Creating a Japanese Student In London - Can Anyone Help?

After nuking Japan, the Americans, in order to protect Japanese society from the dangers of marijuana, passed the Hemp Control Act in 1948. A few years later Japan experienced the first methamphetamine epidemic in the world. During the 1950s, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, approximately 30,000 people each year were arrested in connection with speed. Things have calmed down since then. But speed is still the number one illicit drug of choice in Japan, and its use is once again rising among young people.There are an estimated 1-2 million users of speed in Japan. That’s equivalent, percentage-wise, to the number of coke-sniffers and crack fiends in America. While amphetamines were first synthesized in Germany, it was the Japanese, in 1919, who brought us methamphetamine, a more potent close chemical cousin, and the more popular form today. Sold in the 1920s and 30s mainly as a nasal decongestant, speed became a crucial weapon during World War II. The Americans, the British, the Germans (including Hitler, who is rumored to have shot it up daily), and the Japanese all fed it to their soldiers like a vitamin.

The Japanese, especially, used it extensively at this time, giving it to soldiers, sailors, pilots (it’s been reported that high doses helped the kamikaze be courageous), truckers, factory workers — whoever could help the war effort. To supply this demand (or maybe, to create it) the government cranked out speed copiously. After the war the Japanese people, devastated and hungry, comforted themselves with the large surplus. Realizing that methamphetamine abuse was becoming a problem, in 1951 the government passed a law making it illegal. Unfortunately, this only attracted the yakuza, who have controlled the distribution ever since.

Japan’s Drug Problem

The epidemic lasted until 1955 when it peaked with around 55,000 people arrested and up to 2 million regular users. Japan has since had waves of widespread speed use, in the late 60s to early 70s, and the late 90s till now, which has seen the largest confiscations in history. Clearly, speed has tweaked the interest of the Japanese. And given the structure of society, this is not so surprising. Typically, a student faces long hours at school regurgitating information to their teachers like a bird feeding its young. Then four more hours at juku (cram school) to prepare for high pressure entrance exams. The life of a sarariman (businessman) adheres to the same pattern of marathon gambarimasu (doing your damndest)–ing. The appeal of speed is obvious.

The second most popular illicit drug for young Japanese is inhalants—‘huffing’ paint thinner or glue fumes. In the States it’s stereotypically associated with trailer park trash. This is hard evidence that the youth has abandoned Japan’s traditional emphasis on aesthetics. But as tasteless (and dangerous) as huffing is, the only drug that kills on a massive scale (12 percent of all deaths in Japan) is the obvious one—tobacco. At 300 yen a pack, and available in vending machines every five feet along the street, cigarettes can easily be had by any teenager. So, while methamphetamine (which can be dangerous) and marijuana (which almost never is) are vilified, Japan’s youth is given easy, cheap access to the most addictive, most toxic drug on Earth.

Some kid shot up a dose again tonight
Pushed back by his other self
Even if you were to buy your dream
You need self-control
No one talks about hopes and dreams
All that’s there is something better, something new, a better way
The name is “Kicks Street” — the city of desire

— Lyrics from “Kicks Street” (1998), Ryo Aska

Who knows what is going through singer-songwriter Ryo Aska’s mind as he awaits his first appearance in court on drugs charges in Tokyo on Thursday. Does he have any regrets over his alleged possession of illegal substances? If he did use such substances, does he have any desire to quit? Or will his 1998 song prove to be something of a premonition?

The pop star, whose real name is Shigeaki Miyazaki, made headlines in May when he was arrested for the alleged possession and use of illicit substances. Newspapers and TV programs universally decried the horrors associated with stimulants, suggesting such drugs are eating away at the fabric of society.

Every time a celebrity such as Aska is arrested on drug charges, news outlets whip themselves into a frenzy about how dangerous such substances are. Fueled by overwrought media coverage, the public typically gets behind the police in pushing for tougher drug-related legislation.

But little, if any, light is shed on the darker side of drugs — addiction.

“Using drugs is akin to committing suicide little by little every day,” says Yoji Miura, director of Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center (DARC). “So many people have come and gone in my life that my heart has become numb and my tears have dried up.”

In 2013, 12,951 people were arrested in Japan on drug-related charges. Most were charged with the possession or use of stimulants broadly called methamphetamine. It’s virtually impossible to gauge from this figure how many people in the country are currently struggling with an addiction, but the health ministry says the number of arrests is just the tip of the iceberg.

Miura himself is a recovering addict. Bullied as a child for being overweight, he realized his size enabled him to fight back and he began hanging out with a rough crowd. He started sniffing glue to get high but, eventually, started using marijuana and methamphetamine. He was arrested twice before being sentenced to a year in prison.

