One of Japan’s most famous veteran rock guitarists has been arrested for marijuana possession. Police stopped to question Suzuki Shigeru (57) on Tuesday afternoon when his car was spotted illegally parked in a warehouse district near Fuji TV’s Tokyo Bay studio. Thinking his behavior seemed suspicious, officers searched the car and found about 1g of marijuana in a tupperware container. Suzuki admitted ownership of the drugs and was arrested on the spot. It’s his first arrest, but police decided to also search his home for other drug-related items. Suzuki formed his first band in 1968 and was invited by Hosono Haruomi (61, later of YMO) to join Happii Endo (Happy End) the following year. The band were pioneers of the Japanese rock scene. In the years following the breakup of the band in 1974, Suzuki teamed up with Hosono, Matsutoya Masataka (57) and other big names to form such bands as Caramel Mama, Tin Pan Alley and Hucklebuck. Suzuki recorded his first solo album in Los Angeles in 1975. He has played as a support musician for a host of artists over the years and has taken part in several charity recordings.
• Movie director Danny Boyle (52) was in Tokyo to promote his latest Oscar-nominated film. Helping him promote “Slumdog Millionaire” was talento Mino Monta (64, profile), host of the Japanese version of the global quiz show that is central to the movie. The pair dined on a lunch of katsu curry, with the katsu (pork cutlet) being a pun on the Japanese word for “win.” If Slumdog does take the best picture Oscar later this month, it will be the first movie made outside the U.S. to do so since “The Last Emperor” in 1987.