Eccentric Yet Kind — Dual Faces of Hiroya Shimizu After Marijuana Arrest

Had been using several times a month recently

On the morning of September 4, at 9 a.m., at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Wangan Station, a van appeared amid a crowd of reporters who had gathered before dawn for the arrest of a celebrity. Actor Hiroya Shimizu (26), seated in the back for transportation to the prosecutor, kept his face down the entire time, never looking up, leaving his expression unseen.

On September 3, at his residence in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics and Firearms Division arrested Shimizu on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Law. He is suspected of possessing marijuana at his home around July 10. A woman in her 20s, living with him and of unknown occupation, was also arrested on suspicion of joint possession under the same law. Both have admitted the charges, reportedly stating, “We definitely possessed it to smoke marijuana.”

“According to investigators, Shimizu said, ‘When I was 20 and studying abroad in Los Angeles, I was invited to a home party where I smoked a marijuana joint for the first time.’ He reportedly began using it in Japan about four to five years ago, had periods of abstinence, but started using more frequently around age 24 when his earnings increased. Since the start of this year, he had been using it several times a month,” said a journalist from a national paper’s social affairs desk.

Shimizu debuted in 2012 and has appeared in notable films such as Kawaki. (2014), Solomon’s Perjury (2015), and the Tokyo Revengers series (2021, 2023). He is also currently appearing in the Sunday drama 19th Carte (TBS), making him one of the busy young actors whose arrest has caused significant ripples.

TBS announced that they are moving to cut Shimizu’s scenes from 19th Carte, which airs its final episode on the 7th, as well as from Job Tune, broadcast on the 6th. Shimizu had also been scheduled to appear in the NHK morning drama Bakebake, starting September 29, but NHK has announced his withdrawal.

During an early-morning search of Shimizu’s apartment on the 3rd, police reportedly found approximately 0.4 grams of dried marijuana in a bag on a table, along with rolling papers and other items. His apartment is a 1LDK (one-bedroom plus living/dining/kitchen) rented for 150,000 yen per month, located about a three-minute walk from the station in a quiet residential area of Suginami Ward, with no nearby entertainment districts. The female landlord of the apartment shared her impressions of the arrest.

A person who carried a very tense aura

“Around 6 a.m., I think, it was quiet with no police sirens, but there were a lot of people with cameras, and I wondered what was happening. Normally, there aren’t many people around that early, so I was surprised to see the crowd. Later, a reporter rang our intercom to ask questions, and that’s when I learned that Mr. Shimizu had been arrested,” said one witness.

A woman living nearby also commented: “There was a crowd in the morning, so I wondered what was going on. I knew that actor Shimizu lived there, so at first I thought it was some kind of filming. I sometimes saw him around, and he seemed like an ordinary young man. He didn’t give any unpleasant impressions.”

The apartment’s landlord also had a positive impression:

“He was humble, and there was never any trouble while he lived here. He’s busy with work, so we didn’t see him often, but he always greeted us politely when we did. The woman he lived with didn’t act strangely either; she seemed like a normal person.”

While neighbors and the landlord described Shimizu as a good young man, others who had interviewed him had a different impression. A web journalist who had covered him several times stated:

“When I first met him, I remember thinking he carried a very tense aura. He never acted violently, but it seemed like he was aware that he could easily get irritated in certain situations and was trying hard to control it. I remember being very careful during the interview so as not to provoke him.

However, on another occasion, he seemed like a completely different person—calm and politely ordinary. The gap between the two impressions was so striking that I got the sense he might be mentally very unstable.”

Despite the generally good reputation among neighbors, Shimizu sometimes showed signs of mental instability. In any case, this incident has undeniably cast serious doubt on the promising trajectory of his future career.

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