Actress's husband tells cops underpants drugs hers, not his on PNN

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Actress's husband tells cops underpants drugs hers, not his

Posted by Mark Weitzman Posted on: 08/16/09

Actress's husband tells cops underpants drugs hers, not his

Slacker husband tattles on celebrity wife

On Monday August 3, Yuichi Takaso, 41, a self-proclaimed "professional surfer" was arrested for alleged possession of amphetamines. Cops nabbed him while he was walking alone in Shibuya in Tokyo. The police found a plastic bag containing stimulant drugs stashed in his underwear. But Takaso claimed the drugs were not his. Sources say Takaso suggested he and his wife were both stimulant users.

Police asked Takaso's wife, actress and entertainer Noriko Sakai, 38, to come in for questioning and to submit to a voluntary urine drug screening test.

But Sakai and her 10-year old son disappeared August 3 following her husband's arrest. Sakai and their son had been living separately from Takaso.

So, police searched Sakai's apartment in Minato Ward Tokyo.

Straws discovered

Police sources say a large quantity of straws and a cylindrical inhaling device were seized at Sakai's residence. A DNA test on a straw matched Sakai's DNA, according to the sources.

Investigators allegedly found 0.008 gram of an illegal stimulant wrapped in aluminum foil. Investigators believe the minute amount was the residue of a normal-size hit which is usually about 0.03 gram.

Meanwhile, no contact had been made with Sakai, and her relatives had asked the police to search for her.

On August 4, police traced signals from the fugitive's mobile phone to the vicinity of Minobu (Town motto: Peaceful and energetic town on the move), Yamanashi Prefecture. Police issued bulletins to hotels and taxi companies in the area, apparently concerned that the famous actress would slip through the dragnet. Police investigators from Tokyo went to Yamanashi to investigate leads.

On August 6, the couple's son was found with a friend of Sakai's, according to a spokesperson at Sun Music, which manages Sakai.

Tokyo police believed that Sakai was preparing to flee because she had withdrawn money from an ATM, and purchased underwear from a Tokyo store. Tokyo police obtained an arrest warrant for the actress on August 7, on charges of violating the Stimulants Control Act.

Sakai turned herself in at a Tokyo police station in Bunkyo Ward around 7:55 p.m. August 8. She reportedly decided to surrender to police after discovering via TV news reports that police has issued an arrest warrant for her.

Sakai rats out husband

The Metropolitan Police Department said Sakai admitted to their allegations. ''I don't remember stimulants being in my room," Sakai allegedly told police. "But if they were there, it must be true.''

Results of a urine drug screening test conducted on Sakai August 9 indicated negative for drugs, according to sources.

Sakai has reportedly told police she began to use amphetamines in summer 2008. According to sources, Sakai said she and her husband heated the substances or used a pipe to inhale the stimulants. Sakai has allegedly stated her husband was the instigator of her use of the uppers.

Eliminate the root of evil

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture "It is necessary to eliminate the root of an evil because it has been pointed out that drug use is widespread in the entertainment world. We need to tackle this issue so drug use will never spread among the youth."

Arrests for stimulant possession have been declining since peaking in 1984, police data show. Compared with about 24,000 in 1984, arrests have dropped to less than half, reaching about 11,000 in 2008, police said. However, arrests linked to drugs in the entertainment world have jumped in recent years, they said.

"People in the entertainment industry have a huge influence in society. We must strictly tackle the problem," a senior official of the National Police Agency said.

Who is Noriko Sakai

• Made her music debut in 1986, is still popular.
• Rose to fame in 1987 after releasing a single, Otoko no Ko ni Naritai, a few days before her 16th birthday.
• Known as Nori-P during her early career, she began to use her real name after turning to acting in the 1990s.
• One of her most acclaimed roles came in TV melodrama Hitotsu Yane no Shita.
• Is a singer and an actress.

• Markets her own line of clothes. pprikorino.com. (Innaccesible as of Aug. 5, 2009) Try this cached page

• Has a "pure and straight" image.

• Toyota Motor Corp., Ara Pharmaceuticals, and other companies for which Sakai has appeared in commercials or as a spokesperson are reviewing their contracts and/or pulling the ads off the air.

• Victor Entertainment Inc. canceled plans to sell a greatest hits CD of Sakai's songs scheduled to have been released Sept. 16. The company also suspended sales of other products related to Sakai, including online distribution of her songs.

• Sayuri Kobayashi, a Beijing-based journalist, said Sakai is the most well-known Japanese actress among Chinese in their 30s and 40s.

• Recently appeared in a government-sponsored promotional video about the new "lay judge" new jury system that was introduced August 3, 2008.
The Supreme Court announced August 7 that it would stop using and distributing the video titled "Shinri" (Trial), and cease distribution of related pamphlets. It will also remove all publicity posters that were displayed at district and family courts. In the video, Sakai played the role of housewife who was selected to become a citizen judge. About 195,000 DVDs and videos were produced and loaned to the public by district courts and libraries.

• Music analyst Takashi Usui said Sakai's successful return to acting after childbirth turned her into a role model for many women.

(Compiled from new reports)
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