Aska arrested after calling police

TOKYO — Japanese pop star Aska — one half of folk-rockers Chage and Aska — has been arrested on drug charges after calling the police to tell them he was being spied on at home by a hidden camera, Japanese police and reports said yesterday.

The singer, whose real name is Shigeaki Miyazaki, was slurring on the phone when he insisted he was being watched, Jiji Press and other media reported.

Police who visited his Tokyo home on Monday arrested the 58-year-old on suspicion of using stimulants and MDMA, a force spokesman told AFP. Aska had previously been given a three-year prison term, which was suspended for four years, in December 2014 for the possession and use of the same drugs.

Narcotics are heavily regulated in Japan, and the police make much of high-profile arrests.

Writing on his blog, Aska denied the reports that a police urine test had returned positive for drug use, saying the result was “not positive”.

“It’s 100 per cent impossible,” the singer added.

Chage and Aska made their musical debut in 1979, and were Japan’s biggest duo in the 1980s and 1990s, selling more than 31 million albums and singles in Japan alone, with hits such as Say Yes, Yah Yah Yah/ Yume no Bannin and Heart/Natural/On Your Mark.

After an initial break-up and reunion in the late ’90s, Chage and Aska officially announced the band’s “indefinite suspension” in 2009, and went on to concentrate on their solo work. In 2013, Chage and Aska decided to revive their partnership.

The duo remain hugely popular in Japan and other parts of Asia including Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. AFP