Sega pulls game from sale and deletes tweets after actor arrested for drug use

[Steel]

https://www.vg247.com/2019/03/13/judgement-pierre-taki-cocaine/

Them pulling down social media posts and pulling the game from stores is just in Japan, mind you.

[Natrox]

Scared me for a second, I was looking forward to the game being released here and figured they completely cancelled it.
Weird knee-jerk reaction, but it's Japan and their stance on drugs is extreme - so I guess it makes sense (for them). Dumb as hell though.

[Swiket]

Is drug use considered a big problem in Japan compared to the US? This kind of reaction seems disproportionate.

[Download]

Image in incredibly important in many asian countries.

[NoRegard]

I find it kind of weird you can get arrested for using cocaine, and it seems he got arrested on the basis of testing positive in a urine test. Is this the same in most countries?

[Amakir]

Not the first time this has happened to the Yakuza series, Hiroki Narimiya, the guy who played Tanimura in Yakuza 4, had one of his friends sell a picture of him with interacting with some white powder that the press assumed to be cocaine, as such he was blacklisted from doing any more roles in the Japanese entertainment industry. Once the pic hit Twitter however people identified the powder as being part of some dumb candy making kit and he was let back into acting again, he decided however to retire after this. As such Tanimura's likeness to him has changed in the recent Yakuza 4 remaster and a different actor is playing him.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/107052/7bcb8826-4b65-4ca7-a6bd-1f17f965a298/tanimura.jpg

[Orkel]

Asian countries including Japan are immensely anal about any kind of drugs (outside alcohol/tobacco). Getting caught even with weed in Japan will fuck you up hard.

[jordguitar]

They ban a good chunk of psychotropic meds too. If I were to ever go to Japan, I would not be able to bring one pill as it is derived from amphetamines and I would still have to go through a song and dance with the government and my doctors to even be approved to bring the rest into and out of the country.

[Windy]

I say this as a dumbass foreigner but that's quite excessive to me.

Hope this doesnt effect the western release.

[Nachy]

Most likely won't. At least worst case scenario they do a quick & dirty day-one patch that replaces the model and voice actor of the character. Otherwise it's really just something that more significant in Japan and its neighboring Asian market rather than the west.