“When you are first in prison, you think you’re never going to use drugs again because you never want to go back there,” Miura said. “By the time you are released, however, you tell yourself to make sure you’re never caught again.”

That was when Miura was first introduced to DARC.

Established in Tokyo in 1985, DARC now has 57 branches with 78 facilities all over Japan. Most members live in DARC dormitories and they generally attend two internal meetings and one external Narcotics Anonymous meeting every day. Most employees at each facility are recovering addicts, too.

“DARC is the only place addicts can be honest,” Miura said. “Once you’ve spent time in prison, you have to lie all the time: when you’re looking for a job or a place to live, or meeting new people.”

Stimulants have effectively dominated the domestic drug scene since the end of World War II. Chemist Nagayoshi Nagai first synthesized methamphetamine from ephedrine in 1893, and people would primarily use it to recover from fatigue.

Philopon, produced by Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co. (now Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma), was used as a pick-me-up during World War II for military personnel who needed to stay alert. The name is said to have originated from the Greek word philoponus, which means “he who loves labor.”

Military stocks of the methamphetamine fell into civilian hands in the aftermath of World War II, leading to widespread abuse. At its peak in 1954, police reports estimated there were 550,000 addicts in the country, with around 2 million people having tried the drug at some point in their life.

The Stimulant Control Law was enacted in 1951, banning the production, import, possession or use of methamphetamine across the board. A subsequent police crackdown meant that the number of arrests over the substance fell dramatically from 55,664 in 1954 to 271 in 1958, the lowest number in postwar history. However, stimulants are strongly addictive, and the number of arrests has remained steadily above 10,000 since 1976.

That said, drug use in Japan appears to be significantly lower than the figures reported abroad. According to statistics compiled by the health ministry in February, 0.4 percent of the Japanese population aged between 15 and 64 years old have tried stimulants at least once in their life. In the United States, 5.1 percent of the population over the age of 12 has tried meth at least once. Meanwhile, 41.9 percent of Americans have tried marijuana at least once in their life, compared to 1.2 percent of the Japanese population.

Nobuya Naruse, deputy chief at Saitama Prefectural Psychiatric Hospital, says police in Japan often brag about being extremely vigilant when it comes to drugs but show little interest in treating addicts once they’re caught.

“Japan is very good at regulating drug-related crime — one of the leading nations in the world — and depends on regulation to keep the crime rate down in terms of drug use,” Naruse says. “But that is why it has fallen way behind in terms of the treatment and recovery of addiction.”

More recently, a new problem is changing the outlook on drugs in the country: “loophole drugs.”

In addition to the Stimulant Control Law, other drug-related legislation includes the Cannabis Control Law, the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law and the Opium Law. The Metropolitan Police Department is, ineffectively, using the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law to deal with this new variation of drugs.

Loophole drugs typically include a mixture of chemicals that are not regulated by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law but can have similar effects to illegal drugs such as methamphetamine and marijuana. The possession of these compounds is not strictly illegal, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared war on such law-evading drugs after a recent series of car accidents that were allegedly caused by drivers under the influence of such substances.

Naruse expressed concern over such drugs, which he said were extremely dangerous and difficult to treat because of the complex mixture of substances. Alarmingly, the latest statistics show that the number of patients at Saitama Prefectural Psychiatric Hospital who had been committed in 2013 over an addiction to loophole drugs outnumbered those who had been addicted to methamphetamine for the first time in history.

“(Loophole drugs) drugs have become the most dangerous drug in Japan,” Naruse says. “They are several times more dangerous than methamphetamine and 10 times more effective than marijuana.”

The health ministry says that more than 1,370 chemicals have now been outlawed — a sharp increase from the 68 that had been banned in 2012. But every time the health ministry bans one compound, a new one finds its way onto the market, turning the whole exercise into an endless game of cat-and-mouse for authorities.

Sakae Komori, a lawyer who specializes in drug cases, says the government should speed up the process of outlawing the substances in the first place. A health ministry official said that it typically takes about three to six months to designate a drug.

Komori, however, says that simply speeding up the designation process won’t solve the problem on its own, and governments in Europe and the U.S. are battling similar difficulties.

“As there is a massive global market supporting these synthetic drugs, authorities must be prepared to engage in a prolonged war,” Komori says. “Any series of measures must first look at strengthening the capacity of analyzing and evaluating the drugs.”

With the rapid spread of synthetic drugs as well as the unchanging number of arrests over methamphetamine, authorities are expected to crack down harder.

Recidivism is also a major headache, with statistics showing that 60 percent of convictions for stimulants are repeat offenders. A 2009 survey compiled by the Justice Ministry shows that 30 percent of suspects convicted for stimulants were jailed again for a related crime.

