Nana Katase leaves the office…photos of her moving in after her live-in partner is arrested.
The women talking with smiles on their faces, and the men walking to watch them. Everything was going well at the time.
This photo was taken two years and nine months ago, in early November of 2006. Actress Nana Katase (39) was attending a reception party for a fashion brand in Tokyo with her boyfriend, former company president Hideaki Okada (39). After meeting up with his best friend, actress Erika Sawajiri (35), who was also at the party, and a fashion designer who was her boyfriend at the time, they got into their beloved Porsche and moved from the venue. They went into a famous Chinese restaurant in Omotesando.
But after that, their lives were thrown into a tailspin. As is well known, Sawajiri was arrested in November 2007 for possession of MDMA, a synthetic drug. At the end of the same month, her boyfriend, a fashion designer, was also arrested on suspicion of joint possession (the case was later dropped). Then, on July 3 this year, Katase’s boyfriend, Okada, was also arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession.
“The Metropolitan Police Department’s Gang Unit 5 had been on the lookout for Okada for some time, and arrested him while he was staying at a lodging facility in Tokyo. They also raided the apartment where he lived with Katase in Tokyo, and conducted a urine test on her. The results were negative,” said a reporter from the Metropolitan Police Department of a national newspaper.
Katase and Okada started dating because they shared the same hobbies, such as outdoor activities and music, and have been living together for more than five years.
“Okada ran a company engaged in the digital content distribution business. He was born in Ibaraki Prefecture and graduated from Komazawa University. When he was a student, he was so into skateboarding that he said he wanted to become a pro. Recently, it seems that going to clubs in Shibuya had become a daily routine.
Katase had been living together with such a man, but it seems that their relationship finally came to an end with the arrest of former president Okada.
In mid-July, this magazine found a moving truck parked in front of the apartment building where the two were living together. One after another, the truck carries away luggage that seems to belong to former president Okada, including a huge photo of a skateboarder. After the truck finished loading, it headed for another apartment near the city center.
After his best friend and her boyfriend, he even took his own girlfriend to ……. With so many arrests around her, it is no doubt that TV people are hesitant to use her. Katase, who recently left the agency that had taken care of her for many years, is likely to continue to face hardships.
From “FRIDAY” August 13, 2021 issue
Photography: Keisuke Nishi (1st photo), Ippei Hara