SMAP's Kusanagi arrested for indecency

It sounds like a TV stunt gone wrong, but SMAP member Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (33) has actually been arrested for public indecency. The popular talento and singer was detained by Tokyo Metropolitan police in the early hours of April 23 after residents in the central Tokyo area of Akasaka called them around 3am to complain about someone making a racket in Hinokicho Park near the Tokyo Midtown complex. Police arrived to find the drunk Kusanagi stark naked and running around shouting abuse at anyone and everyone. Normally under such circumstances, the person would be taken into police custody rather than arrested. So it can be assumed that Kusanagi was violent in resisting arrest. Like the other four members of the perennially popular SMAP, Kusanagi appears in a wide variety of TV and commercial roles and the impact of his arrest is likely to be huge. One casualty will probably be the movie "Ballad Namonaki Koi no Uta," which is scheduled to open in the autumn. Misbehaving celebrities usually get their names and credits quietly removed from TV shows and movies, but as this movie actually stars Kusanagi it's not a matter of a bit of cutting and pasting. Fellow SMAP-ite Inagaki Goro disappeared from the scene for a while after he got himself arrested for turning a simple parking violation into an attempted hit and run in August 2001.

japanzone


Thu, April 23, 2009 (12:00am EDT)

SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (34) has been arrested for public indecency after causing a disturbance and running around naked in Hinokicho Park near Tokyo Midtown late on Wednesday night.

At around 3:00am on April 23, residents in that area notified police that a naked man was making a lot of noise in the park. Officers arrived to find a drunken Kusanagi, and after he refused to heed their warnings, they arrested him on the spot for public indecency. Kusanagi is said to have openly defied the officers, answering them with "What's wrong with me being naked?" According to police, a breath analysis test taken 5 hours after Kusanagi's arrest detected a BrAC of 0.8 mg/L, well over the legal limit.

Kusanagi has been part of the super-popular group SMAP since 1988. As he is one of the industry's biggest stars, the incident is likely to have a big impact. He is already being pulled from several advertisements, including commercials promoting Japan's transition to all-digital broadcasts by 2011.

One of the most recent reports says that he has lost his somewhat regular role on NHK's "PythagoraSwitch." Fuji TV will likely have the toughest decision to make, as Kusanagi is a regular on four of the network's popular shows.

Kusanagi also has a starring role with Yui Aragaki in the movie "Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta" (directed by Takashi Yamazaki). Filming has already wrapped up and the picture was scheduled for a September 5 release, putting distributor Toho in a difficult spot. TV Asahi is also considering their options, as it had planned to run some TV specials about the film on weekends from April 25 to May 18.

tokyograph