January is not a good month for Paul McCartney. This story has the makings of a novel about the ex-Beatle, imprisoned for nine days in Tokyo. All too new to pass up.
In the early 80s, the Japanese were great consumers of Western pop, but in January of that year they will receive one of the greatest exponents of the kingdom. A former Beatle! Macca he was touring with his band, Wings, and they had 11 dates ahead of them in the land where the sun rises.
It wasn’t the first time McCartney had visited the land of the rising sun; on the last Beatles tour (1966), the band made a stop on their stages where they had a legion of hysterical fans (pure Japanese beatlemania, with high notes difficult to bear), at the same time they have received threats from more traditional sectors of Japanese society.
The problem: many found it disrespectful that the band will be presented at the Nippon Budokan, an enclosed arena built specifically for martial arts.
with background
Non-minor data: In 1973, Paul received a conviction for growing marijuana on his farm in Scotland. Something that affected the plans to bring the ex-Beatle to Japan in 1975, and this was due to the fact that the Japanese authorities banned anyone with a criminal record from entering for seven years.
After some negotiations, the producer Udo Music managed to get the musician a visa before the deadline for his band Wings for a two-week tour of that country.
McCartney’s post-Beatles project was very successful in Japan. The 100,000 tickets offered for sale for the eleven scheduled concerts – some of which at the Nippon Budokan – quickly sold out.
Between negotiations, authorities made both Paul and the band members sign a statement swearing they would never use cannabis again. Everything was fine, with posters of out of stockuntil Paul went to go through immigration in Tokyo.
Many were surprised by the zeal that the Japanese airport police put into Paul’s suitcase, neither that of Linda, his wife, nor that of his musicians, his own, they especially wanted to check Paul’s.
And yes, in Paul’s suitcase, without having to search much, the airport authority came across a bag whose contents were indisputably marijuana, the same substance – albeit in smaller quantities – that was in the “male” toiletry bag.
personal consumption
Interrogated Paul by the drug division, Paul states that the substance in question is for “personal consumption” and as to its origin, the male replies that some friends had given it to him.
“When the boy took it out of the suitcase, he looked more embarrassed than me,” Paul later recalled. “I didn’t try to hide it. He was from the US and still had that American attitude that marijuana isn’t that bad. I didn’t realize how strict the Japanese were.”
The problem for Paolo is that, added to the bag plus the beauty case, what has been found threw a weight of 218 gr., according to the police report, an amount higher than “personal consumption”, in fact, the crime of “drug trafficking” was punished with seven years’ imprisonment.
This is what Paul McCartney was suddenly exposed to in the second week of January 1980.
Paul in the shadows
The musician had to spend the night in a cell where he only had a mat as a mattress and, moreover, he was isolated; he could not have contact with his wife or children.
According to Philip Norman, his biographer, he did not sleep the first night; He kept sitting against the wall in fear of someone tying him up while he rested.
On the second day of his arrest, he met Linda after further questioning at the Tokyo Police Narcotics Control Department, where he arrived in handcuffs.
In court, he learned he could deal a sentence of up to seven years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
The judge ruled that the musician was held in Kosuge Prison where he spent a week with some of Japan’s most dangerous criminals while his trial was ongoing.
Breakfast lunch and dinner
Again they put him in a cell where he was alone and was forbidden to read and write. Also, they left him in the same suit he was wearing when he landed in Japan, but three days later she found that she could ask for a change of clothes. Her day began at six in the morning and she had to sit on the floor to be called.
Then he had to clean his cell and undergo an inspection. Breakfast: a bowl of seaweed and onion soup. For him the lunch: soy soup accompanied by bread. Dinner: rice with an apple or orange. They honored her request for vegetarian food. The lights went out at eight.
After nine days in prison, the musician was released on January 24. He was set to be deported that same date, but paperwork pushed his departure to January 25th.
Source: Clarin
