Police in Tokyo said Tuesday that actress Ai Takabe has been arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession.
Takabe, 27, whose real name is Ai Nakayama, was arrested on the morning of Oct 15 after a small amount of cocaine was found in her apartment in Shibuya Ward, Sankei Shimbun quoted police as saying. Takabe was home alone at the time of her arrest, police said.
Takabe has admitted to the charge and said she got the cocaine from a friend.
Takabe made her showbiz debut in 2004 after winning a beauty contest. She appeared in movies and TV dramas as well as worked as a voice actress for anime productions.
Takabe's agency Oscar Promotion issued a statement saying it had canceled its contract with her.
© Japan Today
45 Comments
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Mirai Hayashi
Suspended sentence and rehab, and then she will be back bigger than ever. Welcome to Japanese entertainment.
Alistair Carnell
A lot missing here. What lead to the police searching her flat, and when is she going to say that the friend that gave it to her was a foreigner? It seems like the agency that had her on their books, has already dropped her like a hot potato. There must be more to this story.
smartacus
First, she'll have to appear at a press conference, dressed conservatively, and tearfully apologize. Then she will go into a self-imposed exile for about 6 months before reemerging. A bit like what happened to Noriko Sakai, I suppose.
Strategist
I don't blame her, acting is quite demanding, many a times, the actor is driven insane by the director or agents, some even resort to suicide, others drugs. Let the English man tell you. Love, there are far better ways to relief stress, "getting away from it all" as it were, going on a holiday is but one. Best of all, its not illegal. Next time, you just might consider that.
wontond
Who tipped off the cops? And would it be enough probable cause for them to conduct a search? She must have ticked off the wrong person.
Mireya Benedetti
Welcome to Japanese entertainment? Welcome to the entire entertainment industry!!!
Sensato
The night before Takebe's arrest she and around 50 others from her talent agency attended a Halloween costume party at the home of 'gravure idol' Yuri Morishita (森下悠里). Quite likely, that is where the 'friend' gave her the cocaine.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2015/10/28/kiji/K20151028011400810.html
Hide Suzuki
@Mirai Hayashi
"Suspended sentence and rehab, and then she will be back bigger than ever"
really? i dont remember that happening to Noriko Sakai. She still cant get any decent gig after she got arrested for meth
Spanki
Yea I was wondering why the police searched her place too. Was she stitched up by a jealous rival?
tmarie
She clearly pissed off someone powerful. Most times when anyone famous here gets busted the cops and media ignore it. Always laugh when folks tell me famous people in Japan don't do drugs.
TheGodfather
友達からもらった ----- tomodachi kara moratta ----- i received it from a friend
Who then grassed you up to the cops!! :-D
Indexmedia
Hardly the crime of the century and in a world where politicians get away with much worse, it's not even worth reporting.
Black Sabbath
I am shocked! SHOCKED!!
Magnus Roe
Yeah because Noriko is such a huge star nowadays. Are you people even paying attention? Unless you're an actual celeb of substance (as in not living hand to mouth by a talent agency), a drug suspicion will END YOU here. She's 27, will be black balled for at least a couple of years before even being allowed for interviews, and by then she's 30 and done anyway.
shonanbb
I just googled her. She is very beautiful, but the red nose nostrils are not becoming.
Wc626
Not big news imo. But if she was strung-out like and on the edge like Whitney Houston's life was, then it would be.
beowulf
微量 = minuscule
She now loses her job and her career over traces of cocaine.
Actors get screwed in this country. Everybody has an agency contract and if you break that contract, good luck trying to regenerate your career.
Moon1
Why do you think she would say that? Are you predicting that it WAS or that she will say this just for fun
pointofview
Many many many Japanese do drugs. They are far from perfect.
Moon1
why the thumbs down its a perfectly good question
HongoTAFEinmate
She's toast. She'll either go the way of Sakai Noriko (amphetamines at the same time as being the face of the national anti-drugs campaign) or one who was busted a couple of years ago (and ended up doing live sex shows down in Asakusa - cannot remember the name).
Moreover, as usual her "management company" (who probably tried to control every facet of her life) dropped her like a hot potato.
borscht
Ai does/gets some cocaine at a party - probably sanctioned by her production company - and decides to take a miniscule home with her. How miniscule? As in one nostril's worth? Always, always keep your miniscule amount of drugs outside of your home, especially in Japan. Or, better yet, use that miniscule amount up right away before a friend rats you out to the cops.
Alistair Carnell
@ Moon 1 it wasn't even me that gave you the thumbs down, but for your information, it seems to be customary, that when a Japanese celeb is caught with drugs, they say it was given to them by a 'mystery foreigner'.
noypikantoku
or she might come back by debuting on porn industry like Komukai...Porn producers will use her career downfall to be in the porn industry. As one door closed down another one opens.
