The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODOActor Iseya arrested for alleged cannabis possession
TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODO
47 Comments
Login to comment
3RENSHO
Twenty grams? Enough for a couple of days!
Cricky
He wants a lawyer, that's not going to go down well with prosecutors. What a waist of resources. It's not the users suffering reefer madness it's the law that's mad.
Mickelicious
that's a very light drawer
sensei258
Yada yada yada suspended sentence
andy
Come to uk,england iseya for cannabis.. you can smoke as much as you can. even if police sees you smoke cannabis
They say nothing..
sakurasuki
That's really normal request that should be respected by any law enforcement in any developed countries.
Bernard Marx
Hope he can speak English, because he may as well leave Japan now; he won't be getting any more work coming his way.
JeffLee
Good for him. This is the first time I've ever read about a suspect in Japan making such a demand.
commanteer
He does speak English. And he has a lot of things going besides acting. He's a very productive member of society, looking to make the world better rather than just seeking money or fame. Japan needs more people like him. Instead, they'll drive him away for owning something harmless that's legal in many places around the world.
finally rich
Japanese bullying and ostracism at its finest. I'm totally "square" regarding drugs but yesterday the "breaking news" anchors were already refering to this guy as if he had passed away or something, ridiculous.
Ken Wyatt
Iseya said he will not speak to investigators without the presence of his lawyer, according to the police.
Good. Don't make it easy for them.
I'd very much like to know how they got their information.
If it was an undercover copper, well played, but if it was some "friend" who ratted him out, then I hope they get their comeuppance.
Alfie Noakes
A nasty piece of work. Karma.
BeerDeliveryGuy
Not necessarily. Noriyuki Makihara has been arrested for drugs three times, is not what is popularly considered to be “good looking,” and is openly gay without being a flamboyant drag queen; three things that would end a career in Japan. Yet he still tops the record charts and writes music for A-list performers.
AetherCzar
I am tired of all the hypocrisy and media lies:
Putting weed dependence on the same level than cocaine and heroin, it’s all the same right?
He has done more good to society than any old bum leech at the Diet and still gets this much flak.
I feel the mass media tone could be more like “you can smoke weed and still be productive to society, more onto this after this commercial break sponsored by X and Y”
Just tired man
yakyak
This bubble country is about to burst, Hopefully, Iseya san will be the pin that starts the awakening.
Fanch
Poor lad, probably a victim of a rat neighbor... Japanese society should start seeing the benefits of marijuana on the psyche rather than ignorantly shaming it. Japan could use that tax money too and will realize the huge amount of loving, caring and productive pot head there is here.
commanteer
Details. Otherwise, what was the point of your comment?
Paul
Only in Japan can there be such media coverage for something so trivial that does not deserve any attention. People all over the world are smoking weed daily and growing it and using it for medicinal purposes. But in Japan all hell breaks loose because some actor decided to relax and smoke some weed which is a whole lot less dangerous than alcohol. And the public "Ohh my god I am shocked, he WAS such a good man", but if he drunk a bottle of whisky a day, no one would have cared.
Fred Lewis
Quick Question...
If you have even a small quantity of an illegal substance in your home - WHY would you even open the door to the police asking for entry ? Did they break the door down ? Did they have a Master key ? Does he not know how to use the security chain / bar on his door while he is at home to protect himself from burglars who might have a Master key in their pocket ?
Seems to me that someone in such a situation would happily flush the toilet so there was a clean bowl for his visitors before unlocking / un-deadbolting his door and granting them access... But perhaps that's too polite ?
bokuda
Yes, Yes! Yes!! That's the spirit! Don't say a word, don't sign anything.
BeerDeliveryGuy
Perhaps they had a search warrant?
A search warrant can be obtained by something as trivial as having your phone number registered in the smartphone of someone who was arrested for drugs.
Vanessa Carlisle
The illegality of marijuana is NOTHING but an invention created specifically for the sake of power tripping and oppression.
I am totally SICK of regularly reading about trolls in uniform and government screwing up people's lives for their owns SICK pleasure.
