed tariffs

The request for comment featured a list of several products on which the Commerce Department proposed to impose tariffs. Besides “brass-wind musical instruments and parts and accessories thereof,” the list included fire extinguishers and oxygen tanks.

These imported products needed to be subjected to tariffs because they contained aluminum, steel or copper, the Commerce Department said. All three metals were the target of three separate presidential proclamations in which Trump deemed their importation excessive and a national security threat.

Proclamation 10962 specifically concerned copper “in all forms,” including alloys. The material for brass instruments is an alloy of copper and zinc, which presumably justified their inclusion in the list of imported products worthy of tariffs. The Commerce Department’s request for comment appeared to argue that imposing such tariffs helped protect domestic industries:

As explained in the reports submitted by the Secretary to the President and cited in Proclamations 9704, 9705, and 10962, steel, aluminum, and copper are being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States. Therefore the President ordered adjustments of imports to protect U.S. national security interests by identifying derivative products on which tariffs must be imposed in order to protect the U.S. defense industrial base. The U.S. defense industrial base is critical to protecting U.S. national security interests.

The request for comment also said the Commerce Department would seek to impose 25% tariffs on these products, except for those deemed to be “agricultural equipment,” which would be subject to 15% duties.

By law, the Commerce Department cannot impose this rule before a period ending on Aug. 27, during which it will receive comments on its proposal.

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In July 2026, some social media posts claimed Jeanne Gibson, the inspiration for Rosie the Riveter from World War II, died on July 29, 2026, at the age of 100.

The claim: In July 2026, Jeanne Gibson, the inspiration for Rosie the Riveter, died at 100.

R*I*P Rosie Riveter
by
u/JColt60 in
GenerationJones

Other social media post also referred to Gibson as the inspiration behind Rosie the Riveter. Some social media posts about Gibson’s passing referred to her as “a Rosie the Riveter” instead of the sole inspiration for the character. Some readers searched the site for “Rosie the Riveter,” wondering if the rumor was true.

While it is true that Jeanne Gibson, one so-called “Rosie” in a community of women the character Rosie the Riveter represented as an emblem, died at 100 in July 2026, Gibson wasn’t “the” Rosie the Riveter, and famous depictions of the character were not directly based on her appearance. Therefore, we have rated this claim as a mixture of true and false elements.

On July 29, 2026, Pacific Historic Parks – USS Arizona Memorial posted to Facebook to say that “Rosie the Riveter” Jeanne Gibson, 100, passed away today.” It recognized her as one of more than 6 million women who served as “Rosies” during WWII by taking jobs supporting the war effort and that later on in life she regularly participated in events at Pacific Historic Parks commemorating the Rosies.

A day later, Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park also announced Gibson’s death on Facebook . It noted that just two weeks earlier, Gibson was honored at the park.

According to the two posts, Gibson left for Seattle at 18 in 1944 to weld destroyers for Todd Pacific Shipyards. Later in the war, she moved to Juneau, Alaska, to support the Army Transportation Corps by preparing vital documents that helped keep Allied forces equipped across the Pacific.

Historically, Rosie the Riveter is a name used to refer to all of the women who worked jobs supporting the U.S. in WWII, particularly factory jobs very few women held previously. Organizations such as the Rosie the Riveter Trust and the American Rosie the Riveter Association recognize each woman to have taken on such roles as a “Rosie.”

These organizations also make note of the two best-known pieces of art popularly linked to Rosie the Riveter and their inspirations, neither of which was Gibson.

The Rosie the Riveter Trust says that historians don’t know the original inspiration for a WWII-era poster of a woman flexing her arm below the slogan “We can do it!” that has become famously associated with the name in pop culture.

The American Rosie the Riveter Association says that Mary Doyle Keefe was the inspiration behind a 1943 Norman Rockwell painting titled “Rosie the Riveter.”

According to the National Park Service, the “We can do it!” poster was originally a motivational poster at a Westinghouse Electric factory that wasn’t popular — or popularly identified as depicting Rosie the Riveter — until the 1980s. The Department of Labor says that Rockwell’s painting — which featured a muscular woman with overalls and goggles holding a riveting tool in her lap while eating a sandwich and stepping on a copy of Adolf Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” — was the most famous depiction of the character during WWII.

Some posts about Gibson passing included an image that appears to show Gibson dressed up as and posed like the woman in the Westinghouse Electric poster. That image appeared to be generated using artificial intelligence tools. Some clues the image was not authentic included errors in the U.S. flag behind her, in which some stars are missing and others are awkwardly positioned. The image appeared to have been partially based on an authentic photo of Gibson.

True:

Gibson was a “Rosie” in the sense that she was one of millions of women who went to work during World War II to support the war effort. She was a passionate advocate for the so-called “Rosies” until her July 2026 death.

False:

Gibson wasn’t the inspiration behind either Norman Rockwell’s 1943 painting “Rosie the Riveter” or a WWII-era motivational poster popularly associated with the character.

We have rated this claim as a mixture of True & False

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