I am not surprised at all, as talent industry is not heaven, and not all kind & innocent looking japanese women are deers on the headlight, there are lot's of Nasty ones too. And in fact they do the nastiest.
nath
Are you trying to say Takabe is nasty? Or that if she were to do porn she would be nasty?
Moon1
I see. I must have missed that over the past 20 odd years in Japan but then I don't follow the young "talent" so much so I'll defer to your knowledge. Thanks for the update.
noypikantoku
Strangerland
Why? is she not? how do you know her well? Maybe she is, maybe she is not, but the fact that she got caught with drugs raises the POSSIBILITY that she is....but my point is... THESE THINGS DON'T SURPRISE ME AT ALL.....
Komukai was caught with drugs too when she was just a normal talento and now she's doing hardcore porn... so why is it not possible for her?
nath
Doing drugs does not make someone nasty. If they did, then everyone who drinks alcohol would be nasty. Some nasty people do drugs, but that's a different thing.
dcog9065
Poor girl, everyone knows actors and actresses require coke and other drugs to survive
HongoTAFEinmate
As a follow up to my earlier post, the other "idol" I mentioned was called Minako Komukai. I believe she was grasped by the long arm of the law in 2009. Because this made her into a social phariah in Japan's "entertainment industry," she ended up (or was forced) into a more seedy career. Moreover, having just Googled her name, it seems she was sentenced again this year, the gutter press now describing her as an "AV queen."
nath
I never heard of Komukai before this, but reading Wikipedia she got ~$1mil for five videos! Damn. Sounds like a good reason to switch over to AV to me.
noypikantoku
Strangerland
Dude, Many drug addicts/users do Nasty things you cannot imagine, as I know, Ive seen and I lived with drug addicts/users. What I am saying is, She could be, she could be not! It won't surprise me since there is a possibility that she is a drug user/addict so she could also do the filthy things that many drug addicts do.
the addiction in alcohol and Chemicals (Drugs) are just in different levels. you cannot compare them.
nath
Your original post seemed to say she was nasty, not that she may be.
And alcohol is just as heavy a drug as cocaine and heroin, regardless of its legal status. On that note there are plenty of recreational users of cocaine and heroin who are not nasty at all.
noypikantoku
Your original post seemed to say she was nasty, not that she may be.
let me re-post my original post....
Now where is the part where I say that SHE IS NASTY!? Yes she could be, what I am saying is it's not surprising at all as many japanese women appears to be innocent but yet nasty. it is my reason for not being too surprised on what happened to her. Thats the problem when you dont read my comments properly and instead thinking a way how to contradict me from the very first word.
You already assumed that she is just a "recreational user" again, how well do you know her and her activities??? you are just assuming... your argument is one sided and give it a break and dont bring your apologist thoughts on this topic.
turbotsat
Reconsidering your career strategy?
nath
Where did I say you said she is nasty?
Ironic statement considering you just misread my post, as shown by the first half of this post. Maybe you should take your own advice.
HongoTAFEinmate
And to think she was previously a police chief too boot.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/actress-ai-takabe-becomes-honoray-police-chief-for-a-day
nandakandamanda
Nasty can have different meanings to different people. Which way are we using it here?
A "minuscule" amount suggests traces on a mirror, for example, or on a 1,000 yen bill/note. Much paper money in the West is "carrying" very small quantities.
"From a friend". The police here will always force you to say the name of your friend(s), and then they arrest them and do the same again.
Fadamor
As interesting as this detailed discussion into the meaning of "nasty" is, what does the subjective term have to do with this article? Just like the definition of "porn", one person's "nasty' is another person's "normal".
This story sounds like a setup. She was offered the coke, then the police were notified by the same individual. It could be a competitor or it could even be her talent agency if she had started making noises like she wanted to break away. What better way to guarantee that another talent agency won't steal her away?
Barrel Organ
As they say... 'Kids, don't buy drugs ... become a celebrity and they give them you for free'!
TrevorPeace
@Fadamor, I wasn't going to comment, having known many a coke snorter in my younger days, until I read your post. You've got some logic in you. Keep it. So many of the posts at JT, I swear, are printed versions of selfies.
slowguy2
Most likely she will come back in AV^.
ironbutterfly98
Way to Go! Ai it is no big deal everybody in the entertainment industry used it too, include Politicians, well include us too those who wrote comments of her used it too, don't try to play innocent. everybody is guilty in one way or another. Her agency is part of it when they got caught Oh I'm clean!! trying to save their images.
Bartholomew Harte
Some of these posts are NASTY!-She got bagged - career over- as for sinking into porn, from these posts seem more like wishful thinking on the writers part - Who's Nasty????