Japanese media attacks Noriko Sakai
If you live in Japan and have turned on your television some time in the last few days, chances are you heard nothing but news about the drug scandal involving celebrity Noriko Sakai (“Noripi”). Her husband was initially arrested for possession of stimulants and Noriko promptly disappeared. Most media coverage painted her as an embarrassed victim of a bad husband, but things have changed since her husband told police that Noriko was also a drug user. Police have issued a warrant for her arrest, and the media has begun to air any bit of information they think might support the case against her.
One of the examples they’ve dug up is a video clip from 5 years ago showing that she got a -*GASP*- tattoo on her ankle. The media cannot confirm whether the tattoo was real or just temporary, but is nonetheless proof of her abandoning her pure image (and heading down the road to drug use?).
She also gave an interview in 2007 with a strange streak of coloring in her hair. She told the interviewer that she is an adult and wants to spend more time to indulge herself.
Other examples of her suspicious activity include: not consenting to a voluntary search of her bag when she was called to the scene of her husband’s arrest and refusing to take a urine test.
Update: She’s turned herself in.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
| Related Posts: |
|
A story so important that it requires CG toilet simulation Forbes: “Shabu Shabu” is an illegal drug |
Full RSS Feed
Didn’t catch this tattoo panic, thanks for bringing it up.
Frankly, I find the Japanese news doesn’t handle any celebrity with the least amount of tact. That actress who died this week…(google)…Reiko Ohara…I saw so much crap about her in a single afternoon I felt ill (note: I am actually home sick, so that may have been a factor).
Why does it matter how many times she was divorced? Why did I have to view the same 30 seconds of twenty-year old interviews over and over and over again?
NHK’s piece on the evening news, on the other hand, was a bit more respectful. They focused more on why she was famous and well-liked in the first place, rather than gossip about her marital habits.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This Japan Probe post does not mention another big factor in the change in public opinion regarding Noriko Sakai.
It was initially thought that she had disappeared along with her 10-year-old son. Therefore people were willing to cut her some slack thinking perhaps she had taken off to protect the son from the news, or were worried for their safety, fearing she might committ murder/suicide because of the shame. However, the son was later found safe, having been left behind with a friend.
The fact that she was not actively caring for her son and disappeared after saying she would go to the police station after checking on her child makes it appear that she has gone underground in order to get the stimulants out of her system before submitting to a urine test.It has not helped her reputation that two guys in a black car (the obvious implication from the descriptions given are that they are yakuza) accompanied her to the spot when her husband called her while he was being questioned.
And today the television news had a story that her younger brother was arrested on stimulant-related charges last month and that he is a member of an organized crime group (i.e. yakuza).
So far, there may be no solid evidence that she herself is guilty of stimulant use, however her actions have not done anything to clear up the situation and clear her name. And it is all doubly embarrassing for the government as they used her in their drama about the new lay judge system that has just started (that they spent a fortune to make and have now had to take off the internet).
Perhaps she is not guilty but she certainly has a lot of explaining to do.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Tattoos are ugly. Not looking forward to the trend of piercing and tattooing taking over in Japan
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is one of the things I dislike about Japan and the Japanese media.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
humm..
so, they are mobilizing the media, an unknown number of officers, doing searches and browsing through tlc logs and basically spend a fortune on DNA tests to confirm.. what?
Wow, looks like there’s way too much money left to be wasted on silly things.
Japan’s economy is clearly more lively than it looks from the inside.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
How did the husband get arrested in the first place? WHy did the husband get stopped by cops and body searched??
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Haha! – like the vampy/goth-like image they’re using of her in corner of the screen.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
About the marital habits of Reiko Ohara. Maybe they are of interest because in those days it was almost a given that when an actress married she would give up her career. Ohara refused to do so and divorced twice because her work was so important to her. So it is not really just old gossip and showing disrespect to her, it is showing her steely determination as a professional dedicated to the stage and screen and also an indicator of how Japanese society has changed.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
If the police would expend this much effort on finding Ichihashi, they’d have him by now.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
To Nick in Nagoya, tattoo’s and piercings are not only attractive, but all round awesome…i hope your having fun back in the 50’s.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I think Japanese life style sometimes make people so stress. Of course using drug is not good, but people have their own weak points can make mistakes.
And having tattoo is not a bad thing_I believe.
This case makes me think that it’s much harder to be a star in Japan than in America or Western country, because people won’t forgive you if you make mistake.
Anyone deserves a chance to be forgiven and to start again, the life.
Rate this comment:
0 
0