TOKYO : Japanese pop star Noriko Sakai pleaded guilty Monday to illegal drugs charges and prosecutors demanded 18 months' jail in a trial that has sparked intense public interest and frenzied media coverage.
More than 6,600 people lined up for just 20 visitors' seats in the Tokyo District Court -- second only to the crowds drawn by the 1996 trial of the doomsday cult leader behind the deadly Tokyo subway sarin gas attacks.
Sakai, 38, is a former teenage pop idol turned actress, known in the 1990s for her innocent girl-next-door image and later for her perfect mum persona, whose fame extends to China, Taiwan and South Korea.
She was arrested on August 8, a week after her surfer-husband Yuichi Takaso, 41, was taken into custody after police caught him with drugs, reportedly methamphetamines, in Tokyo's Shibuya entertainment district.
Sakai told the court she started using drugs about four years ago, encouraged by Takaso, and had used them almost every month since summer 2008.
"I was exhausted physically and mentally at that time," said Sakai, who appeared in a black suit and clenched a white handkerchief.
"I am to blame," she told the court, Jiji Press reported. "I want to quit stimulant drugs completely and make efforts to rebuild public trust."
Asked her occupation, she said she was "unemployed," media reports said.
Sakai said she wanted to divorce her husband and start her life over again, possibly joining the nursing profession, local media said.
Takaso, a self-described professional surfer, said in his own trial last week that he was carrying illegal "stimulants" at the time of his arrest on August 3 because he was planning to use them later with his wife.
His arrest eventually resulted in drug charges against Sakai, whose enduring fame had won her advertising contracts with carmaker Toyota, government public awareness campaigns and even a role in a commercial against youth drug abuse.
Adding to the drama, Sakai went on the run for about a week before turning herself in to police and admitting to habitual drug use.
She then spent more than a month in detention on charges of possessing and using illegal stimulants before being released on bail of five million yen (about 55,000 dollars).
A verdict and sentencing are scheduled for November 9.
- AFP