Fashion model Jessica Michibata and a male friend have been arrested at a hotel in Tokyo on suspicion of possessing the synthetic drug MDMA, police said.
Michibata, 38, and her friend, who is in his 40s, were arrested on Sunday night, Kyodo News reported. They were staying at the hotel in Roppongi where the package was delivered to them.
Police said customs officers at Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture found the stimulants in 15 capsules inside the package which was sent from the United States. The package was addressed to Michibata's companion, believed to be her boyfriend. Police arrested the couple after the package was delivered to their room.
Police said Michibata has denied the charge and quoted her as saying she doesn't know anything about the stimulants.
Born in Fukui to a Japanese mother and Argentinean father who is half-Spanish, half-Italian, Michibata has been working in the United States and was on a visit to Japan.
© Japan Today
41 Comments
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TrevorPeace
It's pretty dumb to have that stuff mailed to you. Typical of someone with looks and no brains.
wanderlust
Addressed to the boyfriend, not her.
She may well be innocent.
tamanegi
"Born in Fukui to a Japanese mother and Argentinean father who is half-Spanish and half-Italian"
Why on earth does this need to be stated?
WA4TKG
Who ? ; wait, who cares ?
I once worked at a club where one of the dancers coming from the US had sent herself all the fixins' for shooting up, Smak.
It got delivered and the next thing you know, the cops show up. She asked one of the other girls to HIDE it for her, before they showed up, she took it and TRASHED it, and nothing happened, or they ALL would have been sent up the river.
dagon
MDMA has proven to be valuable in a number of therapeutic contexts, not just for recreation.
Including for vets with PTSD.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2023/01/16/new-study-supports-mdma-as-a-treatment-for-ptsd/?sh=3914f6dc3d38
didou
Right. But even if she is innocent, it is already a blow up to her carrier for a while.
M
Those drugs are often used to rape men by prostitute. They are more easily manipulated to tell secret and give more money with a bit of drug mixed in the drink. In France, this is called rape drug method. So carrying those forbidden drug are a really strong offense and can imply a planned crime (rape is a crime). This is not just recreative drug today. This is money and information drug too.
sunfunbun
MDMA is an enhancement drug. Ecstasy. It is considered a date rape drug because it makes the victim more likely to consent, or that's the idea behind it, so the victim voluntarily loosens up their defenses.
The more common ideal of a date rape drug are things like GBH or drugs that essentially put their victim to helplessness and sleep inducement.
Opposite methods of drugs to manipulate the opposite sex.
But, in this case, pretty much Jessica and her boyfriend just wanted the enhanced pleasure and ecstasy.
Lindsay
Stoopid! She may very well be innocent but under Japanese law she is guilty through association.
sangetsu03
No better way to end your career in Japan than a drug arrest. I suppose she’ll be looking for a new country in which to live, though a drug conviction is going to limit those options.
We can see what good legalization and decriminalization has done for places like LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and other places. I can’t even visit my old Southern California neighborhood anymore, the sidewalks are covered with homeless addicts, most of the businesses have left. I don’t care to see the cancer of drug addiction destroy Japan the way it is destroying America. Seeing the drug-induced social collapse should encourage Japan to make their drug laws even more severe.
mountainpear
Why is she named and not the other suspect? It was his name on the package!
Moonraker
She was married to Jenson Button - former F1 champion - for a while.
Mark
NOT VERY SMART I would say, why Japan? just wait till you go back and MAY BE have all the Stimulants you want!!! or can she??
Mark
What significance does her father roots DNA or blood type add to the story???
Typical in Japan.
Mr Kipling
Mark...
It explains her poor decision making. Those pesky foreign DNA are the problem.
Mocheake
Well, now the wide shows will be questioning her Japaneseness. If the guy is a foreigner, she just torpedoed her career. Funny how his name and nationality was not mentioned.
Chibakun
That's a bad choice of male companion.
shogun36
Cute. At that age and still “partying?” Grow up, and be adults already.
Good choice for a mate, sounds like a winner.
Maybe, maybe not. But she definitely knows she picked the right idiot to be with.
I haven’t heard or seen anything about this woman or her sisters in a few years for sure. Good way to make a comeback in the media.
kaimycahl
@Lindsay She is not stupid, the package was not in her name, also it has to be proven that she had part in the delivery. Your logic as if you have and you and the friend go into a store you go to use the rest room and leave with your friend but while you were in the rest room little did you know your friend rob the store. Does that make you guilty by association I guarantee you will say the same thing I didn't know my friend robbed the store. Logic is the same. Perhaps she had no idea.
Stoopid! She may very well be innocent but under Japanese law she is guilty through association.
