Man jailed 3 years over Shimonoseki confinement and 172 g of cannabis for profit
The Yamaguchi District Court sentenced a 31-year-old man to three years in prison and a 500,000-yen fine for confining two men in a Shimonoseki flat in December 2024 and, in October 2025, holding about 172 grams of cannabis for profit and using it. The court called the confinement malicious and said the cannabis carried a high risk of spreading the harm of illegal drugs.
The Yamaguchi District Court sentenced a 31-year-old man on 30 October 2026 to
three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 yen for confining two men in
Shimonoseki and for possessing cannabis for profit, among other offences.[1]Prosecutors had sought five years in prison and the same 500,000-yen fine, and
the court imposed a prison term it did not suspend.[1]He was convicted of
arrest and confinement and of violating the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control
Law.[1]In December 2024 he conspired with another man to seat two men, then
19, in chairs in a flat in Shimonoseki and tie them with rope so they could not
escape.[1]Police arrested three men over that confinement on 2 March 2026,
and the two victims had freed themselves on 29 December 2024 and reported it to
police two days later.[2]Police said the episode began on 28-29 December 2024
in Hiroshima City, where the victims were put in a car, one was punched in the
face repeatedly and both were blindfolded before being tied up at the
Shimonoseki flat.[2]
In October 2025 he held about 172 grams of cannabis for profit in a flat in
Shimonoseki, and late that month he used cannabis in the city.[1]Presiding
judge Yasuyuki Mizota called the confinement malicious, saying the victims were
blindfolded, bound to chairs with cable ties and touched with a stun gun, and
said the cannabis carried a high risk of spreading the harm of illegal drugs
through society.[1]
Photos and video
Page picture published with the report on the Yamaguchi District Court judgment; its caption repeats the headline and no credit is given. Photo: tysテレビ山口Photo details
The report says the cannabis was held and used in October 2025 but gives no exact dates for the drugs offences, the arrest or the indictment in that case.
The 172 grams are described as approximate, and no source says whether the cannabis was flower or another product or when it was seized.
No report says whether the man admitted the charges, and none gives an appeal date or whether the judgment has become final.
The sentencing report names one co-conspirator, while KRY reported three men arrested over the confinement; both describe the same Shimonoseki flat episode.
The page picture repeats the headline and carries no credit establishing what it shows, so it is linked rather than treated as a cover image.
Only one outlet's account of the sentencing was found; the KRY report covers the earlier arrest stage of the same confinement.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in tysテレビ山口 (TBS NEWS DIG): The broadcaster's own news site carries the same account of the 30 October judgment, from the Yamaguchi District Court, with the same three-year term and 500,000-yen fine.
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force dismissed a 19-year-old private second class at the Kaita garrison in Hiroshima Prefecture on 6 November 2026 for using cannabis and other drugs at a friend's home in Hiroshima City in August. He had been arrested in September with two friends on suspicion of cannabis use.
The Kochi District Court sentenced Fui Ashida to five years in prison and a 1 million yen fine for repeatedly selling cannabis and cocaine in Kochi and for credit-card fraud. Presiding judge Yoshitake Tanaka called the offences malicious, citing sales to 17 customers at least 33 times.
A 21-year-old convicted of defrauding an elderly person of 1.5 million yen and possessing cannabis in Okayama Prefecture was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and a 300,000-yen fine. The Hiroshima High Court's Okayama branch vacated the May verdict on 28 October 2026 after prosecutors appealed its failure to set a workhouse detention term for the fine.
The Tokyo District Court gave former Japan men's volleyball international Shunichiro Sato a one-year prison term suspended for three years on 31 July 2026 for possessing 0.831 grams of dried cannabis. Police found the drug in a bag he left at an Itabashi pachinko parlor during a national team camp in May; his national registration was erased and his club contract ended.
Arrested 1Charged 1Cannabis 831 mgPrison 1 year (suspended for 3 years)