Naruse, a 20-year veteran on treating drug addicts, says the primary focus needs to shift from penalties to treatment. Naruse says the country’s famous catch phrase, “Dame. Zettai.” (similar to the “Just Say No” campaign in the U.S. in the 1980s) simply doesn’t work anymore.

“Not everyone becomes an addict,” Naruse says. “It is the lonely, people with low self-esteem and have a strong sense of anxiety about being disliked by others who typically become addicted. Publicly attacking people such as Aska is not going to help at all. … These types of people have already lost so much along the way.”

Experts suggest there is already a trend in Western nations to shift away from harsh punishment over “victimless crimes” such as the possession and use of illegal drugs. For example, many drug courts in the U.S. are now part of the diversion program, a type of sentencing that offers offenders a chance to avoid criminal charges.

Komori, who has defended more than 1,000 drug cases, says it probably isn’t realistic to import exactly the same system in the country from the United States. Nevertheless, it’s still an overall objective worth striving for. “Correctional facilities greatly damage the relationship that the offenders have with society and I don’t think it is an appropriate punishment for drug crimes,” Komori says. “I think criminals should be treated within the community.”

In 2013, a revision of the Criminal Law introduced a new option for sentencing narcotics users that offers convicts suspended sentences and probation. Authorities hope the new procedure will allow addicts to be rehabilititated back into society and, ultimately, reduce recidivism.

However, a number of experts say there are not enough private facilities to take care of the former addicts who have spent time behind bars, expressing doubt over whether such a system can be effective in the longer term.

DARC founder Tsuneo Kondo says putting addicts in jail in the first place will not help prevent drug crimes or reduce recidivism.

A recovering addict himself, Kondo expresses frustration that no one seems to understand that addiction is a disease and that Japan’s solution to drug crimes is to put the offenders in prison and then release them, automatically expecting them to stay sober without any additional support.

“Drugs are a sign of pain,” Kondo says. “The pain could come from anywhere — from stress or work or the loss of a loved one — and anyone can become addicted. Once you become an addict, you have to deal with it for the rest of your life.”

We all know that Japan’s drug laws are pretty darn strict. But, did you know that crystal meth was originally invented in Japan? Possibly because of this, Japan has had a pretty up and down history with the drug, most of which is pretty interesting. So let’s take a look at the story of meth in Japan. Pro tip: meth-related stories rarely have happy endings.

The Invention Of Crystal Meth


Known as shabu in Japanese (Ah ha! I knew that shabushabu place down the street from my place is run by yakuza), plain old methamphetamine was first synthesized from ephedrine by Japanese chemist Nagai Nagayoshi in 1893. This is neat and all, but it’s no crystal meth. To do this, we have to wait until 1919 when Akira Ogata, Japanese pharmacologist, performs reduction on ephedrine. By doing this, he’s able to create crystal meth. Isn’t it pretty looking?

Because nobody really knew it was bad for you (hey, it keeps you skinny, makes you alert, and is totally awesome, right?), it began to gain popularity, though I would say it wasn’t until WWII that the stuff was really able to take off.

Crystal Meth In WWII

Under the brand name Philopon/Hiropon (ヒロポン), anyone who needed to stave off hunger and stay awake took this form of methamphetamine. Of course, during the war this was everyone. Factory workers could work long hours without eating (more bombs!). Soldiers that needed a pick-me-up took it (more marching!). Even kamikaze pilots were given this drug so they could fly long hours and not feel so bad about crashing into something at the end of their trip (aw, kind of sad!). If you’ve ever wondered why someone would ever go through with a kamikaze mission, this may be one of your answers.

That being said, let’s be fair here. It wasn’t just the Japanese giving drugs to their soldiers. Benzedrine, a similar compound that releases adrenaline, was used by Americans. The Nazis also used meth because they could bring their portable labs to the front. Even Hitler supposedly took a shot of meth every day to keep him feeling chipper (and also to stave off the Parkinson’s).

So, it’s not uncommon for drugs to go rampant (even government sanctioned drugs) during war time. That being said, Japan made a ton of Philopon during the war. So much that it had a huge surplus of it after it was all over. So, what do you do with the stuff? Answer: You sell it for super cheap.

Making Meth Legal In Japan


Following the war, Japan had three big problems:

• There was a lot of meth leftover not only in Japan, but everywhere else in the world as well (and it’s bad manners not to clean your plate, you know).
• There was a lot of work to be done (stuff got blown up pretty good and needed to be fixed).
• A lot of people were coming home, and there wasn’t enough food to go around (people were hungry!).

Luckily, the second two problems could be fixed by the first problem – How lucky! Dainippon Pharmaceuticals (aka Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, maybe you’ve heard of it) had a lot of Philopon to sell, and there certainly was a demand, too.

