Popular actor Akira Akasaka was handed a suspended prison term on Wednesday for possessing stimulants.
The Tokyo District Court sentenced 34-year-old Akasaka to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, for violating the Stimulants Control Law. The judge handed down the ruling during the first hearing because Akasaka declared that he would not contest the charges.
"I used the drugs to escape from the pain of not being able to meet my child since my divorce. I'm terribly sorry for my fans," Akasaka said following the ruling.
Akasaka was caught possessing 0.7 grams of stimulants on a street in the Ikebukuro district of downtown Tokyo in the predawn hours of Oct. 28, according to the ruling.
Akasaka made his show business debut in the late 1980s as a member of Hikaru Genji, a popular teenage singing group on roller skates. He said he purchased the drugs from a foreigner.
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