The husband of pop idol-turned-actress Noriko Sakai was handed a suspended two-year prison sentence Friday for possessing and using illegal stimulant drugs.
Yuichi Takaso, 41, a self-styled professional surfer, pleaded guilty at the start of his Tokyo District Court trial last month.
He admitted that he used a small amount of stimulant drugs and carried them in a car in Tokyo in early August, and was in possession of them at his resort house in Chiba Prefecture on Aug. 9.
Sakai, 38, received a suspended 18-month prison term for illegal stimulants possession and use at the district court on Nov. 9. The ruling was finalized without appeal.
She maintained at her trial that she started using illegal stimulants about four years ago at Takaso's suggestion.
So extensively has the media covered developments since Takaso's arrest and the drug raid on Sakai's home Aug. 3 that the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization was prompted to warn that the reporting was "overheated."
Sakai's case has been widely portrayed as a betrayal of her image as a pure and innocent idol and more recently as a good mother in a happy family.