Cricky
It's bizarre he hurt nobody, stole nothing, damaged nothing. Spends a lot of his time helping other people. But gets arrested for relaxing at home? Pretty sure I know who should be in court and it's not him.
Ligger2
20+ grams could mean 10 years. Scary.
TheReds
Now the police can check all his ex-gfs and they must be pissing in their pants!!!
borscht
20 grams is less than an ounce, a volume police in the US casually hand back to the culprit and say have a nice day. (Depending on why they stopped the culprit in the first place).
Ego Sum Lux Mundi
Bet someone snitched on him, either a jilted lover, jealous biz partner or nasty neighbour. Ratting out people to the authorities is a national sport here.
commanteer
Likely. It also seems to be a power trip on the part of the police. Take down an entertainment bigshot every now and then to keep people in line and draw their attention away from politics. They will eventually chase all the best people away from Japan, contributing to the talent drain that already exists.
Sven Asai
Please, don’t don’t compare with outside Japan and play that down. Fighting illegal drugs consequently , by the way even harder than it will again end here in this case, and as a duty for all citizens would also very much better for all of your home countries, that are already flooded by drugs and their dealers as well.
u_s__reamer
"Reefer Madness" is endemic to authoritarian Japanese control freaks. Their twisted minds are 60 years behind the times and their paranoia like "Midnight Express" on steroids.
sir_bentley28
Very good man! Now all he has to say is that he wants all the questioning done on camera and the police will not know how to handle this case. I hope his lawyer has experience with weed cases!
Toasted Heretic
Legalize it. Cut out all these pointless arrests which cost the tax payer.
Yubaru
Really depends upon the prosecutors on how this is going to turn out. Down here in Okinawa a foreigner got arrested and put on trial for growing weed in his back yard, and his defense was that he grew it and used it for medical purposes.
He ended up with something like a 6 month "sentence" suspended for 2 years, I believe it was.
Basically a slap on the wrist, and in this case it was a foreigner, not Japanese.
WA4TKG
Uh-oh, call out the SWAT Team again.
WA4TKG
Yubuaru, that’s what anyone would get, first offense..don’t do it a second time, you won’t like the result of that, for sure.
Kumagaijin
Anyone caught with weed in Japan should be able to say its for "research purposes" and get away with it. Any excuse the government uses, should be permitted by the public.
Cricky
The great awakening?, can't hear you too much snoring around me.
Mark
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, cannabis, Ahh. amazing how they find their ways to the top and take you there.
buchailldana
Just like Yubaru said if you say you were not selling it it was just for your own use you can get away with it.I knew that guy in Okinawa and he was caught with 50 huge plants.I couldnt believe he got away with it
shogun36
Never heard of him.
Make an example of the guy.
But maybe no one will notice.
bass4funk
He'll be ok, he'll go through the public ringer of shock and horror, pay a huge fine, go in front of the nation and bow deeply, flashes will go off like crazy, repent and promise he's learned the error of his ways and to not do that again repudiate drugs, the media will go on about this like the impeachment trials in the US, he lays low for 2 years and then he can re-emerge and begin his career life anew once again.
CaptDingleheimer
Somebody must have turned him in. This article didn't mention it, but several similar recent articles say that an anonymous tip led to the raids.... Is an anonymous tip enough to get a Japanese judge to sign a search warrant?
Strangerland
Why wouldn’t he get a suspended sentence for a first time charge? What are the extenuating circumstances that should cause a judge to go against the standard and imprison him for a first time offence? Or if there aren’t any extenuating circumstances, why should he get a worse punishment than everyone else?
Being a foreigner is irrelevant. First time drug offenders in Japan are overwhelming delivered suspended sentences whether they’re foreigners or Japanese.
BeerDeliveryGuy
The noontime gossip shows were saying the cops had “information” since early this year, and were building a case since. It didn’t say “who” gave the information. It could’ve been a jilted lover, rival actor/agency, dealer looking for a lighter sentence, evidence from a seized iPhone...
Strangerland
Heh, I got -8 votes for pointing out how the law works in Japan. I guess some people don't like dealing with reality.