Once a popular track played on the radio of Japan by the great singer and songwriter, Ryo Aska, lost in drug abuse we now find him living the lyrics of his song Kicks Street that debuted in 1998.
Meth Japan
Some kid shot up a dose again tonight
Pushed back by his other self
Even if you were to buy your dream
You need self-control
No one talks about hopes and dreams
All that’s there is something better, something new, a better way
The name is “Kicks Street” — the city of desire
From these very poetic lyrics that Ryo Aska composed in 1998 that embodies a drug addict’s inhibitions to a premonition to what his life would soon evolve to. He now faces charges on drug abuse in Tokyo and has already appeared in court for these malpractices. Ryo Aska’s real name is Shigeaki Miyazaki and this pop star is soon to falter due to embracing the life filled with illegal substances and nonexistent self-control for dealing with such drugs. These stimulants are slowly eating up his career and putting his life in grave danger because he is constantly struggling to face the horrors of what these drugs have put him through.
Unfortunately in Japan whenever a celebrity is found to be guilty of possession and using illegal drugs, the media do not highlight the addiction of these stars but more on how dangerous these substances are. The public is rather concerned with heightening the drug-related laws to be enacted and to take effect immediately. More or so every single time a star is discovered to be abusing drugs it is an open window for the public to get their voices heard.
In Japan, there is this center called Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center wherein the director, Yoji Miura, stated to the public that in using drugs you are committing suicide in a gradual basis wherein day in and day out you pollute your insides with unnecessary substances and chemicals for a temporary high.
The most commonly abused drug in Japan is methamphetamine and over 12,951 cases were reported last 2013 and surely these people do not limit themselves with this certain type of drug alone. Even getting imprisoned would not be enough for these men and women to refrain from taking these drugs after getting released. Majority of the ex-convicts would just make sure that they wouldn’t be caught next time around.
Image from Tofugu