Forbes: “Shabu Shabu” is an illegal drug
An embarrassing error in Tim Kelly’s article for Forbes about the Noriko Sakai drug scandal:
Though discussed little in public, estimates put Japan’s regular drug users in the millions. Amphetamine crystals, known locally as shabu shabu is common, but cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana and other narcotics are readily available despite stiff penalties. Japan doesn’t differentiate between soft and hard drugs.
Shabu shabu, as some of you Japanese food lovers out there may already know, is a term for Japanese hot pot cuisine- not amphetamine. He may have confused it with “shabu,” a drug which is apparently different from “aburi,” the actual street name being mentioned in Japanese press reports about the drug arrest. The article also incorrectly states that Noriko “went on the run for a week with her 10-year old son” (she left the kid with a friend), and that police found “less than one thousandth of a gram” of drugs (they found 8 thousandths of a gram).
For all you junkies at home, here’s a video about how to brew your own batch of shabu shabu:
[hat tip to fukumimi]
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