Today I ran into a retired detective who was on the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force Organized Crime Control Division 5, when I was a reporter on that beat.
It has been about 15 years
It brought back some memories--particularily of how the public right to know trumps investigation

In 2004, I was still on the police beat covering organized crime, vice, and fraud. Section 5, which handled gun and drugs investigations was my responsibility. Between April and June of that year, over ten people died of drug overdoses in Roppongi. The police kept it quiet.

The majority of those who died or fell into a coma after a drug overdoes were foreigners. A 46-year-old Canadian who as president of the Japan affiliate of an American pharmaceutical maker dropped in a bar on April 14, dying later of heart failure. Heroin was in his blood.

There were others. The police got their first break when a an Australian working for Goldman Sachs snorted coke at the bar where he bought it and later fell into a coma. That bar was Golden Gate.

The police had trouble blending in with the foreigners. I didn't. And Roppongi, since it involved vice as well, I knew well at the time. Not something to brag about. So the head of section five and I reached an agreement. I'd share my information and they'd give me the scoop.

There were some very prominent people who had overdosed on the drugs they'd bought from an Iranian dealer in Roppongi, at the Golden Gate bar. That added some gravitas to the story. And cocaine was rare. It wasn't the choice of Japanese users at the time.

Then there came a problem. Around May 9th, two more people fell into a coma from the drugs they'd bought. The dealer had gone into hiding but what I didn't realize is that some people save drugs for a rainy day. So if I sat on the story, more people might die.

I went to my boss and told him we needed to run the story. He agreed. "It's a public safety matter and they have enough to get their man already. Besides, the drug squad does an interesting story once every five years. Let's do it."

Of course, I knew and he knew, that runnign the story would get me banned from the press conferences by that section probably for months to come.

I did what we used to call 仁義を切る--basically the courtesy of informing someone of what you're going to do in advance. Not asking for permission, but informing.

The division chief was pissed. Very angry and said I'd ruin his investigation. I countered, "You know who has been selling the drugs and already have an arrest warrant. But if I don't write this people who bought shit from him may die. Drugs aren't a death penalty offense."

The article came out on June 12th. On the front page. The police held a press conference that day--I was told not to come. I was banned from the press conferences for three months in punishment. I dropped a major story because of that but my boss had my back.

Eventually, the division chief and I talked it out and he admitted that the public, including addicts, had a right to know if it was a matter of life and death. The dealer was never caught.

Today, I was talking over the case with a retired cop and I asked him, "Do you think Division Chief T still thinks I'm a pain in the ass?"
He didn't hesistate, "Oh, most likely."

There were many layers to that case. I think the decision to write it up probably saved several lives. It also probably caused someone to die, not directly. So there's that.

But the secondary lesson of this is: don't snort cocaine in Roppongi. There's no telling what's in that shit. A few minutes of possible pleasure isn't worth flushing your life down the toilet.
Also, flushing cocaine down the toilet if there's a raid is also really expensive.

There are two chapters that never made it into the final edition of #TokyoVice but maybe someday I'll put out a revised anniversary edition.
@Marchialy my beloved French publisher has one of the chapters. https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Jake-Adelstein/dp/0307475298

Well, it's kind of amazing how those unsolved cases stick in our minds. The detective and I could have been talking about that case like it was yesterday. There were many loose ends.
The past is persistent indeed.