IN DRUG-LEERY JAPAN, ARRESTS FOR MARIJUANA ARE ON THE RISE

TOKYO -- Marijuana arrests are soaring in Japan, causing a public
sensation in a nation where illegal-drug use is relatively rare. What
has made the wave of arrests especially shocking to some Japanese is
numerous drug busts involving the country's elite -- professional
athletes, doctors and students at top universities -- who are expected
to act as exemplary citizens.

Last month, a 25-year-old sumo wrestler known as Wakakirin was
arrested in Roppongi, a Tokyo neighborhood known for its bars and
clubs, for alleged marijuana possession. The sumo association
dismissed him, likely ending his career as a wrestler. In a letter
presented to the association by his father and his manager, the
wrestler, whose real name is Shinichi Suzuki, apologized and said he
would decline a retirement bonus to which he is entitled. Mr. Suzuki
didn't return calls seeking comment. In the past, the drug arrests
that got attention in Japan usually involved dealers of heroin and
cocaine in cases linked to organized crime. But last year, police
reported 3,793 arrests for alleged marijuana use, up 16% from the
previous year and nearly double the number a decade ago. About 70% of
those arrested were under the age of 30.

While Japan has been known for its tolerance of cigarette smoking and
public drunkenness, the nation has long had some of the strictest laws
against marijuana-related offenses. Those convicted for possessing
marijuana face prison terms of up to five years, though first-time
offenders are usually given suspended sentences. In contrast, in most
parts of the U.S., possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor typically
punished by a small fine and possibly a short prison stay.

While hard numbers are difficult to come by, marijuana use in Japan
appears to be low compared with other countries. In a survey of 85,000
households from 17 countries published last year by the Public Library
of Science, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco and Cambridge,
U.K., only 1.5% of Japanese respondents said they have used cannabis,
compared with 42% in the U.S. and 18% in Germany.

But obtaining marijuana has become easier and cheaper in Japan in
recent years, helped by information on the Internet. And young
Japanese who increasingly travel or study abroad sometimes come home
with the impression that marijuana is legal, or treated as a
misdemeanor, as in many other nations. "In the past, Japanese people
saw marijuana as something scary, as they didn't know what it was,"
says Sakae Komori, an attorney who has represented a number of people
arrested on marijuana-related charges. "Now it has become more
accessible as a lot of young people experience it overseas, come home
and show others how to use it."

At the same time, police and public-health regulators are putting
more emphasis on marijuana as arrests related to hard drugs such as
methamphetamine and heroine decline, some legal and government experts
say. The number of government narcotic agents, who work closely with
police, has been rising by about 10 a year over the past few years to
about 250 currently. "Their main job continues to be combating hard
drugs," said an official for the Ministry of Health, Labor and
Welfare. "But marijuana-related cases have been increasing."

Japan has its pot libertarians. A Web site run by a group called the
Center for Changing the Cannabis Law offers advice on how to answer
questions from investigators and where to find lawyers.

But some in Japan are seeking to make the country's 67-year-old
cannabis law stricter by closing loopholes created mostly to help
growers of hemp, which is often used to make robes worn by Buddhist
monks and loincloths worn by sumo wrestlers. Plants that are used to
make hemp are closely related to marijuana but contain little or no
intoxicating substance. Japanese employers have come up with strict
measures of their own. A number of companies have recently fired
people arrested on charges of possessing marijuana. At Waseda
University, an elite private college in Tokyo, six students were
arrested last year for breaking the cannabis law, including one
student who allegedly grew marijuana in his bathroom. All six were
expelled, according to a university spokesman.

"We thought university students had more conscience," said Juichi
Shimomura, a director in the bureau of welfare and public health of
the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. "Now we realize they have to be
taught just like everyone else."

Tsubasa Kondo, a senior at Sophia University in Tokyo, says Japanese
authorities are giving out "excessive" penalties as preventive
actions. "We have to accept it," he says. Still, he says, "possession
of marijuana is not like a firearm."

Akane Ichikawa contributed to this article.