Noriko Sakai

Noriko Sakai (酒井 法子) is a Japanese singer and actress.

She made her debut as an idol singer in 1986.

Under her former stage name Nori-P (のりピー), Sakai released her first single, "Otoko no Ko Ni Naritai" (男のコになりたい) on February 5, 1987, nine days short of her seventeenth birthday.

Over 40,000 copies of the single were sold.

She is particularly popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Her best-selling single to date is "Aoi Usagi".

Sakai released her first single, "Otoko no Ko Ni Naritai" (男のコになりたい) on February 5, 1987, nine days short of her sixteenth birthday.

Over 40,000 copies of the single were sold.

In the early years of her career, she used the nickname Nori-P (のりピー), although around the mid-1990s she started to distance herself from it.

She ventured overseas in the 1990s to Taiwan to shoot VITALON P beverage commercials, as well as holding concerts which received praise.

Sakai returned to the public attention after 1993, where she received recognition for her acting in Hitotsu Yane no Shita as Kashiwagi Koyuki.

In 1995, she acted in Hoshi no Kinka (Heaven's Coins) as Aya Kuramoto, also singing the theme song "Aoi Usagi" (碧いうさぎ) which became her best selling album to date.

By the end of 1998 she organized the Asian concert tours throughout Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries in the regions.

On December 28, 1998, she suddenly held a press conference, announcing her marriage to Yūichi Takasō (高相 祐一).

She and Yūichi have one son, born on July 17, 1999.

In January 2000, after the birth of her son, Sakai made a comeback to showbiz, and gradually took on roles in movies, drama and advertising.

Sakai's popularity in Japan is not outstanding, but she has considerable supporters in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China.

In August 2009, Sakai was arrested on suspicion of possession and abuse of drugs and sentenced to probation for three years.

She divorced her husband Yūichi Takasō (高相 祐一) after the incident and temporarily stayed away from the media circle.

After her probation ended, she began rehearsals for the theater, and signed on with Office Nigun Niiba, as a first step towards returning to the media community.

On May 1, 2021, she left Office Nigun Niiba and joined Smile.

Noriko Sakai was born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.

Sakai re-emerged in the headlines for a drug scandal on August 2, 2009, when Sakai's husband, Yūichi Takasō allegedly inhaled a small amount of stimulant drugs in a public lavatory, at a park in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

The next day, Takasō's car, parked on a street in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, was searched.

In the car, 0.817 grams of stimulant drugs were found.

On August 4, 2009, Takasō was stopped by Tokyo Metropolitan Police while walking in public in Shibuya.

When Takasō was subjected to a body search, stimulant drugs were reportedly found in his underwear.

Takasō was immediately placed under arrest.

Sakai was summoned to the scene of the arrest.

She was asked to go to the police station for further questions and to submit to a urine test.

Instead, she told the police she had to pick her 10-year-old son up, and that she would go to the police station later that day.

Sakai later disappeared with her son.

While Takasō was being questioned at the police department, he reportedly told the police he and Sakai were involved in drugs.

As early as ten days prior to his arrest, the two of them used drugs while on a family trip to Amami Ōshima in Kagoshima Prefecture.

At the time of Takasō's arrest, Sakai was living in her own apartment in Tokyo.

While Sakai was away, the police searched Sakai's home, and reportedly found 0.008 grams of stimulant drugs, carefully wrapped in aluminum foil.

An inhaler among the drugs was discovered to have Sakai's DNA.

As a result, a warrant was issued for her arrest.

On August 5, 2009, Sakai dropped her son off with an unnamed friend, purchased some underwear and other necessities from a store, and then disappeared.

Attempting to track Sakai down by cell phone, the police reported that her cell phone lost signal within the area of Yamanashi Prefecture, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Tokyo.