Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested actor Hiroya Shimizu (26) for possession of plant fragments containing cannabis.
Reporter (on scene):
“Is he heading to a shoot now? Actor Hiroya Shimizu has just appeared. He’s walking while wearing a black-and-white cap.”
Shimizu was arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s Cannabis Control Act. Authorities allege that around July 10 this year, he possessed plant fragments containing cannabis at his home in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward.
At around 4 a.m., police searched his residence in Suginami and subsequently took him into custody. According to investigators, dried plant material resembling marijuana and rolling papers were found on his table.
Police also arrested his girlfriend, a woman in her 20s who was with him at the time, on the same charges.
Shimizu has reportedly admitted, telling investigators: “It’s true that I had marijuana.”
Authorities had been investigating since January, when they first received information, and are now working to trace how he obtained the cannabis.
Shimizu currently appears as a doctor in TBS’s Sunday drama The 19th Chart (19番目のカルテ).
His talent agency issued the following statement in response to the arrest:
Regarding Reports on Our Talent, Hiroya Shimizu
We deeply apologize to all concerned parties and supporters for the trouble and concern caused by the news about Hiroya Shimizu.
We ourselves only learned of this matter through a news flash this morning and are greatly bewildered. At present, we understand that Shimizu is being questioned by police, and we do not have any information beyond what has been reported. We will work with a lawyer to confirm the facts, and once we know more, we will promptly inform relevant parties.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern this has caused.
September 3, 2025
Office Saku Co., Ltd.
合法化を
Since January?! Lol
Let the people have grass
Free that man STAT
The weird obsession with weed in Japan is so bizarre to me. Who cares what the guy does in his own time
good grief, it’s safe – legalize it.
lol what a joke
Sanseito: “We wouldn’t have weed in Japan if foreigners didn’t bring it here”
Atp just legalize it bro 😭
Sanseito: foreigners brought it here 😀😀
As I’ve gotten older, the scene in Lost in Translation where they smoke weed has taken on more and more meaning for me.
Meanwhile I can order it on an app and have it delivered to my doorstep – California
It’s ridiculous that in 2025 arrests for having weed are still happening in developed countries
Meanwhile, Japan with scary suicide and depression rates:
– we hate weed, we will destroy your life over weed 😡
On the one hand, the people in charge of policing MJ in Japan are hard right ideologs who probably view its legalization in the rest of the world as the decline and fall of modern civilization. They’ll allow legalization over their dead bodies.
On the other hand, MJ arrests are primarily a political tool. They use it to distract the media and public from other far more important problems, and they also have, in the past, used it to target activists who vocally promote legalization.
I knew one woman who ran for the Diet on a legalization platform and lost. So she moved to a tiny island off Okinawa, and the police went out of their way to investigate her and search her house. Of course they “found” a small amount so they put her in jail for a few years. I mean, sure, she broke the law, probably, assuming it was hers and not her roommate’s. But that was a targeted investigation for revenge done specifically to send a message.
A 9 month investigation over some dude smoking some weed. Hilarious
Japan relax let that man smoke it’s a cold world.
Gotta wonder which person hates him so much he reported him to the police for smoking.
Jesus some people truly have no life and are just a drag on society.
sometimes i want to drop everything and head back to seoul or maybe even japan to live for a while and remember i’d get arrested for doing the thing i do pretty often here. wonder if one day weed will be legal or permitted in korea/japan elsewhere where it’s demonized
OH MY
GOD NOOOOOOOOOO
Actually just kidding what the fuck. Back to your strong zero and cigarettes, sheeple.
Reefer madness!
it’s not hard to get, just crazily overpunished so people hide it good. just let people have it. alcohol and cigs are so much worse and hurting people.
The weed has some power that will make people think out of the box. Something that Japan’s culture it’s not going to accept. Way better millions of people killing themselves everyday with cheap alcohol.
I just got out of Nagoya detention center for it. They did surveillance for almost a month before raiding the house. It was wild.
Some fragments of dried cannabis-like plant found at his home? He’s a dangerous drug addict and a menace to society.
But drunk salarymen passed out in a puddle of their own vomit in front of the train station? Well, that’s just funny and nothing to worry about.
he’d be better off drinking to death on the streets of shinjuku, puking his guts out in public and possibly falling onto the train tracks. all legal and safe! god forbid a man chooses to chill out at home with some weed, that’s unacceptable.
Just wait for them to end distribution of anything he has ever worked on haha. Feels like the more the world tells Japan how ridiculous it is about a certain issue the more they bunker down on it. Joke about them still using fax machines, the next day the office has one more.
It’s so crazy that it’s so stigmatized still in Japan. In the meantime in the US half the states have completely legalized it.
It’s especially hilarious they treat weed like this when you have an extremely permissive alcohol culture to the point it’s common to see people drunk, passed out or vomiting or even fighting sometimes in public and it’s generally just kind of shrugged off. Lots of times unless you really get violent the police will just let the guys sober up and release them. But someone smokes one joint in the privacy of their home and you have the police doing a nearly yearlong investigation like the guy was building a nuclear bomb or something
I wonder what would happen to his career, though. Cases like this would mean their brand deals be cut and they would usually be on a “blacklist” of some sort for a few years.
