Former TV entertainer Masashi Tashiro, 63, has been arrested on suspicion of possessing stimulant drugs at a lodging facility in Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture. Tashiro has previously been arrested four times for possession of stimulant drugs and cocaine.
Police said that Tashiro, a member of 1980s doo-wop band The Chanels and a comedian, is accused of being in possession of stimulants at the Shiogama facility on Aug 23 and again at his home in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward on Wednesday, when he was arrested, Fuji TV reported. Tashiro was transferred to Shiogama police station on Wednesday night.
According to a Kyodo News report, the facility where Tashiro stayed in August contacted police and said a guest had left behind some strange items.
At the time of his arrest, Tashiro was a staff member of the support group DARC (Drug Addition Rehabilitation Center) for drug addiction.
© Japan Today
31 Comments
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smithinjapan
And as a celebrity his punishment will be... wait for it... ZERO. Or has he gone to prison the past four times?
kurisupisu
Wow!
How is he dodging prison time?
Do the hustle
So, I guess the three strikes rule doesn’t apply to Japanese celebrities. One of my foreign friends was sentenced to 8 months in prison for having less than a gram of pot on him. His visa was cancelled by the company he worked for and he was forced to leave Japan. This was his first and only offense This joker gets arrested five times for possession of ‘heavy’ drugs and has done very little jail time at all. Japan definitely is a land of contrasts.
Ex_Res
So, I guess the three strikes rule doesn’t apply to Japanese celebrities. One of my foreign friends was sentenced to 8 months in prison for having less than a gram of pot on him. His visa was cancelled by the company he worked for and he was forced to leave Japan. This was his first and only offense This joker gets arrested five times for possession of ‘heavy’ drugs and has done very little jail time at all. Japan definitely is a land of contrasts.
Celebrity or not, he is Japanese, your friend is not.
Hello Kitty 321
Why do people assume he has avoided prison when he hasn't?
papigiulio
What kind of drugs? Marijuana or Cocaine or Heroin? Big difference.
cleo
In 2002 he received a sentence of 2 years' imprisonment, suspended for 3 years, for possession.
In 2005 he was sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment for possession; released in 2008.
In 2010 he was indicted for possession, released on parole in 2014.
2002: speed
2005: marijuana
2010: cocaine
Invalid CSRF
DaDude
I Googled his picture because I know faces better than names here. I never seen this drugee in my life lol
Ganbare Japan!
Unforgivable. He is setting a terrible example to his fans. I just dont understand why people want to take dangerous drugs, drinking alcohol is enough to have fun.
u_s__reamer
In a rational, humane society he would be able to get medical treatment for his addiction instead of punishment. How long before we will get normal, intelligent human beings capable of legislating for a better, happier way of life?
cleo
He used to be on the telly a lot back in the day.
Rats & Star sang in blackface - wouldn't go down well today.
He did quite a bit of comedy stuff with Shimura Ken, too.
Laguna
I'll enjoy marijuana when I'm in the States, but I never chance it in Japan. Getting caught will turn your life upside-down.
JerseyDevil
@Do the hustle
"Japan definitely is a land of contrasts."
Nothing new:
Japan has ALWAYS been a "land of contrasts"
Ex_Res
Unforgivable. He is setting a terrible example to his fans. I just dont understand why people want to take dangerous drugs, drinking alcohol is enough to have fun.
I agree with that. A few beers is legal and fun. However the law in Japan does not show equality to people who foolishly sell or take drugs.
kurisupisu
For his 4th offense and he is only getting a couple of years?
That is dodging prison time-big time!
And for this (5th) offense?
forzaducati
Tashiro was in the news this morning. Bad timing I suppose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTCECHa_a38
Years ago, when they held an APEC meeting here in Yokohama, on utility poles it was made public that the cops were out in full force in search of potential terrorists. They didn’t find any terrorists, but they did stumble onto poor old Tashiro doing dope with a woman in a parked car.
JenniSchiebel
I wouldn't say that he "has done very little jail time at all." He has been imprisoned twice, for a total of six years.
SixpackShakur
In 2000 he was arrested for filming up a womans skirt with a camcorder. A real sleazeball. Good posterboy for the legalize pot movement.
lolozo79
Aaa, Tashiro. I remember you from your halcyon days. Especially enjoyed your role as Shimura Ken's sidekick on バカ殿様. What happened to you ?
stavros69
Celebrities have a lot of off time. Many of them do not know how to use this time wisely and look for instant gratification.
chisineko
A serial offender indeed.
Daxy
Drugs should not be criminalized
Disillusioned
Oh, so you'd be ok with your teenage kid being addicted to heroine or even crack? Or, how about letting them cook their brains on LSD? I agree that pot should not be illegal, but even it can be and is being abused to create a generation of coach potatoes. Unfortunately, for the most part, drugs will remain illegal due to the idiots that abuse them.
Strangerland
Um, that can happen already. It has nothing to do with the legality of drugs, so the above is a non-sequitur, it’s a conclusion (one would be happy with their teenager being an addict) that cannot be made from the premise (that drugs should not be criminalized).
Making drugs a criminal issue as a means of solving a mental health issue is inanity that hasn’t been even remotely effective in the past 40 years and yet people still preach it as if it makes any sense whatsoever.
People need to open their eyes and realize that the garbage they were told was garbage and that it failed. Then we need to come up with a realistic method of risk management rather then pretending that the current ideology-based approach has any validity whatsoever. That pretending has destroyed a generation who ended up addicted to drugs with punishment when they needed support.
3RENSHO
Wow! Mr Tashiro looks terribly unhealthy...
Strangerland
Maybe you should first check that before concluding this:
sir_bentley28
If I were arrested with 3 weed seeds in my pocket, I'd be sent to jail without trial. But because this cat was famous for making fun of black people with blackface, he got off 4 TIMES even though he got caught with cocaine!?!? Japan REALLY has 2 different sets of laws. I've read about numerous Japanese celebs who get away with SERIOUS crimes that normal people like you and me would be sent straight to jail for many years for. The laws here need to be changed and be set for all.
Strangerland
If I were arrested with 3 weed seeds in my pocket, I'd be sent to jail without trial.
No, that's not true. You would initially be detained, but you would not be imprisoned without a trial. And for a first offense, it's likely you would get a suspended sentence unless there were extenuating circumstances.
Where are you getting this information? Nothing in the article indicates he was found not guilty on any of those charges.
Posters on this site make such claims regularly, but no one has ever been able to support the comment as anything beyond baseless rhetoric.
Educator60
Sir Bentley, “But because this cat was famous for making fun of black people with blackface, he got off 4 TIMES even though he got caught with cocaine!?!?”
You really need to pay more attention to reality. Tashiro has been convicted each time and spent years in prison as a result.
fishy
Addiction is a lonely people's illness.
It is easy to blame him and the sentences he's received, but the real sentence he's received was the never ending loneliness and sadness.
He has lost families and friends, yes, it was his own doing but then again, that's the ultimate sentence.
when he was out, he was attending many drug awareness events, he wanted to tell people how horrible it is, yet, he couldn't win his fear, loneliness and sadness.
I feel sad for him.