Warrant issued for actress Sakai

Police have an arrest warrant out for missing actress Noriko Sakai in connection with the arrest earlier this week of her husband for alleged possession of stimulant drugs, investigative sources said Friday.

Better times: Actress Noriko Sakai announces her marriage to Yuichi Takaso in December 1998. Sakai is wanted for alleged drug violations in connection with the Monday arrest of her husband for similar offenses. KYODO PHOTO

Her husband, Yuichi Takaso, 41, was quoted by police as saying Sakai possessed the drugs.

Tokyo police are continuing to search for the 38-year-old former starlet and singer, who grew hugely popular in Japan and other parts of Asia in the 1990s, and plan to arrest her as soon as they can.

The Metropolitan Police Department obtained the warrant after finding a small amount of drugs in her home and questioning her husband Takaso, the sources said.

Takaso, a self-proclaimed professional surfer, was arrested Monday after a police officer found a plastic bag containing stimulants in his underwear in Tokyo's Shibuya district. Sakai was summoned to the arrest site but declined a police request to come to the police station and volunteer for a urine test.

She then disappeared with her 10-year-old son, who was found safe Thursday in Tokyo at the home of an acquaintance. Police attempted to locate her by tracing her cell phone signals to Yamanashi Prefecture but had lost her trail by Tuesday evening.

On Friday, the police said Sakai asked the acquaintance to let her hear her son's voice after calling from a public phone at an unidentified location Wednesday.

Sakai made her acting debut in a TV drama in 1986 and released her first record the next year. Her popularity expanded overseas in the early 1990s.

After getting married in 1998 and giving birth to her first son in 1999, Sakai appeared in TV commercials, transforming her image to reflect a good mother in a happy family.

News that Sakai's arrest was sought has bewildered legal officials, particularly those at the Supreme Court who selected her for the leading role in a movie to promote the new lay judge system.

In 1993, she appeared in an event promoting campaigns against drug abuse.