31 comments
Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested actor Hiroya Shimizu (26) for possession of plant fragments containing cannabis.
Reporter (on scene):
“Is he heading to a shoot now? Actor Hiroya Shimizu has just appeared. He’s walking while wearing a black-and-white cap.”
Shimizu was arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s Cannabis Control Act. Authorities allege that around July 10 this year, he possessed plant fragments containing cannabis at his home in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward.
At around 4 a.m., police searched his residence in Suginami and subsequently took him into custody. According to investigators, dried plant material resembling marijuana and rolling papers were found on his table.
Police also arrested his girlfriend, a woman in her 20s who was with him at the time, on the same charges.
Shimizu has reportedly admitted, telling investigators: “It’s true that I had marijuana.”
Authorities had been investigating since January, when they first received information, and are now working to trace how he obtained the cannabis.
Shimizu currently appears as a doctor in TBS’s Sunday drama The 19th Chart (19番目のカルテ).
His talent agency issued the following statement in response to the arrest:
Regarding Reports on Our Talent, Hiroya Shimizu
We deeply apologize to all concerned parties and supporters for the trouble and concern caused by the news about Hiroya Shimizu.
We ourselves only learned of this matter through a news flash this morning and are greatly bewildered. At present, we understand that Shimizu is being questioned by police, and we do not have any information beyond what has been reported. We will work with a lawyer to confirm the facts, and once we know more, we will promptly inform relevant parties.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern this has caused.
September 3, 2025
Office Saku Co., Ltd.
合法化を
Since January?! Lol
Let the people have grass
Free that man STAT
The weird obsession with weed in Japan is so bizarre to me. Who cares what the guy does in his own time
good grief, it’s safe – legalize it.
lol what a joke
Sanseito: “We wouldn’t have weed in Japan if foreigners didn’t bring it here”
Atp just legalize it bro 😭
Sanseito: foreigners brought it here 😀😀
As I’ve gotten older, the scene in Lost in Translation where they smoke weed has taken on more and more meaning for me.
Meanwhile I can order it on an app and have it delivered to my doorstep – California
It’s ridiculous that in 2025 arrests for having weed are still happening in developed countries
Meanwhile, Japan with scary suicide and depression rates:
– we hate weed, we will destroy your life over weed 😡
On the one hand, the people in charge of policing MJ in Japan are hard right ideologs who probably view its legalization in the rest of the world as the decline and fall of modern civilization. They’ll allow legalization over their dead bodies.
On the other hand, MJ arrests are primarily a political tool. They use it to distract the media and public from other far more important problems, and they also have, in the past, used it to target activists who vocally promote legalization.
I knew one woman who ran for the Diet on a legalization platform and lost. So she moved to a tiny island off Okinawa, and the police went out of their way to investigate her and search her house. Of course they “found” a small amount so they put her in jail for a few years. I mean, sure, she broke the law, probably, assuming it was hers and not her roommate’s. But that was a targeted investigation for revenge done specifically to send a message.
A 9 month investigation over some dude smoking some weed. Hilarious
Japan relax let that man smoke it’s a cold world.
Gotta wonder which person hates him so much he reported him to the police for smoking.
Jesus some people truly have no life and are just a drag on society.
sometimes i want to drop everything and head back to seoul or maybe even japan to live for a while and remember i’d get arrested for doing the thing i do pretty often here. wonder if one day weed will be legal or permitted in korea/japan elsewhere where it’s demonized
OH MY
GOD NOOOOOOOOOO
Actually just kidding what the fuck. Back to your strong zero and cigarettes, sheeple.
Reefer madness!
it’s not hard to get, just crazily overpunished so people hide it good. just let people have it. alcohol and cigs are so much worse and hurting people.
The weed has some power that will make people think out of the box. Something that Japan’s culture it’s not going to accept. Way better millions of people killing themselves everyday with cheap alcohol.
I just got out of Nagoya detention center for it. They did surveillance for almost a month before raiding the house. It was wild.
Some fragments of dried cannabis-like plant found at his home? He’s a dangerous drug addict and a menace to society.
But drunk salarymen passed out in a puddle of their own vomit in front of the train station? Well, that’s just funny and nothing to worry about.
he’d be better off drinking to death on the streets of shinjuku, puking his guts out in public and possibly falling onto the train tracks. all legal and safe! god forbid a man chooses to chill out at home with some weed, that’s unacceptable.
Just wait for them to end distribution of anything he has ever worked on haha. Feels like the more the world tells Japan how ridiculous it is about a certain issue the more they bunker down on it. Joke about them still using fax machines, the next day the office has one more.
It’s so crazy that it’s so stigmatized still in Japan. In the meantime in the US half the states have completely legalized it.
It’s especially hilarious they treat weed like this when you have an extremely permissive alcohol culture to the point it’s common to see people drunk, passed out or vomiting or even fighting sometimes in public and it’s generally just kind of shrugged off. Lots of times unless you really get violent the police will just let the guys sober up and release them. But someone smokes one joint in the privacy of their home and you have the police doing a nearly yearlong investigation like the guy was building a nuclear bomb or something
I wonder what would happen to his career, though. Cases like this would mean their brand deals be cut and they would usually be on a “blacklist” of some sort for a few years.
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