Righteous
I may live in a different world, but I would never have something sent to me at a hotel.
justasking
Not true. Now everyone have heard of her.
starpunk
It's often used at these secret 'rave' events held at clubs and warehouses and such. It supposedly enhances the 'experiences' with the beaty house music, laser beams, etc.
Fershure. Ecstasy is nothing but trouble and often leads to that. It's BAD NEWS.
travelbangaijin
I cannot believe a Japanese man would put his Japanese girlfriend in a situation like this.
SaikoPhysco
What if the person who's name that was on the package had never even been to the USA and didn't even know the person that sent it. She could have had the package sent in the other person's name. That could be a reason for not reporting the name.
Yrral
Saiko,you do not put a name on any packages or address,if will be delivered,if have a stamp,the post office will have a record and the postage inspector will be involved
John-San
She Japanese citizen and media post she racial ethnicity. Making sure every Japanese citizen knows. If that not racial profiling what is? Now the moderate is always pulling commits of this nature but publish this. So JT are you going pull this item? There commit stating. Do we need to know her ethnicity???? Only her nationality should be published not her Ethnicity.
Michael Machida
Best to choose your inner circle more carefully.
She is guilty by association.
JeffLee
The drugs are addressed to a guy, who happens to be the boyfriend of a woman. The woman is the one who is named and profiled in the media while the guy remains anonymous.
Gotta love the Japanese sense of fairness and justice.
diobrando
As all similar cases, media focusing on her thanks to the amazing police "making the job" even if it wa not for her...by now you can arrest all persons sat to a driver in a car accident.
Marr Bourdein
As a former investigator, she's best to say what she's sticking to them admitting anything at all. Either way, the system has her now and in this country it is taken very serious. It's no joke but she's in deep.
kohakuebisu
A hotel in Roppongi too, it's almost comical. Not even breaking up the capsules and mixing it a dipper candy or something.
How to get caught 101.
kurisupisu
The last time I came back to Japan (Feb ‘23)
there were three sniffer dogs in the arrival hall.
Why so many?
JT will soon run an article telling us why, no doubt…
Sven Asai
Rule number one, where there’s one, there’s highly probable more nearby. So if I were police, and maybe luckily for many I am not, I would comb that whole hotel, the city quarter, the nearby post offices and the private and working environment of both suspects written about in the article. I am very sure, I would have found a very big and deep illegal drug swamp there without much effort.
kurisupisu
@Sven Asai
Are you being facetious?
Anybody knows that the illicit drug trade is controlled in Japan.
However, there won’t be any sensational articles in the Japanese mass media about it.
It’s far easier and appealing to the masses in Japan that ‘drugs’ are seen to be something that only foreigners or has been models are interested in
John
The police will test her for drugs, if she tests positive she has a problem.
Moonraker
Well, was it a flight from Thailand? Or was there a flight from Thailand in, kurisupisu? Since Thailand kinda decriminalised weed, maybe Japan is more vigilant about stoned Japanese coming home with pockets of the stuff. There are scare stories in the vernacular media about Japanese being taken to hospital in Thailand with hallucinations - all Japanese are told all drugs produce hallucinations - and anxiety after a toke.
LadySnowBlood
The drugs were addressed to a man but the man’s girlfriend is the one who is named and racially profiled by the media. This clearly shows how the system works here. She’s being publicly humiliated and blamed even before a trial, just for being a woman and being of mixed race. Typical in Japan.
AlternativeOpinion
As bad as it seems, look at at it from the media POV, a famous (to whatever degree) person is caught up in a bust/arrest. They are going to leap all over it and flog it to death, gets eyeballs and sells ads. An average person? not marketable to bother. We all clicked and read it...
JeffLee
How do you we know the man is "average"? He's anonymous. We're not allowed to know who he is.
If that's the case, she needs to get in touch with her attorney right now and not say or do anything until the attorney arrives on the scene to remind the police of the suspect's rights.
starpunk
Clickbait. A famous or notorious name will draw in the readers every time, just like Hong Kong Phooey's 'Hong Kong magic'. It works fine, every time!
Bofington
I've seen many of the drug presentations they give to kids here. They're insane. It's the same kind of garbage going around in the '60s overseas. Yes, I agree MDMA is a dangerous substance, but to have it on the same level as weed is a problem. Also, does ending someone's career and putting them behind bars seem like a fair way to deal with someone who is just a user? Never. Anyone who does drugs is simply attempting to make a bad situation better. No different than all the suits here drinking until they forget the week every Friday night.
When I think about famous artists, musicians, actors, or anyone else with a big name, they have drug stories. Have they been cancelled for it? No way. It actually adds to their character. Completely unreasonable to have these restrictions.
Also, legalize marijuana globally. It's nothing but beneficial to everyone.