TOKYO (TR) – Weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun on Saturday reported that law enforcement is planning to launch a full-scale investigation into actress Ryoko Yonekura on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Act.
In early June, the tabloid’s reporting team received information that Yonekura, 50, had emerged as a suspect in an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare’s Narcotics Control Division, which has been monitoring her movements over approximately the last four months.
The investigation took a major turn on August 20, when the division conducted a search of Yonekura’s apartment in the capital. Also residing in the residence is her boyfriend, an Argentine dancer.
Two days after the search, Yonekura traveled to Europe, where she spent approximately two weeks in London and other places. After receiving information that items seized during the search were “highly likely to contain illegal ingredients,” the tabloid interviewed Yonekura upon her return to Japan on September 6.
Yonekura then declined to appear at a ceremony celebrating the reopening of Barney’s New York Ginza flagship store, scheduled for September 17. She then canceled a series of events, which raised concerns about her health.
After the interview, Bunshun sent a questionnaire to Yonekura’s agency asking about the facts of the search and the illegality of the seized items, but no response has been received to date.
