American actor and playwright Jeremy O Harris has been released three weeks after he was taken into custody for allegedly attempting to bring illegal drugs into Japan.
Harris, 36, was intercepted at the Naha Airport in Okinawa on November 16 after a customs agent allegedly found 0.78 grams of a crystal substance containing MDMA inside his tote bag.
According to a statement from a spokesperson for the Tomishiro Police Station in Okinawa’s Tomigusuku City, Harris was released Monday, reported The New York Times.
The spokesperson did not respond to NYT’s query on whether he had been charged. However, a spokesperson for Harris told the paper he was not charged and will be staying in Japan to write and research an upcoming project.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Harris for comment.
Harris had flown to Okinawa for sightseeing, arriving from London with a layover in Taiwan. The prefecture, located about 1,500 km southwest of Tokyo, is a well-known tourist destination famed for its beaches.
Under Japan’s narcotics laws, possession of even small quantities of banned substances can lead to severe penalties, and the police passed the case to the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office last week.
If found guilty, Harris would have been facing up to seven years in prison.
The Emily in Paris actor was previously scheduled to appear at the Red Sea festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which began on 4 December and runs through December 13; it appears to have been cancelled. The indie film Erupcja starring Charli XCX and Harris, which he also collaborated on the screenplay for, was screened at the festival.
Japan enforces some of the strictest drug regulations among developed nations, where even minor quantities of banned substances can result in prosecution for possession or smuggling. While penalties are severe, they are generally less extreme than in places such as China or Singapore, where drug-related offences can carry the death penalty.
In recent years, Japanese authorities have arrested several foreigners on drug charges, including former Australian rugby player Blake Ferguson in 2021 and Grammy-winning DJ David Morales in 2018. Morales was arrested after customs officers at the Fukuoka airport allegedly found 0.3 grams of MDMA in his luggage.
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A notable case occurred much earlier, in 1980, when Paul McCartney was detained upon entering Tokyo with marijuana and subsequently barred from returning to the country for years.
Harris is an acclaimed playwright best known for Slave Play, the most Tony-nominated play in Broadway history. His work spans theatre, film and television. He co-wrote the award-winning film Zola and contributed to series such as Euphoria, Irma Vep and the upcoming adaptation of The Vanishing Half.
