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Actress Sawajiri indicted on drug possession charges

Dec 07, 2019 (Japan Today) - Prosecutors indicted on Friday actress Erika Sawajiri on charges of possessing the illegal drugs MDMA and LSD following her arrest last month.

The police searched her home in Tokyo last month when she returned after a night out at a club and found 0.19 grams of powder containing MDMA, 0.6 grams of liquid containing LSD and a small piece of paper laced with LSD.

Her attorney has made a request to the Tokyo District Court for the 33-year-old actress to be released on bail, and the court granted the request the same day, setting the bail at 5 million yen.

A car believed to be carrying Sawajiri left a police station in Tokyo later Friday. The vehicle's side and rear windows were covered by curtains as it drove through a swarm of media cameras and headed for a hospital.

Sawajiri, arrested on Nov 16, has admitted to using marijuana, LSD, cocaine and MDMA, according to investigative sources.

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A first-of-its-kind sleep competition was held in Tokyo on October 5, with contestants competing for a 2.22 million yen top prize by trying to achieve the deepest, fastest and most stable sleep during a 90-minute session.

Japan brought the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to a close on October 4 with a record 83 gold medals and 269 medals overall, finishing second behind China after 16 days of competition that produced historic victories in swimming, athletics, judo, wrestling, softball and other sports, while a closing ceremony in Nagoya marked the end of the first Asian Games held in Japan in 32 years.

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A 36-year-old Tokyo bar owner was arrested on October 5 on suspicion of abandoning the body of his 25-year-old girlfriend in a mountainous area of Miyagi Prefecture, with police also investigating whether he was involved in her death.

Eleven men were injured when a traditional danjiri festival float overturned while attempting to make a sharp left turn at an intersection in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on the evening of October 3, with all victims conscious when transported to hospitals and none suffering life-threatening injuries.

Police are investigating a possible case of arson after a fire broke out in the parking lot of a closed restaurant in Daito, Osaka Prefecture, early on October 3, damaging approximately 460 square meters of the property, which has become a popular gathering place for young people after being featured online as a haunted location.

A 35-year-old man has been rearrested on suspicion of persuading a high school girl to expose herself during a video call on social media and recording the footage, in a case that has revealed the growing dangers of "non-meeting sugar dating," in which adults offer money to minors in exchange for sexual images and videos without ever meeting them in person.

An Australian tourist who suffered a spinal cord injury after falling from a bridge near a popular sightseeing area in Hakodate, Hokkaido, has filed a lawsuit against the city seeking 400 million yen in damages, claiming that the bridge's railing was dangerously low.

A man suspected of stealing 24 medaka fish from an unmanned roadside shop attempted to destroy evidence by throwing the fish and their containers from his car window while fleeing police in an incident on September 25.

A 79-year-old former gang member was arrested on September 30 following two shootings in Kobe that left one man dead and another seriously injured, with police investigating the possibility that the suspect acted alone rather than as part of a conflict between organized crime groups.

A 46-year-old doctor arrested on suspicion of dismembering his wife's body and dumping the remains in a river in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, has admitted to the allegations, telling investigators that he laid a blue plastic sheet in the bathroom before cutting up the body and transporting it by car.