First of all, lots of soldiers were probably addicted to the stuff, meaning they could (legally) keep taking it once they got home. Second, a lot of industrial workers needed to stay awake for long periods of time. Philopon gave them that extra kick they needed to work those long shifts. One other nice side effect of meth is that you stop being hungry. With a shortage of food and a surplus of philopon, these two things went nicely together. Plus, you eventually lose all your teeth so why would you want to eat anything anyways? Win-win.

Really, anyone and their grandmother could get the stuff, and because not a lot of research had been done, people didn’t understand the implications of a nation on meth until a bit later. By then, though, it was kind of an epidemic.

The Crystal Meth Epidemics

After the war in 1946, we start to see the first reported cases of psychosis due to meth in Japan (as well as around the world). By 1948, people started to figure out that meth wasn’t a good idea, so Japan banned its use in tablet or powdered form. This left injection, which is actually much worse for you in the long term. Hospitalizations increased and drug-related crimes increased. Obviously it was time to put a stop to all this.

In 1951, the Japanese Ministry of Health banned meth in Japan, causing an overproduction of the stuff once again (yay, cheap meth!). Also, labs just began to move overseas (which partly explains why there are so many meth labs in Asia around Japan, and very few inside of Japan). 17,528 people were arrested in the first year of meth being illegal, but this number just continued to increase. In 1954, harsher penalties (including imprisonment up to 5 years for the first offense) got introduced. Despite this, 55,000 people were arrested in 1955 for drug-related crimes.

In 1955, however, a few things changed. The Japanese government created a huge campaign against substance abuse. Also, began to prohibit the raw materials usually used to make meth from being imported into the country and meth labs started getting raided. Really, this is when Japan put its foot down, and although crystal meth is still the most popular drug in Japan today, its tapered off quite a bit (as you’ll see).

Crystal Meth In Japan Today

Crystal meth, unsurprisingly, is the most commonly used illegal drug in Japan. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 80% of drug-related arrests in Japan have involved methamphetamine. Also, half the meth-related arrests in Japan were also related to the yakuza and other organized crime (if you go, tell them “Koichi Four-Fingers” referred you for a discount). It’s used by all kinds of people too. Those skinny Japanese school girls gotta stay skinny, you know?

For the most part, though, Japan and crystal meth manufacturing are quite separate (or people are extra good at hiding their labs). In 2010, the first crystal meth lab since 1995 was found and busted. That’s 15 years of no meth-labs being discovered. I think it’s safe to assume that Japan isn’t producing much of its crystal meth. Instead, it’s importing it mainly from the countries Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey.

Japan definitely has a history of going nuts over its “drug problem,” though. While I will say that drugs are bad, kids, I think Japan’s reaction to the problem is pretty interesting. When a celebrity is caught with marijuana, it’s a gigantic media frenzy. The Japanese government is always lamenting about its terrible drug problems… but when you take a look, it’s not actually all that bad.

• Japan (population 127.7 million) reports approximately 4,000 annual marijuana offenses every year. The single state of California (population 38.6 million) reports approximately 75,000 annual marijuana offenses per year. Marijuana is currently the #2 most used drug behind crystal meth in Japan.
• In Japan, only 3% of people say they have tried “banned substances.” Comparatively 46% of Americans say they have tried banned substances.
  
• Japan sees around 12,000 crystal meth related arrests every year (this number has been pretty level for a while now). Compare this to 1955, which had 55,000 people.
  

I’m sure Japan would love a zero on the board when it comes to drugs, but when you compare these numbers to other countries (or even the Japan of 50 years ago), you have yourself a fairly small problem. I will say, though, that I think that marijuana will probably overtake crystal meth for the number one spot. Crystal meth has been holding steady at 12,000ish for quite a while now, but marijuana has been on the rise. Despite Japan’s long history with meth, there’ll be a new king soon. And, if I had to choose, I’d rather have to deal with pot over meth any day.

Yōkai (妖怪?, ghost, phantom, strange apparition) are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "bewitching; attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious".[1] They can also be called ayakashi (妖?), mononoke (物の怪?), or mamono (魔物?). Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them. Often they possess animal features (such as the Kappa, which is similar to a turtle, or the Tengu which has wings), other times they can appear mostly human, some look like inanimate objects and others have no discernible shape. Yōkai usually have a spiritual supernatural power, with shapeshifting being one of the most common. Yōkai that have the ability to shapeshift are called obake.

Japanese folklorists and historians use yōkai as "supernatural or unaccountable phenomena to their informants". In the Edo period, many artists, such as Toriyama Sekien, created yōkai inspired by folklore or their own ideas, and in the present, several yōkai created by them (e.g. Kameosa and Amikiri, see below) are wrongly considered as being of legendary origin.[2]