Actor Manabu Oshio, taking the stand in his own defense at the Tokyo District Court, testified Monday that he tried to save the life of the woman who died of a drug overdose in his presence.

Oshio said he performed cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when Kaori Tanaka's overdose symptoms worsened and her heart stopped beating after the two had sex Aug. 2, 2009, in a luxury apartment in Tokyo's Roppongi district.

He told the court he took a course on the first-aid measures as a sixth-grader in the United States, where he said he lived from age 4 to 13.