Singer Masashi Tashiro gets out of a car at Kanagawa prefectural police headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday in this image taken from TV.

Entertainer Tashiro arrested over cocaine possession

Thursday 16th September, 02:43 PM JST

YOKOHAMA —

Police arrested entertainer Masashi Tashiro early Thursday morning after patrol officers found him in possession of cocaine in a Yokohama port parking lot.

Tashiro’s arrest, for violating the narcotics control law, was his third in connection with illegal drugs. Police also arrested Chieko Arai, 50, a beauty parlor operator from Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, who was with 54-year-old Tashiro at the time, for possessing stimulant drugs.

The officers questioned Tashiro, who lives in Tokyo’s Musashino, after seeing him and Arai inside a parked car at around 1:40 a.m.

The officers, dispatched by Fukuoka police, had been patrolling the area as part of security reinforcement ahead of a series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings to be held in Yokohama in November.

Tashiro debuted in the entertainment industry in the 1980s as a member of doo-wop band the Chanels. He was also popular as a comedian.

In 2000, Tashiro was fined for secretly photographing a woman’s underwear. In 2002, he was given a suspended prison term for violating the stimulants control law. In 2005, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for another violation of the stimulants control law.

After his release from prison in 2008, Tashiro has appeared in ‘‘talk events’’ at nightclubs.

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Latest 15 of 44 Total Comments Show All

RomeoRamenII at 08:58 PM JST - 16th September

In 2000, Tashiro was fined for secretly photographing a woman’s underwear.

Huh? Does this sentence mean an upskirt photo? Or, taking pics of a woman's underwear on a clothesline?

RR
neogreenjapan at 09:38 PM JST - 16th September

Got my info wrong. He got in a car accident 3 months before his 2nd arrest.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/zoom/20100916-OYT9I00489.htm

Here is a bigger photo of him. He looks like a wreck.
sillygirl at 09:39 PM JST - 16th September

yeah - upskirt photos - it looks like they wanted to put a better spin on it.
neogreenjapan at 09:41 PM JST - 16th September

On September 24, 2000, he was sent to the prosecutor's office for filming up a woman's skirt with a camcorder in Tokyu Toyoko Line Toritsudaigaku Station in Meguro, Tokyo. When he was asked why he had done it at a news conference on October 4 of the same year, he claimed that he had been producing a comic film called "Mini ni tako ga dekiru" (ミニにタコができる?), a pun on the similar Japanese pronunciations for "mini" (ミニ?, , miniskirt) and "mimi" (耳?, , ear) and the two meanings of "tako" (callus and octopus) based on the Japanese saying "mimi ni tako ga dekiru" (耳にタコができる?, , literally "I have a callus in my ear [from hearing something so often]"). The "mini ni tako" remark became infamous in the Japanese news media.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Tashiro
whiskeysour at 09:45 PM JST - 16th September

Is he still an entertainer ? I've never seen this man on television before.
nutsagain at 09:46 PM JST - 16th September

This is a bit sad, especially for him. When will posters get it? The police have nothing to do with narcotics, stimulants nor psychotropics ( covered by a different law) tThe people who do the 'busting& are narcotics officers and all have a degree in pharmacology, do a substance test on the spot, extract a statement that the person under suspicion has verified the little piece of paper change color in front of their eyes, then down they go. That's it. Nothing to do with the keystones at all... So he was being followed is my guess. I know all this because I taught them English for years. A word of caution, there are some narcs that could easily pass for layabouts. Dyed hair, tatts (maybe false) and earrings. They hang out in olaces sometimes posing as boy and girlfriend and aren't studying English and Portuguese for holidays. er, hem ....
TokyoLife99 at 09:51 PM JST - 16th September

All you "holier than thou" folks, one of the reasons Tashiro looks terrible is because he was arrested in the middle of the night and likely has been up since then, probably considering the fact that any chance he had at redemption by the media is lost and will likely have to go back to jail. He looks broken because, at this stage, he is probably at the lowest point of his existence.

To "Pukey2" who writes: "I felt sick knowing that this lowlife was given more airtime. Can you imagine someone like Gary Glitter making a comeback or giving interviews?"

Tashiro has certainly committed his sins but your comparison is unwarranted and inaccurate. Possession of cocaine is wrong, no doubt, but aren't there many celebrities who have committed that crime? Wasn't Paris, for example, just stopped for the same thing? Will it hurt her career, even though she was in jail for a similar charge not too long ago? No, she will get a slap on the wrist, if even that. This is Japan, though, so Tashiro will likely have to pay more dearly. I agree with the comment that this guy needs help, not more jail-time.
Pukey2 at 11:07 PM JST - 16th September

tokyolife99:

I an NOT talking about drugs. I'm talking about his habit at looking up women's skirts, and filming or spying on other people. I couldn't give a hoot about drugs - George Michael hasn't lost that many fans despite being put in the slammer for his latest escapades.
Pukey2 at 11:08 PM JST - 16th September

Oh, and I agree with one of the other posters. He definitely deserves jail time - after that black-paint-on-the-face performance. I'd love to see him perform this in America.
elbudamexicano at 11:46 PM JST - 16th September

This Tashiro guy was also arrested for peeking at a guy in his own bath tub, so maybe this guy needs to come out of the closet, so to speak and admit he is gay, or bisexual or what ever then he can really try to get a grip on his life.
odahitoshi at 11:58 PM JST - 16th September

Moustache is his trademark !
usaexpat at 12:06 AM JST - 17th September

From the picture it looks he's been on a good bender. It's pretty obvious he has a drug problem if this is his third offense.
neogreenjapan at 01:01 AM JST - 17th September

This Tashiro guy was also arrested for peeking at a guy in his own bath tub

He was peaking at someone else bath tub. Not his own. He is into voyeurism and drugs.
knackerz at 10:06 AM JST - 17th September

This guy needs help, not prison.
isthistheend at 10:18 AM JST - 17th September

This guy needs help AND prison.